zoegirl:
good!
SnowAngel:
i can stay out as late as i want, which i guess is nice of her.
SnowAngel:
but it’s not enough.
zoegirl:
no, it’s not.
SnowAngel:
Thu, Dec 16, 2:02 PM E.S.T.
mad maddie:
we’re done!
zoegirl:
yay!!!
mad maddie:
do u have the candles & food & quilt?
zoegirl:
i do. do you have the pictures?
mad maddie:
yes ma’am, in my backpack.
zoegirl:
she’s going to cry, you know. we all are.
mad maddie:
NO WE’RE NOT. c ya at collier park!
Thu, Dec 16, 2:04 PM E.S.T.
mad maddie:
woot! woot!
SnowAngel:
oh god, i JUST turned my paper in. i’m the last person left in the room.
mad maddie:
meet me at back parking lot!
SnowAngel:
YEAH!!!
Fri, Dec 17, 10:01 AM E.S.T.
zoegirl:
omigosh, maddie.
mad maddie:
i know
zoegirl:
she’s *gone*. she’s really gone.
mad maddie:
do u have to say it like that?
zoegirl:
but it’s the truth. as of exactly one hour ago, angela doesn’t live here anymore.
mad maddie:
i don’t know how to
mad maddie:
i feel so
zoegirl:
wrong?
mad maddie:
yeah
mad maddie:
w/o her, everything feels wrong
Sat, Dec 18, 10:21 PM P.S.T.
SnowAngel:
well, here i am in crudballs california. i cldn’t txt before now cuz stupid me cldn’t find stupid charger and … yeah.
SnowAngel:
r u there, zo?
SnowAngel:
ohhhhh. it’s, what, after midnight there? so yr probably in bed, while here i am, not even in the same TIME ZONE as u anymore!
SnowAngel:
i hate this so much, zo.
SnowAngel:
and guess what? my bracelet broke. i snagged it on the corner of the ticket counter at the airport, and the leather snapped and the silver part flew off and i couldn’t find it anywhere and now it’s ruined, just like my whole entire life.
SnowAngel:
so just in case u were wondering, let me enlighten u:
SnowAngel:
i
SnowAngel:
don’t
SnowAngel:
b
SnowAngel:
lieve
Sat, Dec 18, 10:33 PM P.S.T.
SnowAngel:
maddie?
SnowAngel:
oh, ma-a-a-a-ddie!
SnowAngel:
great, even UR asleep.
SnowAngel:
i lost my “believe” bracelet. ask zoe, she’ll tell u what happened.
SnowAngel:
i want it back, mads.
SnowAngel:
i want my life back.
SnowAngel:
god, i feel so alone.
Sun, Dec 19, 2:11 PM E.S.T.
zoegirl:
hey, mads. i talked to angela this morning. she’s incredibly sad, big surprise.
mad maddie:
fill me in
zoegirl:
she hates her apartment, for one thing. and she hates el cerrito.
zoegirl:
it’s so weird imagining her in a brand-new place. i keep telling myself it’s true, but it doesn’t *feel* true.
mad maddie:
i know what u mean. i drove by her house yesterday, even tho i know i shouldn’t have. it looked so … empty.
zoegirl:
i bet
zoegirl:
she told me again how much she loved our moonlight picnic, though. and the photo album. she said looking at it is the only thing keeping her sane.
mad maddie:
that was a good time
zoegirl:
i don’t know if i’d say it was a “good” time, but i know what you mean.
zoegirl:
i told you we’d be sobbing, though. even u, miss i’m-so-tough-maddie. sometimes i think you’re the biggest softie of us all.
mad maddie:
oh please
zoegirl:
in a good way!
mad maddie:
ok, well, enough of this drama, cuz i’m off to meet chive. wanna come?
zoegirl:
no thanks. i guess i feel more like being alone.
mad maddie:
u deal with things your way, i’ll deal with them mine.
mad maddie:
laters!
Mon, Dec 20, 3:25 PM P.S.T.
SnowAngel:
maddie maddie maddie! hey, maddie!
mad maddie:
a-boogie! wassup?
SnowAngel:
FINALLY! omg, i’ve been trying to reach u forever!
SnowAngel:
u haven’t been avoiding me, have u?
mad maddie:
WHAT?
SnowAngel:
u haven’t texted me, and u haven’t returned my calls. i thought maybe u were sick of me cuz i’m such a downer all the time
mad maddie:
don’t be crazy—i’ve just been busy.
mad maddie:
so what’s new in el cerrito?
