It all started with a train, a pact and a girl who was dying. Kara and I had been the closest of friends since she first joined the collection of misfits and outcasts that I belonged to in the fifth grade. I was there because my fellow ten year old peers thought I was odd and Kara was there because she was the kid that was dying. Even though cancer isn't contagious Kara was sort of treated like it was. Of course everybody was polite about it and always used politically correct terms but you could tell it bothered her that she was so singled out. I felt sorry for her not because I knew, like everyone else, that she would be lucky to join us in high school but because she so desperately wanted to blend in when it was so obvious that she would always stand out.

  I wouldn't say I took her under my wing but more that she took me under hers, we became so close that my dad would make jokes about us being Siamese twins, which he thought was hilarious for reasons unknown. My mother was very selective about who I could and could not be friends with so imagine my surprise when Kara passed all the tests. Although it probably had alot to do with her being sick and the  fact that Kara's mother was just as overprotective and smothering as mine, kindred spirits and all. Needless to say I was ecstatic that I finally had someone that wasn't related to me nor imaginary to call a friend. Talking to thin air gets old after a while I have to admit.

   In the 7th grade, a few days after Kara turned 12 she was given the all clear by her doctor. She beat it, by the sheer force of her will, I believe. I had never seen Kara so happy as that day when she came back to school after her appointment to tell me. We were bursting with plans, since Kara had always thought she would never get to graduate let alone travel she listed everywhere that she would go and I with her. Life was great, everything filled with promise. Which means that the fall only becomes longer and the impact harder. 

   My parents died in a car accident on my 15th birthday, they went out to pick up my cake and some sort of surprise present leaving me at home with Nana Yetti and Kara. Three hours later they weren't home and their phones weren't being answered. I still remember hearing the doorbell and thinking my dad had forgot his keys, I even made some joke about him getting senile as Nana Yetti went to answer the door.. The next sound I heard was that of an inhuman wailing. When I raced to the front door and saw two policemen trying to hold Nana up as she sobbed I knew that mum and dad weren't going to come home. There was something in the face of the cop that turned to look at me, like he wished more then anything that he was somewhere else. People who have no good news at all look like that. Three hours earlier I had been Isabelle Carmichael, only child of Sarah and Tony Carmichael, and now I was Isabelle Carmichael the orphan. 

   If it hadn't been for Nana Yetti moving into the house to look after me or for Kara refusing to give up on me I think I would have just stayed in my shell and continued to fall apart. We made a pact, Kara and I, that we would escape one day and put into action all those beautiful plans we had dreamed up when our worlds were perfect.

  Nana Yetti was telling me what I had done wrong yet again. She paced our front living room while I sat in her orange overstuffed armchair twiddling my thumbs nervously.

"All you had to do was go to the dentists office and talk to Daisy Phillips. That's all!" Yetti said through gritted teeth.      

"I don't want to work at the dentists Nan, I want to get out of this town! How many times do I have to say that?!" I replied angrily.

    Nan turned and regarded me with a look that made me feel like a butterfly pinned to a board.                

"You would just leave me here by myself after everything I've done for you? I dropped it all so that I could give you a loving and supporting home!" She snapped back.         

I rolled my eyes. Whenever I tried to or did do something she didn't approve of it always lead back into that argument. Worst granddaughter ever.

"Let's be honest, what did you give up? A retirement village and a hall where old ladies with purple hair gossip about their grandchildren?" I shot back.

Instantly I regretted it as her eyes narrowed. Bad move Izzy, bad move.

Yetti gasped,"How dare you speak to me like this?! Your mother never spoke in such a way when she was your age."

"Look Nan, I don't want to end up stuck here with some guy who went to my high school and watch while everyone else leaves and does all the things I've always wanted to do." 

Nana crossed her arms and tapped her slippered foot the image of impatience.

"This is Kara's doing I know it. You used to be such a good girl."

"I still am a good girl, alot more than I would like to admit to. Why do you want to keep me here Nan? Why can't you just let me go. This isn't what I want!" I say exasperatedly. 

