When Kelsey and Layla first met, they were inseparable. They were best friends since 1st grade. Despite the fact that they loved each other, they both had an inner competitive drive. They were both beautiful, straight ‘A’ students with great personalities, and were very well known around the school. Between the both of them, they knew Layla had always been slightly more likeable. They never spoke if it, but it was obvious.
During the start of freshman year, Layla got in a relationship with a boy from their school. When they first got together, of course Kelsey was happy for her and showed endless amounts of support for them. It wasn’t until one day that Kelsey started to suspect something. After they had been dating for about 5 months, Kelsey started noticing weird behavior from both of them. They were spending much more time together than they usually have and noticed that their behavior toward each other had changed very abruptly. They acted as usual one day, then seemed extremely close and more touchy the next. Kelsey decided to ignore this and go on without confrontation.
“Hey, you okay? You didn’t show up at school today so I was a little concerned. What’s up?” Kelsey texted, curiously.
“Hey! Yeah, wasn’t feeling too well this morning so I decided to stay home,” responded Layla.
“Alright, just checking. Hopefully I see you at school tomorrow.” Kelsey said, feeling reassured.
The next day, Layla didn’t show up at school. Kelsey was more concerned this time because she had an amazing attendance record ever since 3rd grade. She noticed that Kyle, her boyfriend, had also been absent the same days as she. Again, Kelsey ignored this, thinking she was just making things up in her head.
As time passed, Layla missed a few days of school here and there. Kelsey noticed that her and Kyle were always missing on the same days. This time, she couldn’t ignore it.
“It all just seems suspicious,” says Kelsey, knowing Layla strongly disliked confrontation. “You might not like hearing this, but I think we need to talk. I’m not nosy, just concerned.
“Honestly, ever since I got with Kyle, you’ve been so annoying. Like, can you leave either of us alone for a second? We’re happy. And where I’ve been isn’t any of your business. Kyle and I are doing fine. You can’t just assume we’re doing bad things. You’re just nosy and jealous and finding reasons to mess up everything!” argues Layla, quick to defend herself.
“Okay, I didn’t even say anything about you and Kyle doing bad things. I’m just wondering what you guys have been doing because I know that when you’re allegedly “absent,” you’re really out somewhere together. You might not want to share this information but I think it’s important for me to know, as your best friend. You know I’m just concerned.”
“Whatever. I can’t even believe you’re saying these things right now! It isn’t even your business and frankly, I don’t think you’re being a very good friend right now. We both know you have been jealous of me since the day we met! Don’t even think about hanging out tomorrow,” answers Layla, ending the conversation.
This was the biggest argument they’d ever had. The next day, Kelsey and Layla didn’t even look each other in the eye, considering she was ditching with Kyle. Kelsey met up with one of her friends from school and told her about their fight. Her friend, Marina, explained to Kelsey that she’d seen a video of Layla and Kyle posted on social media, the day before. It was a video of them in an isolated area, smoking marijuana together. Kelsey’s heart sank to the ground. Even though her and Layla we’re not friends anymore, she was still extremely disappointed that that was what her best friend had become. After living almost their whole lives together, she would’ve never expected to see her ex-best friend doing anything like that.

Kelsey was running errands for her family and ran into a familiar face. Leaning on a wall outside the grocery store was a 50 something year old woman at sitting by an empty hat underneath a “Will Work For Food” cardboard sign. She couldn’t match her face with a name, but she knew she’d seen it somewhere.
“Lana?” asked Kelsey in a confused state, “Layla!” she corrected herself.
“Have we met?”
“Oh my god. That’s you, isn’t it? It’s Kelsey. We didn’t leave off on a very good note, but we were best friends throughout elementary and high school, if you remember. We ended it because you started smoking, and probably doing other drugs, with your boyfriend at the time. I don’t remember his name but you might,” Kelsey responded.
With slightly squinted eyes, eyebrows curved, and a hoarse voice, Layla said, “oh goodness. I’m sorry about everything. If you couldn’t tell, I really screwed up my life. One dose of cocaine and everything felt great. But my life fell apart. My relationship with Kyle didn’t last, I never finished high school, and ended up unemployed. So here I am. Gosh, I don’t know what I was thinking. You were such a good friend and I’m sorry for not listening when I needed you most.  I hope you’re doing well,”
“I’m doing great, thank you. I am happily married and in love, and I have 3 beautiful children, 2 boys and 1 girl. And you know how I always talked about becoming a lawyer when I grew up? Well, I was given an opportunity to work at great law firm and I’m doing extremely well. I’m sorry you ended up here. That might not help, but I mean it.”
“That’s so good to know. You deserve it. Nice catching up with you, have a good one,” Layla responded.
Kelsey said her goodbyes and returned to her car with her kids and husband waiting inside. She turned around only to see Layla sobbing with her face in her hands. Her husband asked who she was talking to and she simply said she was an old friend.
“Mommy, I saw you talking to that old lady. Why didn’t you put money in her hat? She looked sad,” asked her 6-year-old son.
“It’s alright,” she chuckled, “if only you knew her story,” she grinned and drove off.