SnowAngel:
my pillow got lost in the move. isn’t that just dandy? the movers arrived this morning, and my pillow wasn’t in the truck!
mad maddie:
that high-tech squishy pillow from the sleep store?
SnowAngel:
it’s the only good pillow i’ve ever had in my life. now i have to use this crap pillow that mom ran out and bought me at some crap store, and it’s one more thing in my life that utterly sucks. it’s thoroughly and wrongly fluffy, and i’m never gonna be able to sleep again, i just know it. i tried it out on my bed, and i can hear my pulse thru it!
mad maddie:
wtf?
SnowAngel:
it presses on my neck wrong. it jams up against my carotid artery or whatever the hell it’s called, and it makes my pulse ring in my brain. thump! thump! thump! that’s all i can hear!
mad maddie:
ur losing it, lady
mad maddie:
repeat after me, “it is good to have a heartbeat.”
SnowAngel:
not if u have to HEAR it all the time. i HATE hearing my pulse!
mad maddie:
so sleep on your back!
SnowAngel:
i can’t sleep on my back. i can only sleep on my side.
SnowAngel:
r u purposefully trying to upset me?
mad maddie:
er, i don’t wanna name names, but someone is freaking …
SnowAngel:
*folds arms over chest* zoe would understand.
mad maddie:
one sec, something just came on tv that i wanna watch
SnowAngel:
ur watching tv while i pour my heart out? tv’s more important than ME?
SnowAngel:
maddie?
SnowAngel:
maddie!!!
mad maddie:
good god, i just saw THE most horrifying newsclip. u can catch on fire at the gas station if u touch the gas pump with too much static electricity—did u know that? they showed this girl putting the nozzle in her gas tank thingie, and then she got back in her car while it was pumping. she was wearing a sweater, and apparently it rubbed against the seat and got her all staticky. she went back to grab the pump … and KAPOW! she burst into flames!
; SnowAngel:
is this supposed to cheer me up? “sorry u lost your pillow, but at least u avoided self-immolation”?
mad maddie:
sweater girl survived, but the news guy said that other people have actually died.
mad maddie:
damn.
mad maddie:
u be careful, u hear?
SnowAngel:
why do i need to be careful? i don’t even have a car. i wanted a car, but instead i got to move to california, remember?
mad maddie:
well, when and if u DO get a car, don’t get back in it while ur in the middle of pumping gas. and touch the side of the car before u grab the gas pump again. that way the static electricity will flow out of u.
SnowAngel:
thanks for the tip *regards friend sourly*
SnowAngel:
do u have anything else to say?
mad maddie:
umm … don’t wear fluffy sweaters when u go to the gas station?
SnowAngel:
gbye, maddie!!!
Tues, Dec 21, 10:30 AM E.S.T.
zoegirl:
hey, angela. is it too early for me to be texting? i can never remember the time difference.
zoegirl:
angela?
zoegirl:
okay, guess that’s a yes. but i just wanted to tell u that i mailed you a present today—snail mail! old-school!—so you should get it soon, hopefully by christmas eve.
zoegirl:
i love you, angela! text me!!!
Wed, Dec 22, 4:43 PM P.S.T.
SnowAngel:
hey, zo. sorry i missed u yesterday—i was sleeping in. it’s like all i do is sleep these days, and i’m STILL tired.
zoegirl:
that’s okay. i would have called u back last night, but i picked up a shift at Kidding Around.
SnowAngel:
was doug there?
zoegirl:
he was, yeah
SnowAngel:
i had a dream about him, isn’t that weird? it was actually about BOTH of u. u had dyed your hair blond to impress him.
SnowAngel:
which leads me to ask: u haven’t started liking him, have u?
zoegirl:
*angela*
SnowAngel:
i’m sorry, i’m sorry *grimaces*
SnowAngel:
why am i so needy? is it just cuz i’m stuck 3,000 miles away from u guys, and i feel like everything’s being torn apart?
zoegirl:
you’re being silly. nothing’s being torn apart.
SnowAngel:
i hope not
SnowAngel:
so have i mentioned that life sucks? i told mom AGAIN that i wanna move back to atlanta and live with my aunt sadie, but she was like, “u haven’t given california a chance. ur gonna love it, u’ll see.”
zoegirl:
maybe you will. i can see you as a california girl, all tan and beautiful. hey—maybe you’ll learn to surf!