"You're 18 Isabelle, you do not know what you want. That is why you listen to someone a bit older and wiser than you who can guide you."

"Where your guiding me makes me feel like I'm suffocating! What is so wrong with travelling and going to University? I just don't understand what the problem is!"

"Oh you think I don't know what all you kids get up to?! Drinking and drugs not to mention pre marital relations! Disgusting!" Nan shakes her head angrily.

"Pre marital relations? Seriously?" I half laughed.

Nan was always very old school.

"Don't you take that tone with me! I will NOT let you go so you can...can whore yourself out there and lose your dignity to some frat house."

"Firstly I'm 18 and can have sex with whomever I want. Secondly how dare you call me a whore and thirdly this is Australia our 'frat' houses aren't necessarily the Sodom and Gomorrah that you think they are." I reply.

I wasn't particularly sure about that last one but I felt like I should receive some sort of pat on the back for making that reference.

"How far do you think you'll get on your own? You've never had a job, you have no skills or qualifications. Some people, not you, can go out into this world and mold something from nothing." Nana perched on the chairs arm,"I wish that you were one of those people but you aren't sweetheart and I won't let you ruin your life."

I stared into her genial face in disbelief.

"You wouldn't let me have a job, you said it would interfere with my studies and now you're saying I'm useless."

Nana patted me placatingly on my shoulder.

"Now I never said you were useless, try not to be so dramatic."

I shook her off and stood.

"So essentially you think I don't have what it takes to have a career or live on my own? That's so...archaic!"

"If you leave you will get absolutely nothing from me. Just remember I still control all your parents assets until you turn 21. I will cut you off faster than you can take a pregnancy test." Nan says calmly as she looks at her immaculate manicure.

I had no clue as to why I was all of a sudden some slut let alone somebody who bought pregnancy tests since that would require me to actually do the aforementioned deed. 

"Your mother stayed here and had a respectable job with a respectable husband. There is nothing wrong with that."

"Mum wanted me to go to university we used to talk about it all the time..." 

"Well she probably thought you would be a lot smarter then you have actually ended up being dear." Nan looks at me with a sympathetic look," No I am not saying these things to be hurtful regardless of what you may think but it's better to hear the truth." She nods in what she imagines to be a comforting way.

"What?! I got distinctions and high distinctions on all my work. I've hardly graduated at the bottom of my class Nan!" I replied my pride stung slightly.

"Your cousin Anna received all high distinctions and was chosen out of her entire grade to go on an exchange program to France. I don't remember you doing that darling." 

"First you accuse me of being a slut, then I'm going to be cut off and now I'm not smart enough?"

"No Isabelle not everybody is cut out to go on to higher education like Anna. You would do so much better to stay here close to home. Don't you see that I am trying to help you be the best that you can be?"

"Am I in the twilight zone?" I ask the air around me.

Yetti stands up and walks over to the sideboard to straighten the already perfectly situated photo frames.

"Tomorrow you will go and see Daisy. Wear that knee length skirt I got you for Christmas and your white button down. There's a good girl." Nan smiles pleasantly as she flicks a spot of imaginary dust off a frame.

"No." I reply simply.

She turns to look at me her eyes narrowing.

"What was that?"

"Perhaps it's time you checked your hearing, but since you are getting old I will repeat myself. I said 'no'."

I know I've surprised her. I don't think I've ever stood up to her so vehemently before. 

I take a deep breath before I continue.

"I may not be Anna but that doesn't mean I can't succeed at anything I decide to do just as well as her."

"Your parents would turn in their graves to see what you've become." Nana wiped away a tear.

"They would want me to be happy! They wouldn't tell me I'm not good enough to do what I want!" I snap back,"And what exactly have I become? This entire conversation is ridiculous and outdated."

I stoop to grab my bag from the coffee table.

I shake my head sadly,"I can't do this." I say as I head out the front door.

"You get back here!" Nan yells to my retreating back.

I know it was childish to run out on an argument and even worse to just keep running but the thought of trying to go back there made me feel sick. Instead I text Kara, like I always did when Nan and I fought, to come and get me. My lack of a car and her abundance of one making her the natural rescuer. 

