The story so far: Jenny is trying to deal with the fact that she is moving. She needs Mark's help, but he is not responding.

It seemed to Jenny that Mark was doing everything he could to stay away from her. She called.She went to his house. She IM'd. Each time, there would be some reason why he couldn't hang out. Hewouldn't even let her into his house. His excuses were all okay – homework, practice, he had plans t o gosomewhere – but the message was more felt than heard. And Jenny felt rejected.Which didn't help her mood any. She was moving away. Forever. She was leaving her friends, herhome, and her best friend. And now it felt like she had already lost the best friend she ever had, e venbefore she moved.So, she asked around. No one else said that they noticed anything different about Mark. Yeah,they thought maybe he had been a little quieter this week, and, yeah, they noticed he wasn't online asmuch as usual. But, no one was alarmed except for Jenny.Finally, the next Friday night, she couldn't take it anymore. She went to Mark's and told himexactly what she was thinking and feeling.“You know I'm moving away – forever, right?” asked Jenny. And she continued, “And you'vebeen so mean to me ever since I told you. What is up with you? You're supposed to be my friend. You know what? I don'twant friends like you. I don't care if I never see you again.”And she turned to leave just as Mark blurted out, “You think you're the only person with problems? M y mom moved out on Monday!”“What do you mean?” Jenny asked, totally confused. “Your mom moved out? Where? Why?”“They're getting divorced. My parents are getting divorced. They waited until after my birthday part y to tell me 'cause they didn't want to ruin the party.”“Oh my God, Mark, your parents are getting divorced?” Jenny shrieked.“They didn't want to ruin my party. Can you believe that?” Mark said, more to himself than to Jenny.“Why did your mom move out? Where did she go?” Jenny asked.“She's staying with a friend. She said she needed time to think and she couldn't do it here,” Mark e xplained.“What friend?” Jenny asked.“She didn't say. She gave me a phone number to call if I needed her, and she said she'd pick me up a fter soccer practice on Tuesday.”“Mark, I'm sorry. I really am. I like your mom. I can't believe she's doing this.”“Yeah, well, how do you think I feel?” Mark asked, slowly and sadly.Jenny walked back across the street to her house. She thought about which was worse, moving or havin g your mom leave you. Of course Mark said that hismom said she loved him and wasn't really leaving him, but she did leave. She left him behind.Jenny felt guilty for ever thinking about letting her parents move to Philadelphia without her. She still didn't want to go, and she felt guilty about that, too. Aboutfeeling sad about her own life when Mark was having this problem.On Monday at school, Mark replaced Jenny as the big talk topic. Other kids had divorced parents, but Markwas the first whose mom moved out.Weeks passed. School started the long slide from Easter vacation to summer. That time of year always passesslowly, but this year it went by in a blink for Jenny. Mark's season moved at a snail's pace. It see med like forever.Like always, there were all the assignments that had to be done before the school year ended. It see med tothe kids that the teachers realized around the end of April each year that the school year was almos t over anddiscovered that they hadn't yet taught everything for the year. All of a sudden, the work was heaped on and lots ofprojects were due at once.On May 15, Ms. Armbruster reminded the class about the Power Project she had assigned weeks before.They were supposed to take the blank book pages she had given them and fill them in with pictures an d lots ofinformation about the different forms of energy. It counted for almost their whole science grade. It was due on May 30.Jenny had only one problem with this assignment. The last time she had seen this booklet was the day shegot it. Somehow, in all of the upset of thinking about moving, the Power Project was put in the back of Jenny's mindand it had stayed there until right now.The problem was not just that the booklet was due soon. The problem was not just that Jenny didn't h ave thebooklet. The problem was that Jenny was afraid to tell Ms. Armbruster because she was scary.So the days ticked off on the calendar, and before Jenny could say Power Project, it was May 29. Ms.Armbruster reminded everyone to bring in their booklets the next day. Jenny sat there and thought ab out raising herhand. She thought about telling the truth. In fact, she couldn't think about anything else. But she did nothing.

<I>&Copy; Hot Topics Hot Serials 2006</I><B>BUTLER EAGLEEagle in Education</B><I>Bringing Creative Learning Opportunities to Local Classrooms</I>CHAPTER SIX WILL BE PUBLISHED TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2011

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