THE NEXT day we say good-bye.
What hasn’t been sold or given away has been loaded on a moving truck to be shipped to England. My dad offered to drive Rose and her family to the airport, but her mom decided to hire a car to take them instead. She said it would be easier.
So we stand in Rose’s front yard, or what will soon be a stranger’s front yard, and watch a driver wearing a hat load up Ashcroft luggage into the back of a massive SUV. It’s a Monday afternoon but we’re all there. My dad, Zora, Ally, me. Even my mom and the General have skipped work to say good-bye. Simon is huddled with Ashley on the other side of the driveway. And Mrs. Ashcroft is orchestrating it all as if she’s directing traffic.
Rose hands the driver her carry-on bag and then walks over to Ally and me. We stand there looking at one another while Rose’s mom says good-bye to the other parents.
“So,” Rose says.
“So, we’ll Skype over the weekend,” I say.
“Tell you how school went,” adds Ally, because Ally and I start middle school in two days. So many changes in so little time.
“I don’t start for weeks,” Rose says. “What am I going to do there all by myself?” Her face turns splotchy. Her bottom lip quivers.
“Right. Come on, Rose,” calls out Mrs. Ashcroft. “Let’s go, Simon.”
Simon’s girlfriend is crying as Simon hugs her one last time. I don’t realize that I’m crying, too, until Rose says, “Don’t cry, Bird.”
“Okay,” I say but keep crying anyway. Then we’re all crying. Rose hugs Ally. Then she wraps her arms around me. “Guess what?” she says through her tears.
“What?”
“Remember yesterday when I whispered something to Romeo?”
“Yeah.”
“I told him to ask you to the sixth-grade dance.”
I pull away from her and stare into her traitorous eyes. “You didn’t!”
“I did,” she says, laughing and crying.
“We have to go, Rose,” her mom says from the car.
We hug one another, in the circle that is us, one last time.
“Okay.” Rose lets us go, then gives us one more look. “Go have a wonderful life, my awesome Americans,” she says. Then she turns and climbs into the car.
As the SUV pulls out of the driveway, Rose waves to us and we wave back. The SUV rounds the curve in front of the house, and India Rose Ashcroft vanishes from our sight. Reluctantly, we stop waving. I look down and realize I’ve been holding Ally’s hand the whole time.
Afterward, Ally goes home with her mom. With school starting, we probably won’t see each other until the weekend, either. I still can’t imagine going to school without them. I don’t know what that will look like.
As we walk home, Zora starts skipping, and even though she’s been feeling better, my mom reminds her not to get too excited. I look back at my mom, walking hand-in-hand with my dad, and realize I’m going to tell her about the summer. About the clue box and everything. I want to be the kind of twelve-year-old girl who still talks to her mother.
Zora grabs my hand and I let her. She looks up at me, concerned. “Don’t worry, Birdie,” she says. “Rose is going to be all right.”
I look down at her and grin. And even though I’m not completely sure, I say, “I know, Zora. I know.”
When we get home, I run up to my room because I need to be alone. The pancake Polaroid from the day before is sitting on my desk. My mom must have put it there. I take it to my corkboard and pin it on the last remaining space. Standing back, I see that it is complete. Not another place for another picture. Like we’re done now. Those same faces, over and over again. With a few Zoras sprinkled in. It’s my life up until now. I wonder what comes next.
Lying back on my bed, I hear thunder and think of Rose. I think about how her new life will be so different. I wonder who her new friends will be and if we’ll be jealous. I wonder if she’ll hold on to her American accent or slowly concede it over time. And mostly I wonder how, in all my life, I’ll ever have another friend like her.
I think about Ally and how this year will be so different for her. Without us at her constant side, who will be her new friends? Will I like them? And will they like me? And what about Joey and the middle school baseball team? I’ll be at her games and see her on weekends, but I wonder if things will be the same between us.
And finally, I think about me. Who will be my new friends? And will I have any? I haven’t told anyone but I’ve been thinking about joining the middle school drama club. And I wonder if I would do that if Rose and Ally were with me.
I turn over and pick up the book I’ve left on my bed ever since I brought it home. I Don’t Know Why She Swallowed the Fly by Emily McAllister. I open to the inscription for the hundredth time and silently read what she wrote to me:
To Birdie, the intrepid—
Go forth and be brave
For the world is waiting.
You have much to give,
And so many books to read.
Imagine.
Love,
Your biggest fan,
Girl Detective