Rachel’s P.O.V.
Did I just hear my mom correctly?!
“Wait, what?” I asked, my eyes open wide.
“You and Stephanie are going to England this summer!” she repeated, a lot more excited than she was a minute ago.
I literally screamed and jumped up and down with her. This is going to be awesome! Stephanie’s going to see her family! I need to tell her!
“Ok, ok, I think that’s enough celebration. There are a few rules you need to know first,” my mom said, calming down and sitting on my bed. Uh, oh.
“Mom, I promise I won’t drink or smoke or do anything inappropriate over there,” I listed off, rolling my eyes.
“That wasn’t what I was going to talk about, but you had better stick to that, too,” she stated.
“Oh,” I replied, sighing.
“The thing is, we want this to be a surprise for Stephanie,” my mom began, “meaning that you have to keep this secret from her.”
“What?” I asked, my face falling from its previous expression.
“Yes. Stephanie’s adopted mom will be in contact with Harry and I’m not sure what they’re planning, but something special is going to be happening, the surprise for Stephanie.”
“This is going to be hard,” I admitted.
“I’m sorry, honey, but if it works, you’ll be the happiest best friend in the world, and nothing is more important than that,” my mom spoke, using her words of wisdom.
“Okay,” I responded, half-smiling.
“The other thing is that you two will be staying in England for the summer. Not just a week, not just a month, but the entire summer,” she continued.
“Really?” I exclaimed, my mouth dropping in surprise.
“Yeah. I’ve talked with Maura and she assured me that she will have a talk with the other boys’ moms to make sure they understand some rules, too. You will be staying at Harry’s dad’s cottage, not too far from where Harry’s actual house is. They do have rehearsals and band stuff to do also, so you cannot interrupt them when all of that is going on, alright?”
“Got it,” I replied, understanding everything she said.
“That’s all I have for now, but you can’t tell Stephanie or anyone else for that matter, ok?” she finished, standing up.
“Ok,” I responded, but before she could do anything, I basically tackled her into a hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
“You’re welcome, sweetie,” she answered. She pulled out of the hug and shot me a smile before exiting my room.
This was going to be one heck of a summer.

Stephanie’s P.O.V.
A few days later, I decided that I would try to convince my mum again. She had still been continuously shut up in her room with her laptop and phone, and every day I became more and more curious. Something’s up, I could tell, but I just didn’t know what. Rachel’s birthday is in about a month, so she could be planning something for that, but wouldn’t she tell me since I’m her best friend and I have a right to know? Oh well, my mind has been more focused on England.
My plan was to lie about Skyping with Harry and tell her that he wouldn’t take me to see my family. It would just be the guys. I was crossing my fingers for good luck.
We were home and I approached her after eating a snack. She was cleaning up the kitchen and so I figured it was the right time to ask.
“Hey, mum?” I asked casually.
“Yes, Steph?” she answered. I swallowed and continued.
“I was Skyping with Harry the other day and he told me that if I came, he wouldn’t take me to go see my family. They’re going to be busy with band stuff anyways so he wouldn’t have much time to take me to visit my biological family,” I nervously lied. My mum was silent, busy with her cleaning.
“And?” she said, probably wondering why I’m telling her this.
“And so if that was the case, would I still be able to go?” I questioned for the hundredth time.
“Stephanie, we’ve been over this many times. The answer is no, final!” she insisted.
“But mum!”
“No buts, Stephanie! Now go do your homework, I’ve been seeing you complain about how much you have on Facebook,” she added, a smirk playing on her lips.
Sighing loudly, I grabbed my backpack and headed upstairs, not ready to finish the heaping amount of homework weighing me down.

The next day at school, I vented to Rachel about my mum’s conversation last night. I was becoming furious at her. No matter what I do, what promises I make, she won’t let me go. I can’t take it anymore.
“Well, we’ll be turning 18 next year. If we save up money we can probably go there next summer,” she suggested.
“Yeah but my birthday isn’t until the summertime. I won’t be 18 until we’re already there. There is no way my mum will let us go without me turning 18,” I said, not trying to shut down her idea.
“We’ll get you there somehow, I promise,” she replied.
“Promise is a big word, Rachel,” I pointed out. I just didn’t want to keep believing in empty promises.
“Stephanie,” she started, but I pushed past her to get to class. I didn’t feel like talking anymore.

