"What are the chances-if Alexander does move that I could go with him?" I asked my dad.
"Zero," he answered.
"Honey," my mom said softly, "I know he is your first love."
"He's my only love!"
"I know," she continued, "but you are only sixteen."
"I'm almost seventeen. Juliet was married at that age!"
"And look what happened toher " my dad said.
"This isn't funny! If Alexander moves, my life is over- pure and simple. I'll never wake up again." I burst into tears.
My mom hugged me like I was a child.
"Why can't theSterlings like it here?" I sobbed. "Why do they have to go back toRomania ?"
"I'm sure they have family there," my mom said, brushing my hair away from my tearstained face. "That is their home."
"But this is Alexander's home. If we buy it-then Alexander can live there. He's almost eighteen, you know."
"I'm not sure we can afford two homes."
"But can't you try? Use my college money. I'll get a job."
"Now you are thinking." My dad smiled.
"I mean it," I said. "I'll do it." But then I calculated the wages I'd made when I worked at Armstrong Travel. "It would take me years working part-time to earn enough for 'Jill a house," I said, frustrated. "By then I'll be buying into a retirement community."
"When your mother went back home at the beginning of college summer break/' my dad said, "I was so lonely. I wrote her letters every day and called her. That was long before the Internet and cell phones."
"An e- mail is not going to replace Alexander," I said, and stormed off to my bedroom. "Nothing will."
This was one time there was nothing my parents could say that would comfort me.
By the following day the news that theBensonHillMansion was for sale had swept through Dullsville like a tornado. However, the only damage it was causing was to my heart.
"What are you going to do?" Becky asked at my house the next morning as I was still lying in bed. "Is Alexander moving, too? Where is he going to live?"
"I don't know."
"Well, get up. We're going to be late. I mean, later than usual."
"I don't want him to move. I'd die."
"I don't want him to move and he's not even my boy friend. He's so perfect for you. And I'd hate to see you without your true love."
"This is, like, the worst news ever!" I cried out. It was true-there was no way around it. My world was crashing around me. "I can't go to school today!"
Becky tugged at my shirt. "You have to go. I'm not going to let you stay here and sulk. School will get your mind off of it."
After splashing cold water on my face and promising to help solve my problem, Becky was successful at dragging me to school. But when we arrived I was far from distracted.
"The Mansion's for sale and Alexander has to move back toRomania ," Becky said as soon as she saw Matt.
"My parents told me last night when I got home. That totally sucks, Raven. Word has it that they are selling it and are going to build a house next to the cemetery" he said.