Me: S.O.S                                                                                                                                                                                     Kara: You ok?

Me: Nan has gone crazy.

Kara: R you at home?

Me: Train station.

Kara: K. B there in 10.

I put my phone back in my bag with trembling hands and tried to calm down. I just didn't understand where Nan was going with this archaic thinking. Most parents or in my case legal guardians would be stoked that their kid had gotten into a university and would be ushering them out the door as fast as they could. Why was she so insistent that I don't leave?

"You look like somebody killed your favourite character in Lost Girl." Kara remarked as she sat down next to me on the station bench.

I rolled my eyes.

"Oh wait...they did. The devastation is still fresh in my mind." She continued.

"Most people would say 'you look as if someone ran over your dog'." 

"You know how I like to be original though." Kara replied perkily.

I rolled my eyes again. Why use words when your eyes can do the talking right?

"So whats going on? What did big foot do?" Kara said using her affectionate and disrespectful term for Nana Yetti.

"In not so many words she alluded to me being some sort of town bike and that I would be cut off if I dared to go to uni."

"Yeah you're such a total slut with all your going to the movies and reading books on picnic rugs on a Saturday night. Real wild child." She said sarcastically.  

"Well apparently that's what she believes. I know it doesn't sound that bad Kara but what happens if I go? I pretty much depend completely on her. What would I do?" I reply with my head in my hands.

I felt so lost. There was certainly nothing illegal nor scandalous about leaving home for uni to warrant such a brutal reaction from Nan.

"Get a job here for a while or maybe when you get to brisbane?" Kara suggested helpfully.

"Yeah and how long would that take? What's to stop Nan from trying to control me through my job. She would probably charge me insane board just to make sure I couldn't put aside much. Even if I moved out now I would still be on my own with absolutely nothing. It would take me years to save up enough to move there without help. I always thought Nan would use some of mum and dads money, I didn't think she would let me flounder. I mean she always said I couldn't have a job until after school so I could concentrate on my school work. What was the point of all that?" I shook my head angrily fighting tears.

I hate that my bodies immediate reaction to anger is tears. Not only does it make me look like an idiot but it makes me look like a hysterical one.

"Probably so that when you finally reached this point you wouldn't really have many choices." Kara slung an arm around me and drew me in."I'm super proud of you standing up to her though, if that makes you feel better at all."

"I don't want to be left behind..." I admit resignedly.

"Who said you would?" She said as she rubbed my back comfortingly.

"You're leaving in January Kara and I'm staying apparently. That is me being left behind."

"Thanks for the definition bitch," Kara says as she smacks the top of my head," I was waiting for the right time to tell you this and honestly this is kind of it considering what's happening."

"You're being a bit mysterious." I say straightening up to look at her.

Kara crosses her legs and looks at the people lining up on the platform in front of us who are apparently oblivious to my emotional distress.

"I've decided not to go to uni," she says in a matter of fact way", at least for the moment." Kara adds hastily at my look.

"What's brought this on?"

"I've decided there's more important things then exams and team building exercises." Kara says with mock seriousness.

I'm not buying it.

"Okay, well let's just put a pin in that for the moment and ask you what you're going to do instead?" I reply casually.

The station masters voice blares out interrupting our staring competition to announce the arrival of a train on platform 1. Kara suddenly stands up and faces me with a smile plastered on her face. I shrug and stand up next to her swinging my bag onto my shoulder.

"We are going to get on a train and go wherever the track takes us." She says excitedly.

My jaw drops.

"What?!"

"We are going to get on a train and just...go." She shrugs.

I start laughing and bump her with my shoulder affectionately. This is why it's always been Kara who I turn to, 2 minutes ago I was trying not cry now I'm laughing at another crazy scheme she's cooked up.

"Sure, I've got probably about $4 in change we should get to Doolon." I say with fake enthusiasm.

"Yep the town 20 minutes over is where I was hoping we would go." Kara pushes me back.

"Well that's about as far as we are going to go if we jump on this train."