Rachel’s P.O.V.
After school, we headed to Stephanie’s house like we usually do. We clambered inside, expecting her mom to be fussing around, but she wasn’t. Stephanie was right; she was shut up in her room and I knew why. We found ourselves some food before turning on the TV and taking over the living room.
About a half an hour later, Stephanie’s mom came out and entered the living room.
“Rachel, I need you for a moment,” she communicated.
“Um, ok,” I answered, getting up off of the couch. Stephanie attempted to follow me, but her mom told her to stay there and do some homework while she’s waiting for me. That’s when I knew this could mean only one thing.
Stephanie’s mom led me to her bedroom. The minute I walked in, I could tell she had been doing major planning. Papers were everywhere, not even neatly stacked. Photo albums lay on the ground, open with pictures of Stephanie’s past, the life I hadn’t known her in. On the desk, though, a laptop sat open with Harry’s face blown up on the screen.
“Harry would like to talk to you, dear,” Stephanie’s mom told me, and left me in the room alone.
I approached the desk and sat down in the comfy chair.
“Hey, Harry,” I greeted.
“Hey, Rachel. Glad you could talk to me,” he said.
“No problem. What’s up?”
“Well, we’ve figured out a plan. The first thing I need to know is when is your last day of school?” he asked me.
“Um, June 9th,” I answered.
“Great! Ok, so, I want to surprise Stephanie on your last day of school. My mum agreed with this, and so far Steph’s mum has, too. I would be flying in to Chicago a few days before your last day of school, but I would be staying at your house, if that’s alright with you and your mum. Then, on your last day, I would pick you guys up from school and surprise Stephanie, and our flight would be leaving later that day, meaning that you guys have to be packed and ready to go. You’ve kept the secret so far, right?”
“Yeah, I have,” I responded.
“Ok, because we won’t tell her she’s coming here until I surprise her at school, so you’re going to have to keep this a secret until the last day,” he explained.
“Are you kidding me?” I complained. I was already having a hard time keeping it from her now, and it’s only been a few days since I was told the news. But I gotta say, this was a good plan.
“Sorry, Rach,” Harry laughed. I rolled my eyes.
“But another one of your jobs has to be packing for her, too. Since she won’t know, she won’t be packing, and because you’re her best friend over there, you know what she all uses and wears. It’ll help us in the long run, too, because then she’ll be all ready to go.”
“Okay, I’ll try,” I responded.
“How’s she doing, anyways?” he asked. It’s cute how he’s so concerned about her.
“She’s not in the greatest of moods. She keeps asking her mum if she can go, which her mum says no, and she becomes depressed. I haven’t really been able to cheer her up,” I admitted.
Harry started thinking as he became silent on the other side. I heard footsteps coming from the outside of the door, so I knew my time was up. The door opened and Stephanie’s mum came inside.
“How are we doing in here?” she asked in a light tone.
“Pretty good,” I answered. “He explained everything.”
“Hey, do you think I could talk to Stephanie? I won’t say anything, I promise, but I think just chatting with me will help her cheer up a bit,” Harry questioned.
“Ok, yeah, you can do that. Just let me close out of my stuff before she accidentally clicks on something,” Stephanie’s mum said, taking over the chair I was just sitting in and exiting out of web browsers and word documents. She unplugged the laptop from the charging unit and headed out of the room, me following close behind her.

Stephanie’s P.O.V.
First of all, why would my mum need Rachel for something? And second, telling me to do my homework on a Friday? I was so confused and ready to get to the bottom of this.
I finished a few of my math problems before my mum and Rachel entered the living room, my mum’s laptop in her hand. My mum set it down on the coffee table I was working at and I saw Harry’s smiling face.
“Harry!” I screamed, accidentally flinging my pencil across the room. Rachel scrambled to go get it for me and sat next to me on the couch.
“Hey, Steph,” he greeted.
“I’ll be in the other room,” my mum told us, and left.
“How is everything?” Harry asked.
“Um, somewhere in the middle,” I answered. “My mum still won’t let us come and I’ve been trying every single way to convince her.”
“Look, it’s okay if you don’t come. Maybe next year,” Harry suggested.
“But I want to go now! Especially since I found out I have a brother!” I yelled.
“Steph, calm down!” Rachel urged.
“I’m sorry, Steph, but it’s not going to happen this year,” Harry said. My heart sank.
“Harry, wrong thing to say,” Rachel pointed out.
“Sorry, um, so how has school been?” he asked.
“Not that great, either. All of the teachers are giving us so much homework,” I relayed.
“Ah, gotcha. I remember those times,” Harry said.
We talked for a while and they even got me to laugh. I still couldn’t believe that I couldn’t go this year, and my heart kept breaking every time I even thought of it. But the conversation all 3 of us had helped me a little bit and I was glad for everything my friends were doing for me. I do have the greatest friends in the world.

Notes

Yay! I'm so excited because we're getting to the England part!

Thank you so much for reading and please keep sharing and voting!

Rachel and Stephanie :)