It's the first time I've flown and I admit I'm a little agitated. I sit down and fasten my seat belt. My mother sits down next to me with a nice smile:

"Calm down, my dear!" We'll be in Miami soon.

5 hours and 23 minutes to cross the country from one ocean to another. In total, 3,757 kilometers.5 hours and 23 minutes to eliminate sixteen years from your life.And all this for an idiot job.

Only fifteen days ago, my life was perfect: I had two very good friends, a lot of acquaintances, I was invited to all the parties on Saturday night, and I had a family ... like everyone else. Seriously, what more could I want?

Until, on a Friday afternoon, I go home after school and realize that something terrible is going to happen. Whenever they have to give me bad news, my parents make me a consolation chocolate cake, and when I entered the house I was greeted exactly by the aroma of chocolate cake. I leave the bag at the entrance and go straight to the kitchen, where I find my mother by the stove.

"Hello, Mom," I say.

"Hi, honey, I didn't hear you when you came in."

It can be seen in her eyes that something is wrong.

" Did something happen?" I ask her.

" No why?"

"You're acting a little ... I don't know ... weird."

"No. It's all right, my dear. We're having dinner in about an hour."

"Okay, until then I'm going to tidy up my room," I say, then walk out of the kitchen and quickly climb the stairs to my room.

I go to the computer and play some music. Paramore's Misery Business is heard at full volume, and I start cleaning up, trying, among other things, not to think about that stupid Set. We've been together for eight months ... It's awful to find out that the boy you love is cheating on you. What an idiot!

My mother's voice interrupts my thoughts:"Let's eat"

In the kitchen, mom, dad and Kate are already seated. I sit down too and can't wait to put something in my mouth, because I'm hungry.

The silence in the kitchen is really embarrassing and strange, because we usually talk a lot.

"You know, I really like my new school," my sister says to break the silence.

Kate is fourteen years old and recently entered high school.

I notice that my mother and father are looking at each other. They exchange strange looks and look worried. Then my father nods and my mother understands. What's going on?

"Girls, we need to talk to you about something important."

Oh, no! I knew!

"Your father was offered a better job in Miami, and we need to move there. We're leaving in two weeks" she tells us.

I do not believe! It can not be true! We can't ... We're doing so well in Los Angeles! We have a beautiful house, many friends, maybe it's not great at school, but my colleagues are wonderful, and my mother and father earn very well.

"But we're doing very well here!" I say.

Dad looks at me, trying to keep his smile.

"That's right, Cris, I know, but I can't refuse. John Dallas trusts me and wants me with him to run some important business. But think about what you and Kate will gain: a house twice as big, a fantastic school, where you will have the right education, new friends and a lot of other things! And then, Miami is a very beautiful city, you will see!"

"Who is John Dallas?" Kate asks.

"A good friend of ours from college, and your father's boss", my mother replies. "Girls, I'm sure you'll like Miami!"

"That's not it, Mom!" I intervene. "And if it were the most beautiful city in the world, all my friends are here!"

"Yes, all our friends are here!" Kate insisted.

"That's right, but friends come and go, and I'm sure you'll make new ones."

I can't believe my ears! I can barely control my anger. How can they be so insensitive?

"I don't want any more!" I finally burst into tears. "And I don't want to leave Cass and Trevor! You know very well how united we are. I can't live without them!"

"Well, that's it, Cris, you're exaggerating! There's internet. You'll be able to keep in touch in a way."

This is how my mother always ends the discussions: finding the simplest solution to any problem, but I know very well that it is difficult to maintain long-distance relationships. What will it be like to live without Cass and Trevor? Not to see them every day, not to share every experience?

And then Set ... I was hoping I'd have time to sort things out, to make it back to me ...Instead, it's all over.

And here I am, in this damn plane that will take me away from all the things that give meaning to my life. Why does everything have to be so hard?

I sit by the window and feel the plane move and accelerate. We move faster and faster, launching forward like a projectile. I hold my breath as we pull off the ground. I do not believe! It really happens ... A force keeps me clinging to the chair and I feel an emptiness in my stomach. I'm scared, but at the same time, I admit, I feel a thrill of pleasure.

I don't know how, but I manage to have the courage to look out the window. Below us is Los Angeles as we have never seen it before: a grid of lines and geometric shapes farther and farther away. I don't recognize anything in my city.

Something tells me that it will be the longest five hours of my life ... I look around and focus on two children traveling with their parents: they are about four and five years old, and they seem very happy and quiet, as if flying would be the most natural thing in the world for them.

I feel a certain envy for them. I smile slightly and close my eyes, hoping to relax and get some sleep, despite the commotion the two are making.

I finally fall asleep and start dreaming. It's one of the strangest dreams I've ever had: crying and hugging a boy. I can't see his features clearly, but I notice a detail: he wears an earring in his right ear, a kind of crescent.

I don't know who he is, but I still have a strange feeling, I'm really sure I've always known him. It would seem that he also suffers terribly, but why?

He moves his lips to speak, and it's very strange, because he just tells me:

"Wake up, honey!"

I look at him in amazement and immediately open my eyes.

It's mom.

"We arrived in Miami," she told me.