"Can you not let a girl have her metaphors? Could you have spoilt the moment any more than you just did?" It's her turn to roll her eyes at me.

"Take me back to your place already." 

I start walking to the station stairs and hear Kara jog after me a minute later, she grabs my arm and turns me around.

"Stop trying to hit on me already and just listen. You have a passport and so do I..." Kara stares at me intently while she squeezes my shoulder.

People push past us as they walk up the stairs to get to the platform and I move to the side so they stop jostling me.

"Point?"

"The point being we can go anywhere we want Izzy!" She practically shakes me.

"You're crazy." I say pulling away from her hand.

"Actually I'm bitchin' with great hair." She replies.

I groan,"Please don't break out into a song from Bring It On."

"Look it will be just like we planned! We can leave all of this behind!" Kara gestures around her and accidently smacks an old man in the chest.

"Oh god I'm so sorry!" She barely glances at him before turning her attention back to me.

"Please remove your hands before you physically attack me as well." I say pretending to be anxious.

The old man glares at us from under his disapproving eyebrow. Literally the one caterpillar eyebrow.

"I know inwardly your panicking a little bit but think Izzy. I know big foot, she won't change her mind. Sometimes you have to do what you think is right for you and not what others do."

I shrug and look down at my shoes. This feels like way to much confrontation and seizing of the day. I would prefer to just let the day go about its own business.

"I want us to do everything we always said we'd do and I want us to do it together. We'll show this town what we are made of!" Kara's eyes are feverish as she speaks.

"Even IF I was considering this how would we pay for anything? Remember I have no job and therefore no money. Passports aren't needed in Doolon which is as far as I will be travelling ever apparently." I reply crossing my arms.

"I sold my car to my brother and I've been saving my pocket money plus my wages since...well...forever."

"Well that's great for you. Can we go?" I start to turn back towards the stairs I will never get to walk down.

"I have enough for both of us Izzy."

This stops me in my tracks and I turn back slightly and see Kara look hopefully at me. 

I sigh,"I would never let you pay for me in a million years."

"Izzy, I'm going no matter what. I've spoken to mum and dad, organised everything I need to organise. This is what's left."

"I can't just go Kara, I've got...things."

"Wow, things, super convincing," Kara sighs,"It's just money okay and it doesn't mean anything. You and I though, we mean something."

"That's heartwarming and all but it's not going to change my mind."

I move away from her and start walking down the blessed stairs, finally, before Kara speaks again.

"I'm pulling the friend card."

I make a noise and look up at her.

"You can't get me to come overseas with you by using the friend card!"

"Are you listening to this conversation? You're rejecting a no strings attached half all expenses paid for trip of a lifetimes overseas!"

Since I can't actually put into words why I keep saying no I decide to walk away for the second time today.

"Izzy we made a pact...remember?"

I hiss at her,"Don't say things like that out loud! It sounds like a fricken suicide pact when you say it like that."

"Please?"

Something like fear flits across her face before its replaced by her usual smile. 

"This feels way to neat for a spur of the moment scheme." I defeatedly sigh. 

  So apparently I'm a sucker for sentimentality. I can whole heartedly admit this as I'm currently sitting in an airport next to the chirpiest person in the world.

"Kara you being this cheery is sucking the life out of me...you're an energy vampire. STOP bouncing." I say through gritted teeth.

After three days of concealed excitement since I gave in at the train station and the last two hours waiting in the departures lounge I think it's fair of me to want to grab Mr. Pointy and stab vampire Kara. 

She laughs and says that she is going to buy a magazine. I take my phone out and look at my messages. Only 1 text from Nan, she likes to stay 'hip', asking me what time I will be back from our camping trip. Yes we did use a fake camping trip story so that I could get some of my things organised without suspicion and I only feel 60% guilty about it.

Kara returns and tosses a twix into my lap."Put the phone and your guilt away before I smack you upside the head." She says threateningly.

I try to glare up at my 5ft 5 friend, which is made hard by her ninja turtles tee thats glaring me in the face."I don't know if anybody has told you this but you've become increasingly more violent over the last year or so."

