Chapter 1: The "See You Later"

"You think they have Umami Burger in London?" MackenzieBlue Carmichael asked her mother as she surveyed her room. Zee never thoughtshe'd say goodbye to her personal sanctuary/recording studio/researchlaboratory/headquarters for all things Zee, but here they were, leaving on ajet plane. To London. In just one week.

"I'm not sure, darling," Mrs. Carmichael replied,handing her phone to Zee.

"Darling?" Zee wondered when all of a sudden hermother turned into the Duchess of Cambridge. "Since when do you say 'darling'?"

"Since... oh, don't make fun," said Mrs. Carmichael."Now, what I do know is that I made a master list of all of the amazing placesto eat, drink, and play when we get there."

Zee expected to see the Notes app pulled up on hermom's phone with a list of restaurants, museums, and shops in London. Instead,Mrs. Carmichael had a browser window of Goop.com open to a list written byGwyneth Paltrow recommending her favorite haunts of the city.

"Is she even British?" Zee asked of the website'sfounder.

"Does it matter? She's been there a hundred timesfor movies and photo shoots."

"Ah," Zee replied. "Makes her an expert."

Zee slumped on her bed while her mother rolled intwo oversized brightly colored suitcases in an attempt to prod her eldestdaughter to start packing.

"London," Zee said with a sigh. "Do they even havepalm trees? Does the sun even shine? Why couldn't Dad get a job closer tohome?"

"Because this is a better job," Mrs. Carmichaelsaid, waving her hand for Zee to give her phone back. Her curly sun-kissed hairwas swept back into a high bun and her freckled cheeks were rosy from theeffort of packing. "He's the big boss of a major advertising agency and will bedoing most of his work with European companies. Consider it an adventure."

Mrs. Carmichael stacked Zee's suitcases close toher bed while Zee got up and opened the closet door to survey her belongings.Several pairs of Veja sneakers ("They use organic cotton and recycled plasticbottles in their shoes," Zee told her mom when she bought them) customized withrhinestones, patches, and hand-painted designs--all artwork done by Zeeherself--lined the bottom of her closet. Her clothes hung snugly on the rack,crammed in after years of collecting old concert T-shirts, vintage dresses, andother costumes for The Beans, the band she was in with her friends, and theirgigs in talent shows and local showcases. Bookbags and other totes hung fromthe side wall on special ceramic hooks Zee designed on a rainy weekend, whilecaps and other hats perched above the clothes. Stacked on the floor near theshoes sat a number of mismatched boxes filled with years of personal artifacts thatZee now had to open, sort, and repack--or, sigh, throw away--for transport toLondon.

Stepping out of the closet, Zee looked around herroom. The sun shone in through the bay window opposite her four-poster bed, therays beaming across the window bench and onto her bright-blue bean bag,creating a warm, toasty spot to relax.

Zee's phone buzzed. The screen showed anotification for a message from her Brookdale bestie, Chloe Lawrence-Johnson.

Chloe: Still on for tonight? I'll bring snacks.

Zee and Chloe were having one last sleepover beforeshe took off for London next weekend. All summer, Chloe and Zee maximized theirremaining time together. They had ice cream at Jeni's Ice Cream and tacos atFurious Tacos in Venice. They hung out at The Grove and walked the Venice Boardwalk.They rode bikes and met up to write songs and research celebrity deaths (Chloewanted to be an editor at Vanity Fair when she grew up).

Now, for their last night together, they needed tomake a schedule for long-distance phone calls and video sessions so they couldstay in touch. It was going to be a long--but fun--night.
***

"Ugh. Girl. I mean. Whyyyy... do you have to move sofar awayyy?" Chloe asked as she came in the front door of Zee's house wearing ared tracksuit, her hair in two thick French braids that bounced off her back.She took off her custom Stan Smiths in the entryway and gave Zee a hug.

"I knowww!" Zee said. "London is cold. And do theyeven recycle there?""I'm sure they do, they're not savages. England has been aroundcenturies longer than the U.S."

Chloe handed Zee a bag filled with smaller bagsthat were organized with snacks, crackers, pretzels, popcorn bites, and Zee'sfavorite cacao nib-covered caramels. "I brought all of your favorite snacks,and some for the plane ride over," Chloe explained.

"Ahh, bestie! That's awesome, thank you!"

