Saint Joseph School

The suitcase wouldn't close. She bounced atop it trying in vain to get everything to stay inside just long enough to latch it tight.

Tiffany sighed as she finally gave up and removed a few articles of clothing from the top.
Her sweats from track, letter jacket, a photo album she started after coming to St Joes.

Taking the photo album she sat on the edge of the bed and thumbed through the pages. Pictures of Sam , Ves, Bryan, Nennya, and many others.
Lots of pictures of Nick. Nick in the lab when he didn't see her coming. The surprised look on his face always made her giggle a bit.
Nick in his demon costume and her in the angel holding thier prizes for the costume contests they had won. And pictures of the two of them at the hot tubs with all thier friends.
This war was ruining everything and she hated it.

" Your mother and I have decided it would be best for you to come back home. We think it's important to keep the family as close together as possible right now. you will be packing immediatly and we will be there to pick you up this afternoon at 4pm."

She had tried to argue it. There was no use, Dad's word was final and she had no say in the matter.



I bet if it were her she wouldn't have to leave. She never has to do anything she doesn't want to do. Tiffany mumbled to herself about her younger sister.

She ran her fingers along Nicks face in the photo and sighed again. She would get only a few minutes to tell him goodbye. If she could even find him.

Hopefully she could say goodbye to Sam and Ves too before her dad got there.
She pushed the few remaining things into her gym bag and set the suitcase and bag near the door before going to say her goodbyes.



OOC: (( This is Tiffanys departure from St Joes. Anyone who would like to post a goodbye is welcome. She is wandering the halls and campus saying her goodbyes. ))

"I don't get why you have to go." Sam said, chewing the inside of her lip and staring at her shoelaces. She felt bad. Tiffany and her were great friends at one point, and she wasn't really sure what happened, but they seemed to lose touch. "Isn't there anyway your family would change their minds? I mean, you have so many friends here. Eddie and Ves and Nick, and me, and I know they're all... we're all gonna miss you. Gonna miss shopping in Steel Canyon, and hanging out by the pool, and you pretending to pass out to break the tension. Stuff like that. And... for what it's worth? I'm sorry if I haven't been 'round all that much lately. I mean, I know your pop made up his mind, but I really hope he changes it, on account of..." Sam heard her voice crack and she drew Tiffany into a hug. "On account of I'm gonna miss you, and I'm not just saying that or joking about having bad aim or nothing, but I will, I'm gonna...." Sam released her from the hug and went back to examining her shoelaces.

"Gonna miss you is all."

Running up to Tiffany, Alice practically drops the brightly wrapped basket and scoops the smaller girl up in a bone scrunching hug crying slight.

"Why, why, why??? Why do you have to go??" She said shaking the girl like a stuffed doll.

"Be-eecuaaaase, I-I-I have too...Aliiiiceee...pu-pu-put me-e-e-e down ple-e-ease!!" she stuttered out.

Alice set the her down and picked up the Basket and handed it to her. "This is for you!! So you won't forget us!!"

Tiffany peeked inside to find a small bottle of coke, a bag of chocolate chip cookies, bright neon pink stationary complete with pens and erasers shapped like ice cream cones, and a little booklet for adresses and phone numbers, and finally a tiny suffed rabbit with a name tag reading "Hi, I'm Flopsy" around his neck.

"Aw! Thank you Alice!!" she hugs the giantess's waist

"Please be safe out there!! Write if you can okies??? I'm totally going to miss you Tiffy!!" Alice sniffled and flew off fearing she might death-hug the girl again and not let go.

“What? You can’t... I mean... You... You haven’t even graduated!” Ves stopped, pursed her lips, and took deep breath, finally letting it out in a sigh while she took a few moments to let the news sink in. “Do you really hafta go?” she started plaintively. Conversations at the tub, fainting spells, sometimes catching the worry on Tiff’s face as Nick teleported right into the midst of a group of armed bad guys, and a mishmash of other memories all flashed through her mind as Ves tried to figure out what to say. “You know, it’s just not gonna be the same without you ‘round the place. You’ve gotta go when? That doesn’t give us any time to send you away properly... I mean, you deserve a goin' away party at the very least. But... I just don’t wanna see you go. And I don’t do goodbyes very well. You’re gonna write to us or call us, right? I kinda keep up with e-mail when I can.”

Ves paused for a moment before stepping forward to give the other girl an awkward hug. “I’m gonna miss you, Tiff. I’m sure a lot of us are gonna miss you.”

"What do you mean you have to leave?"

Nick was shocked. Tiffany was leaving SJS. She was the person that got him out of his shell, to be a goofy kid instead of a developing mind or "super-hero". The only girl he'd ever given Valentine's day flowers to, been on dates with, been in love with. She was leaving.

"But why?"

Maybe it was because he'd been distant. In the weeks before the Rikti invasion his internship work became all-consuming. The inter-dimensional detection system had gone crazy and he got the blame. No one suspected there was an actual invasion on the horizon. Long sleepless nights were spent poring over data analysis, checking every little bit of equipment for failure or malfunction; he had no time for anything else. Even his grades began to slip. Knowing Tiffany would be there when he got a break, her bright smile and easy laughter, helped him keep his spirits up though the other thing that meant the most in his life - his research - had gone to hell. No one outside the research team understood what he was doing. Tiffany just accepted that it meant a lot to him.

Then the invasion came.

Her voice came through like it was a thousand miles away. There was nothing they could do, her family had decided this. She wouldn't fight them. That was just the way it was.

Nick hesitated, then took her in his arms. A gentle kiss, then he looked away.

"We'll keep in touch, ok?"