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It was another restless night. Another night of Rikki re-reading Emma’s precious letter and tracing the letters with her fingers until the graphite smudged and faded. The paper was yellow and torn at the edges by mid-July.
Mid-July. The hottest time of the year; Rikki’s kind of weather.
Rikki remembered these dog days especially well when Emma and her would escape the heat in Emma’s room. It was probably the coolest place on the Golf Coast, both figuratively and literally. Between the Gilbert’s state-of-the-art air conditioner and her ice powers, Emma’s bedroom was perpetually cold.
She smiled fondly; the way Emma could turn any drink into a slushie without leaving the house was pretty awesome. How the ice never melted in her drink. How her ice cream never drooped and dribbled down the cone.
How her hands were always pleasantly cold.
Rikki shivered. Emma’s hands. The hands used to write the letter Rikki held right now. Emma was never that heartfelt in person; maybe she was more confident in writing? Rikki’s head spun with what if’s.
So, she headed off to the only place she could truly be alone: Mako Island.
The moon wasn’t full that night, far from it. Only a small crescent lit the moon pool, blanketing it in uncharacteristically heavy shadows.
Rikki stared at the sliver of crescent, only a night away from a new moon and another lunar cycle starting over again.
‘I wonder how many moon cycles it will take before Emma comes back?’ Rikki thought. She imagined Emma sitting in the crescent moon, leaning back. She was reading a book with one hand while the other propped her head up. Her legs dangled into the starless sky. Rikki blinked, and her vision of Emma vanished into the inky above.
Rikki positioned herself on her back, the soft ripples swaying her gently. “Why couldn’t Emma tell me in person?” Rikki asked the moon. “Am I that unapproachable? I thought we were friends!” She crossed her arms, her brow furrowed in hurt concern.
“Did she have to leave like that? Not even a goodbye?” The sky remained silent and unmoving, indifferent to Rikki’s plight.
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Another night in a new place. Despite the myriad of countries the Gilberts traveled to, Emma’s parents always managed to book remarkably similar hotels. She didn’t mind though. It made falling asleep a little bit easier.
But not tonight. Emma slid the sliding glass doors open slowly to not wake her sleeping family. She stepped onto the balcony, the cement cold from the night air. She held onto the hollow metal railing. It shook slightly. That’s not a good sign.
Emma looked up at the moon. The same moon that Rikki looked at tonight.
Oh, Rikki.
The one person she had been trying to forget about. Trying being the key word here. Emma went from blissfully distracted with sightseeing to staring longingly at the moon, wishing more than anything that Rikki was there with her.
Such as nights like these. Emma slumped over the railing. It shook more. She buried her shameful face in her hands. Guilt, a familiar feeling, washed over her for the millionth time.
That stupid letter. Why did Emma have to write it? Why did Emma have to *send* it?!
She could have easily torn it up and let it rot in the rubbish bin for the summer, but nooo, she just *had* to let Rikki know how she felt in the most obscure way possible. Did Rikki even get the hidden message? Emma surely wouldn’t.
Emma pulled at her face. And she didn’t even mention the trip!
The stupid letter (and her own fears) were the cause of this whole mess. Emma stood erect sharply, causing the railing to rattle in protest of her sudden movement.
That’s it! A letter would get her *out* of this mess! Something personal, something thought-provoking, something a little embarrassing. A heartfelt apology to Rikki and Cleo. Perhaps they all could become pen pals after this?
That is, if they forgave her. Emma wasn’t too worried about Cleo, but Rikki…Rikki was one stubborn girl. Would Rikki even want to speak to her after such a horrible blunder? Emma swallowed. The only way to find out was to start writing.
She crept into the house again and to her bedroom, taking out a stash of cutesy stationary…
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My best friends, Rikki and Cleo,
I’m sorry. I should’ve told you about the trip as soon as I knew about it. In person. Not some chicken scratch goodbye delivered the night before I left.
I wanted things to stay the same even though they couldn’t, even though telling you guys wouldn’t change a lot between us. I hoped that my parents would cancel the trip and we could spend our senior year together. You both deserved a notice about the tour, and I fell through with that.
I miss you both so much. I hope you two are having a fun summer. I hope we can still be friends when I come back, but even if we aren’t, I want to let you girls know that the past two years have been the most thrilling and fulfilling of my life.
Sincerely (seriously!),
Emma