The girls walked through the family room, pastboxes full of small furniture and appliances that Zee's mom has already packedto ship over to their new English home. They entered the kitchen where Mrs.Carmichael was hovering over Zee's eighteen-month-old twin siblings Phoebe andConnor with her phone in hand. The twins were dressed in matching outfits, astrategy that helped Mrs. Carmichael amass 10,000 followers on her Instagram, @twobycarmichael.

"Seriously, Mom, you are doing so much damage tonot only these poor children's egos, but our planet! What's with you buying thetwins so many things that they'll only fit into once?"

"It's for the 'gram! Hello, Chloe, my dear. How areyou?" Mrs. Carmichael greeted, hugging Zee's friend.

"Hi, Mrs. Carmichael," Chloe replied, then turnedto the babies in their twin white linen jumpsuits. "Hi, little friends!"

"I'm sure you must be sad to see Zee leave," Mrs.Carmichael said.

"Of course, but we're going to keep in touch withas many conference calls and text messages as possible. It'll be like she neverleft!"

Zee grabbed two green juices and some strawberriesfrom the refrigerator and shut the door. She walked by the twins playing with atoy truck between them and kissed their little foreheads before leaving thekitchen with Chloe following behind her. They climbed the stairs to the secondfloor and headed to Zee's bedroom.

Chloe plopped her bookbag down on Zee's sheepskinfloor rug and took out her iPhone, iPad, laptop, and camera, all the devicesone needed to manage the activities of a soccer star/investigative celebrityreporter. Chloe had played with Zee's band The Beans for two years, but hersoccer schedule became more demanding ever since she joined a traveling team,the Galaxy. Now she barely had time for school and her Instagram feed.

"Okay, let's make sure we have all of our accountssynced," Chloe said as all screens on the four devices lit up. "Squad?"

"Yes," Zee replied.

"Zoom?"

"Yes."

"WhatsApp?"

"Yep!"

"TikTok?"

"Yes."

"Voxer?"

"Yes."

"Quallmi?"

"Yes."

"TXT?"

"Yes. Wait." Zee retyped the password in her phone.She always forgot the login for TXT. "Yes."

"Mssg?"

"Yes."

"I think we're good!" Chloe declared. "We'll neverbe out of touch."

"How do you focus with all of those notificationsgoing off all the time?" Zee teased.

"Years of training," Chloe said.

Zee took a seat in the sunny spot on the bean bagand sighed. "I'm going into an entirely new life in London! New friends. Newschool. What if I don't like it?"

"Then you'll just come back," Chloe said.

"I can't come back without my mom and dad."

"You can always come and live with me and myparents. They'd love to have you!"

The two munched on strawberries. Would Chloe and I sharea room? Zee thought.

"Did you say goodbye to Landon?" Chloe asked ofZee's longtime crush and sort-of-boyfriend-not-boyfriend. Zee continued to lookdown at her popcorn.

"No. Honestly, I don't want to say goodbye toanyone," Zee said defiantly. "Not Landon, not you, not my house. This wholething for me is just 'see you later.'"

"Yeah," Chloe said. "Much later."

Zee took a few swigs of her green juice and wiped hermouth. She looked around her room, at photos of her Brookdale friends, andfinally at Chloe again. She opened the bag of snacks Chloe brought and poppedone of the cacao nib caramels in her mouth.

"I'll be back for Christmas," Zee said. "Not thatmuch later."

After pizza with the family, Chloe and Zee changedinto their PJs: Chloe in a pink onesie she bought after seeing Yara Shahidiwear the same one on Instagram, and Zee in an old Beans T-shirt and a pair ofgym shorts. "Why buy new pajamas for nighttime when you can just recycleclothes you don't wear in the daytime?" Zee said with a shrug. They spent allnight choreographing Snapchat and TikTok dance videos, some of which theyshared, others they reviewed on their phones and laughed at together. Then theywatched old movies--"Mean Girls is a classic!" Chloe said--and eventually passedout in front of the TV in the family room.

The next morning Chloe's mom picked her up after breakfast,since Zee had to start packing and run some errands with her mom. Zee offeredChloe a few mementos from her closet she didn't think she'd need in London."I'll take that denim vest with the peace patch we wore during our '70s-themedBeans performance off your hands," Chloe said. Finally, they said theirsee-you-laters.

"It will be just like you still live close by,"Chloe said.

"Right," Zee said. She waved then closed her frontdoor before her best friend could see tears well up in the corner ofher eyes.

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Excerpted from The Zee Files by Tina Wells
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.