Moving is no fun! Especially not if it is the fifth time! This time we were really moving far away, and it was very hard to leave my very special friends behind me. Why are they so special? Well, go on reading and you’ll find out.

It was an unusually cold afternoon in August, and tomorrow night we would go on the plane that would take us far, far away, to my new home, the USA. I was already missing my friends, and it was hard to think of the long time, I would not be able to see them anymore. My mother had just sent me to go buy some milk in the shabby supermarket around the corner. As I walked out of the shop, a bottle of milk in my hand, I was wondering why she would need milk. We had given all the food which was still left to our neighbours, because we didn’t need it anymore. Though it rained, I didn’t hurry. I love the rain, and I had to tell it farewell, because I knew that in California it is supposed to be very dry.

I had to try three times until I got the wet key in the door of our cosy apartment I loved so much. As I finally opened the door, six girls jumped in front of me, screaming “Surprise!”
I had to hold on to the doorframe; otherwise I would have fallen over in the mess of glass and milk, which had just scattered in front of me. While the six girls were pulling me in my room, I recognized their faces. They were my best friends, Sophie, Maria, Leonie, Pauline, Louise, and Michelle, who we always called Delle. My room was almost empty, except for an old mattress I was sleeping on, because all my stuff got shipped over the ocean right now.
“Did we get you?” asked Leonie cheering.
It took me a while to find my voice, “Kidding?”
“I think we scared her pretty badly,” Maria said, chuckling.
“Was my mum in on it?”
“Of course she was! Why do you think she sent you go shop for, dumb?”
I wanted to say something to my defence, but I was so amazed of the things my friends were taking out of their bags, that I had to sit down on my beloved
hardwood-floor.
“We had to bring something, because, obviously, your room is as empty as your refrigerator,” Delle went on, spreading chips, chocolate, candy, and other junk food out on the ground. The others were emptying out their bags too; they had brought CDs, magazines, game boys, and even a little, portable CD player.
“Are you ready for the craziest party in history?,” cheered Leonie.
“Hold on, is this like a farewell party?” I asked in amazement.
“What did you think it is - a funeral?”
I couldn’t believe it, they had done everything for me I could’ve expected, but now they were going too far! Suddenly I was a little embarrassed; did I really deserve friends like this?
“Come on, you won’t see us in a while, that’s your last chance!,” screamed Sophie against the loud music, somebody had put on. My very best friend was right, and then I shouldn’t spoil the best party that was ever celebrated in history. So I got up and danced with the best friends you can imagine.

We ate canned food from plastic plates, without even bothering about the forks my mother gave us; and still, it was the best dinner I ever had. At midnight, after dancing, screaming and fooling around, we got on my shabby mattress, but not to sleep, but to talk and laugh together in the dark. Though the mattress was not very big, somehow, we all fit on it. I was sure, I was the last one to fall asleep, I always am, but this time it didn’t bother me. I listened to the breathing of my wonderful friends and prepared myself for the tears and sobs of the goodbye in the morning.
I woke up at seven, which was a little to early for my taste, but someone had put his foot in my face. I tried to remove it without waking the person the foot belonged to, but unfortunately, she turned around in just the moment in which I held her foot in my hand and rolled over on to Maria, her foot ending up in Delle’s face, who woke the rest of the girls with a loud scream.
“What the hack is going on?,” asked Louise sourly, “Is it time to leave already?”
“Don’t worry, just go back to sleep,” I tried to comfort her, but nobody wanted to sleep anymore, so we got up and continued celebrating again, until my parents came to stop us.

Time went on fast, and there it was already - the time of farewells. Everybody hugged me, sobbing.
“I’ll miss so much,” cried Sophie, her tears rolling down my shirt.
“We’ll write you a letter every day,” Maria and Delle promised.
“Are you kidding, just one? How about two letters a day?,” asked Louise with a faint smile on her lips.
I couldn’t watch them cry, so I said, “Don’t cry, it doesn’t change anything, just look forward to next summer. I promise, I will be here all the holidays long!” My speech comforted them a little, so that the last picture I would memorize of them, was one of six smiling faces hugging me goodbye.

I was surprised, that I could hold my tears, until I sat in the plain, watching millions of little lights faint in the dark beneath me.