Oh and yeah, my across-the-street neighbor’s name is Matt. Matt Bloom. You can call him Matty B. He’s into all that theater stuff, too. If you see him in the hallways or at auditions, just say hi to the little guy. I’m sure the hottest girl in school saying hi to him would make him feel pretty cool.
I gotta go to the gym. These muscles don’t just happen. Wish you had let me buy you that claddagh ring so everyone could know you were mine, but hey . . . maybe down the line? I also wish I was under the F Hall stairs with you right now!! But hey . . . we got all year, and I’ve got that old giant-sized vodka bottle from my dad and it’s filled with pennies, so I’m not concerned about wishes.
See you tomorrow morning. First day of Senior year. I can’t wait to see that candy cane skirt.
Love ya,
C.P.C.
To-est Soup!
Hi, other most beautiful girl in New England! And so it is, we have officially been goin’ to school together since kindergarten—that’s 13 years, Tomato!
Okay, first of all, could you look more gorgeous on the first day of our Senior year? I’ll answer that! NO! Oh my god, what did your mom (my second mom, and let’s be real, my first mom on most days) feed you in Nantucket all summer? Gorgeous pills?! We should dress identical this week and walk down the halls in slow motion—the school will literally freak out.
I missed you more than life this summer. Not havin’ my best friend around for TWO MONTHS really shined a light on what it’s gonna be like when we go to college. We’ve been together, like, every day our whole lives. (Except this past summer, Miss Nantucket (tee-hee, tee-hee), so happy for you that your family got a cottage there!) Were you sooo lonely there without me? I’m sure it’s beautiful, and you had your family, but NO BEST FRIEND FOR THAT LONG! Well, what am I even saying, I know how you felt because from our friendship pins to our matching telephone-wire bracelets to our best friends necklace . . . I know everything you feel because I feel it, too. And I was lonely without you. Don’t get me wrong, I had Christopher, but nothing replaces my Stefanie, Stef, Steffed-Animal, Soup!
So, now that you’re a supermodel, who do you wanna go out with? Tara and Christopher, Stef and blank? We have to be very, veeery careful about who your boyfriend will be. No one is good enough for you (we know that), but let’s make a list.
While you were in Nantucket this summer I changed my entire bedroom. You are gonna freak, it’s so good! You know my little corkboard to the side of my desk that I had all our movie stubs (Mystic Pizza, Pump Up the Volume, etc., etc.) and concert tickets (NKOTB, Paula Abdul, etc., etc.) on? Gone! I was like, “Tara, you do not need two corkboards as a Senior, and Tara, you do not need to have all your memories with your best friend EVER out for any not-as-important person to see, because my lifetime history with Stef Campbell is no one’s business except for me, Stef, and my diaries . . . duh.” So, yes . . . I now have a one-corkboard bedroom. Classier, college-ish, right?
I got brand-new sheets at TJ’s! I know you’re like, “Wait, you got rid of your hearts-and-stars sheets? You lived for those!” I know, Stef . . . Q even believe? But I’m growin’ up and so is my bed. Oh, my new sheets are just white. Off-white kind of, but I wanted a clean slate. It’s not every day you start your final year of high school!
I feel like you were in Nantucket ALL summer! Well, I guess that’s ’cuz you were. Do islands like that not have phones (tee-hee, tee-hee)—no, but for real (not for fake), I missed hearin’ your voice, Minnie Strone! Tell me everything about your time there. Were you so bored with no best friend? Wait, did I already ask you that? Well, I hope you carried me with you all summer, and I’m sure you held your half of the necklace as much as I held mine (every day!).
Christopher and I are already talkin’ about Prom. You are coming with us no matter who you are dating (we need to make that list ASAP). Do you think Tzoug or Dube is cute for you? Whatever. You know Christopher, he is like dyin’ for there to be another Supercouple in this town like me and him.
Anyway, I am beyond hopeful that I get cast as Sandy in Grease. You think I will, right? Of course you do, you’re like, “Tara, YOU ARE SANDY!” I know, I know. I gotta stay calm, just wicked excited to play her.
I wonder what Senior Superlatives we’re gonna get come spring! Can we split Most Beautiful (like our necklace)??
OH MY GOD, WE ARE SENIORS!!!
Okay, I love you “More Than Words.”
Your best friend (and don’t you forget it),
Lives, Loves, Laughs (TRIPLE L for LIFE!),
Tar
P.S. Christopher’s across-the-street neighbor is a Fresh-man and apparently interested in theater. Think I should write him a welcome note?
To-est Tara, T. Murphs, Tmurphette,
I can’t wait to see your “new” room! It sounds fabulous. And yes, you were so right, I was like, “Holy crap, Tara got rid of her hearts-and-stars sheets!” My god, the memories. Those sheets have been with us 4-eva! They’re, like, famous. If you didn’t throw them out maybe we can cut them up and sew them into something else.
I know, I sew now. Such a long story, but it’s you, so I have to tell you.
When we first got to Nantucket I was crying all the time. And I felt terrible about it because this cottage has been my parents’ dream for, like, their whole lives, and here I was bawling
