“Where are you going?” Young Chris asked as his brother stuffed his soccer bag with most of the clothes in the closet. Their parents were downstairs, cleaning up after most of the family members left as their grandparents stayed in their guest rooms. His hair was much more blonde then.

“Away,” his brother answered, tears streaming down his rosy cheeks as he zipped up the bag and moved on to packing his other belongings into his school backpack. He managed to get many things inside and the room was bare besides a few posters, soccer trophies, and a large bean bag that served as a chair. He was able to get a majority of his clothes and all his pictures and certificates. He pocketed his passport which he snuck into his parent’s closet to steal and slung the two bags over broth his shoulders.

“You could just get a girlfriend,” Chris assumed as if that would make all things right. Tears soon watered his eyes and he tried to keep his composure.

“I wish it was that easy,” his brother replied as he pulled Chris into a bear hug. They hugged each other for a few minutes and his brother opened his bedroom window, climbed down their sycamore tree outside, and ran off to who knows her.

Chris sighed as he tried to shake the memory away and rubbed his wife’s arm to soothe her. He had never seen his brother since and never told Victoria that he even had a brother. He was angry and still was that he was left without a sibling and without someone to look up to. All he could do was hope that his brother had married the man of his dreams.

“16C,” the judge announced in a monotone voice.

That happened to be Bette’s code for a speaker since knowing names wasn’t allowed. She got up from her seat in the way back and got up to the podium.

Everyone in the room stared up at her with eager eyes, hoping she’d mess up so they’d get a better score. All of them were contestants since not many people watched Speech and Debate Tournaments so the audience was small but still intimidating.

She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. She still had butterflies in her stomach and was uneasy in front of audiences. That was her main reason she considered being a part of this school team. Her other was because of the many scholarship opportunities that Speech and Debate held. Being part of a huge family taught her a lot of saving money.