Kara laughs, "Take it like a man," and props open her magazine on her lap.

I laugh too but I still can't help feeling anxious. Not just because I'm about to get on an aeroplane and fly to London, but because it feels so strange to leave behind absolutely everything. I've heard that that can feel freeing but I don't know if that's the word I would use. 

Kara yawns and swings her legs up and over the arm rest so she can lean against me.

"Sorry but I am so fricken exhausted." She says through another yawn.

"The excitement been keeping you up at night?" I tease.

Kara flaps her hand at me and uses my shoulder as a pillow.

I roll my eyes, since it's my non verbal response to everything and unwrap my chocolate.

"Don't think that I don't know why you got me chocolate and nothing for yourself." I accuse.

"Mmm?"

I sniff fake tears,"You've lost weight and you want me to look ridiculously fat next to you."

I feel her laugh silently.

"I suppose that's the first step for our version of eat, pray, love." I remark thoughtfully.

This time her laugh isn't silent. 

 After the longest flight, with strangers trying to talk to me and screaming babies, and the most uncomfortable stopover in Abu Dahbi  I finally decide it's time to send something to Nan. As much as I enjoy delaying the inevitable fit she is going to throw I don't want to worry her. I quickly type out a text, because my cowardly side which said email and my braver side that said phone call compromised, and then delete it. How does one say, thanks for your opinion but I've decided to leave the country instead?

Me: Nan I'm sorry I'm only texting you now. I didn't know how to tell you what I was actually doing. I didn't go on a camping trip with Kara.

I press send. I know it seems pitiful but I just don't know how to word it. A message comes back a lot faster then I'm prepared for.

Abominable Snow-woman: Where are you?! I've been out of my mind with worry! Get home NOW!

Me: I can't, even if I wanted to. I left Nan...I'm in London. I know you'll be angry but I needed to do something for me. Please don't worry.

Abominable Snow-woman: WHAT?! How did you get there?! This is unacceptable.

Me: I'm sorry your upset but not sorry I left. I love you xo

I put my phone on vibrate and slip it back in my pocket where I feel it go off multiple times. Later on I know I'm going to have to look at them but right now I want to relish the fact that I'm currently standing on foreign soil, if the Heathrow airport counts as such, about to collect my bags and jump in a taxi with my still chirpy friend.

 Kara bounces past me like she's a human handball, that's seriously how on top of the world she is, and heads towards the luggage carousel. I follow behind while looking around at my fellow Brisbane to Heathrow passengers as they laugh, talk and grunt, marking them all in my memory. Some moments should never be forgotten even the ones that seem mundane because no matter how many other trips or flights I have in the future I want to remember exactly how I felt and what everybody looked like in this moment on the start of what Kara calls our adventure. I did say I was sentimental.

All of a sudden my lone duffel is shoved into my chest. I sling it over my shoulder and aim what I hope is a menacing look at Kara.

"Stop glaring you'll get wrinkles. Let's go get us a taxi! Or a cab...do they have a special name for it over here?" Kara mutters to no one in particular.

I try not to roll my eyes.

"Come on," I say lovingly pulling her by the arm," I need to have a shower pronto."

Kara plucks at my shirt,"And change your clothes because let's face it, the plaid shirt makes you look like a lumberjack."

I choke out a laugh,"The ones you love hurt you the most." I reply in mock anguish.

She smacks me on the butt and flounces past me,"I need you to look your best if we are going to go find us some fine booty."

I shake my head and smile. "Do we really need said booty?"

Kara stops at the sliding doors that lead to the taxi ranks, "It's time for some independence, parties, laughter and maybe some love." She winks at me suggestively.

 It's a firm belief of Kara's that I am actually a prudish old woman in a young person's body. It's been her mission since 11th grade to get me some sort of cosmic connection with somebody. Which I continually point out can't be forced by her hand and which she continually points out doesn't particularly matter to her.

"How about you have the cosmic connection and I will continue to look like a lumberjack whilst I wistfully look on."

Kara walks through the doors and speaks over her shoulder, "How about you shutup and get in a taxi-cab."