SnowAngel:
???
SnowAngel:
seriously?
zoegirl:
sorry. just trying to be optimistic.
SnowAngel:
u know what i miss that i didn’t even realize i was gonna miss? magnolia trees. i never knew how much i loved them until i moved here.
SnowAngel:
it is a barren wasteland of sadness. that is where i live now. *single tear*
zoegirl:
i love magnolia trees too
SnowAngel:
plus i HATE our apartment. i still have boxes all over my room. isn’t that depressing? it’s like i can’t bear to make myself unpack.
zoegirl:
sorry you hate it, but describe it anyway so i can see you in my mind.
SnowAngel:
it’s tiny. it’s beige. there’s wallpaper in my room with stupid rosebuds on it, and i can hear traffic thru my window. mom says rentals here r super-expensive and we’re lucky dad found a three-bedroom place, but i disagree.
zoegirl:
have you met anybody else in the apartment complex?
SnowAngel:
no, and i don’t want to. the family below us has a kid, but she’s five. she speaks korean.
zoegirl:
she’s five years old and she speaks korean? impressive.
SnowAngel:
no, i meant she speaks korean cuz she IS korean.
zoegirl:
oh
zoegirl:
well …
SnowAngel:
yes, zoe? if u can put a positive spin on my sucky life, then believe me, i wanna hear it.
zoegirl:
um … at least it’s almost christmas?
SnowAngel:
at least it’s almost christmas. *sigh*
Thu, Dec 23, 6:02 PM E.S.T.
mad maddie:
dude! chive gave me a nickel bag of pot to celebrate the birth of christ. isn’t that righteous?
SnowAngel:
what a guy
SnowAngel:
but don’t u think that’s sacrilegious?
mad maddie:
i gave him a cool marble pipe i bought at the head store in little five points. oh, and i made him a fantastic playlist that for the record was way more complicated to make than it shld have been. why does iTunes make it so hard to gift playlists instead of individual songs???
mad maddie:
we’re gonna make use of it all tomorrow night—if i can escape the fam.
SnowAngel:
maddie, tomorrow’s christmas eve. u can’t smoke pot on christmas eve!
mad maddie:
why not? the three wise men followed a frickin STAR all the way to Bethlehem. ur telling me they weren’t under the influence of a certain illegal substance?
SnowAngel:
tsk, tsk
SnowAngel:
i think u need to start going to church with zoe, young lady!
mad maddie:
yeah, that’ll happen
SnowAngel:
does this mean u’ve learned how to smoke it in a way that doesn’t hurt?
mad maddie:
i wouldn’t say that, exactly. that’s why i bought the pipe—it’s supposed to make it a smoother ride. but anything’ll get better the more u do it, right?
SnowAngel:
uh, i guess
mad maddie:
it’s bound to
mad maddie:
btw, chive says u can score some really good pot in california, so keep your eye out for me.
SnowAngel:
yeah, that’s what i need, to get busted for drugs on top of everything else.
mad maddie:
whine, whine, whine. nobody actually gets busted for buying pot. you only get hassled if ur a big-time cocaine dealer or something.
SnowAngel:
omg, u haven’t tried COCAINE, have u?
mad maddie:
angela, chill. pot is my drug of choice, thank u very much.
mad maddie:
so check it out: i bought your christmas present, and you are going to LOVE it. wanna know what it is?
SnowAngel:
a totally rockin marble pipe?
mad maddie:
haha. no, microwavable slippers.
SnowAngel:
aw, maddie, thanks!
SnowAngel:
and what, exactly, will i do with these microwavable slippers?
mad maddie:
microwave them, of course! the bottoms have these pouches of rice or beans or something in them, and when u microwave them, they get roasty-toasty. they’re for cold feet, u goof.
SnowAngel:
ooo, they sound wonderful. it gets really chilly here at night, like unbelievably so. and our apartment is always freezing.
mad maddie:
i’ll put them in the mail tomorrow—that is, unless i don’t. but i’ll mail them soon, i promise.
SnowAnge
l:
no rush. i haven’t even picked out anything for u or zoe.
mad maddie:
so what’s up with zoe these days? i haven’t seen her all vacation.
SnowAngel:
why not?
mad maddie:
dunno, just haven’t. it’s not for any BAD reason.
SnowAngel:
well, she’s fine as far as i know. she’s working a lot, it sounds like.