Catie was in front of the church, nervous and depressed. Her only friend, Angel, was gone. She hadn't met Angel's other friends yet. She would try to here.

She had borrowed her mom's black dress. Catie knew her mom was happy to let her use it. It was her dad she was worried about. He didn't like her being friends with people on the streets. He'll be ticked if he finds out where I am, she thought. I'm glad I'm leaving there.

Catie was moving out tomorrow. Her mom had a friend in an apartment building in East Side. She would stay there until she found her own place. She was eighteen. She could handle East Side.

She saw a group of people coming. They must be Angel's friends, she thought. They all passed her except one.

"Are you here for the funeral?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Then you must be Catie. I'm Tom Collins. Angel told me about you. I'm surprised we never met."

"Same here. She told me about you too. It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you. You'll have to meet everyone else later. We're all kind of down today."

"I know what you mean. We should probably go in there."

"Yea. Hey, do you want to get together after?"

"Sure," she said. As she was walking in, she smiled for the first time that day.