“Sandra!” I heard Kayla call, and saw her run past me and hug Sandra. I felt a pang of sadness, as I did every time I saw Kayla with Sandra. Last year, Kayla had been new to Jefferson Middle School, the school I went to, and I had seen her standing by herself during brunch. I went over and invited her to join my friends and me. She had seemed so happy when I talked to her, so relieved that she wasn’t alone.
Now things were different. We were in seventh grade, and Kayla spent most of her time with Sandra, who had been in Kayla’s classes last year. Every time Sandra was with us, she was the only person that Kayla talked to. Sandra was a nice girl, but whenever she was there, she stole Kayla away from us. As the year went on, I felt myself drifting farther away from Kayla. I didn’t enjoy this, but Kayla didn’t seem to care. I was pretty sure that if we weren’t friends at all anymore, it would be perfectly fine by her. For me, I would be devastated.
Now, I had stopped in my tracks. Dani, who had been my best friend since third grade, patted my back.
“It’s okay, Sky,” Dani comforted me. “It just hasn’t occurred to her how amazing you are. She’ll come back.”
I sighed. “I hope so.”
“Bye, Kayla!” I called. Kayla turned around glanced at me, waved, and turned back to Sandra. What did I do to deserve this? I thought to myself.
Dani and I walked slowly to science class, where Mr. Pillark droned on and on about molecules and how they entered the cell.
“Sky, did you hear that Dylan Jackson asked Cora Miller to the dance?” Dani whispered next to me.
I turned to respond, when Mr. Pillark said, “Danielle Tylers and Skyler Raymond. Do you have anything to share with the class?” I glanced at Dani.
“No, not at all, Mr. Pillark. Please, continue,” Dani said, without skipping a beat. I smiled to myself and shook my head.
After that, I kept my eyes on Mr. Pillark, so it looked like I was listening. But really, I just kept thinking about my friendship with Kayla. I didn’t know why I was so desperate for us to keep being friends. Sure, Kayla was pretty, but that wasn’t the reason I wanted to be friends. I sighed, and glanced at the clock. Three more minutes until the bell rang.
“Don’t forget to do you molecules worksheet!” Mr. Pillark called out, as the bell rang.
“Yeah, yeah,” Dani muttered under her breath. “Come on, don’t wanna be late to social studies!” she said to me.
“You go on without me,” I said to her. It was the third day in a row that I had said this to her. I felt bad, but I didn’t have the energy with all the friendship problems I had.
Dani paused, as a hurt look crossed her face. But it quickly went away, as she said, “Okay, see you there.” I was lucky to have her as a best friend, and I felt really bad about treating her like this.
I was late to history, just as I had been this past week. Ms. Linders glanced up at me and smiled. She was a really sweet teacher, and let us slide almost every time someone was late to class.
At lunch, I ate with Scarlett, who was my twin, Evelyn, and Audrey. Dani wasn’t there, so I figured she had to work on a project from Spanish class with her group. I quickly finished my lunch and said to Scarlett, “Tell Mom and Dad that I'm going to Dani’s after school today.” She nodded, and I left.
I walked slowly, all by myself, letting my thoughts swirl around in my head. Why doesn’t Kayla want to hang out with me anymore? Did I do something to make her not enjoy being with me? Does Sandra like me?
As I passed the upper field, I saw Dani with Kayla and Sandra across the field. Dani seemed mad, and was pointing a finger at Kayla. Sandra looked worried. Kayla looked confused. What is going on? I thought to myself.
I walked over to the three of them, about to ask what they were talking about, when Sandra whispered something to Kayla and Dani and they all turned to look at me. Dani put on a smile and said, “Skyler! Ready to go to language arts?”
I looked at Kayla, but she just stared back at me with a blank expression. “Sure.”
“Great, let’s go,” Dani said cheerfully and linked arms with me. As we walked away, she looked over her shoulder at Kayla, then turned back to me and started talking about Dylan Jackson and Cora Miller again.
“Dani, what were you and Kayla talking about?” I asked her.
She looked at me and started playing with her hands. “Nothing,” she said and rubbed her nose. She always rubbed her nose when she lied.
“Dani. You rubbed your nose. What were you guys talking about?”
“It was nothing. Really, Sky,” she said, and this time, she kept her hands to her side. “Don’t you think Dylan and Cora are so cute together? Audrey thinks Cora is cuter with Noah, though. I guess they’re cute together, but…”
As Dani talked on and on about our friends’ relationships, I zoned out and thought about what they could have possibly been talking about. Maybe they were talking about me. They did shut up once I got there.
After school, I walked home, and thought some more about Kayla. I took a shower and thought about her. I ate my dinner in silence, as I thought about our friendship. I brushed my teeth and went to bed thinking about her. Kayla was always on my mind, and I couldn’t seem to think about anything else.
The next day, Dani and I walked to science class together. “Okay, everyone, please take out your molecules worksheet,” Mr. Pillark said over everybody’s talking.
Oh, no. The molecules worksheet! I had forgotten to do the worksheet last night because I had been too busy worrying about Kayla. I raised my hand. “Mr. Pillark, I forgot to do the worksheet last night.”
“Skyler, that’s the second worksheet this week that you’ve forgotten to do.”
“I know, I’ll do it tonight.”
Mr. Pillark sighed. “Alright.”
The bell rang, and Dani walked to social studies without me. I wasn’t mad. I would’ve told her to go without me anyway.
As I walked into Ms. Linders classroom, Dani was passing out papers. “Okay, class, please clear your desk of all papers except the test and a pencil and eraser,” Ms. Linders said.
I forgot to study for the test! I screamed in my head. “Oh, no,” I said as I passed Dani. “I completely forgot about the test!” I whispered to her.
“I texted you, because I knew you were going to forget.” I was so busy thinking about Kayla last night, that I hadn’t checked my texts.
“Oh, this is great.” I muttered to myself. I sat down and stared at the paper. Who was Mansa Musa? I didn’t know the answer to that question or the answers to half of the other questions on the test.
After what seemed like three hours, the bell rang and everyone jumped out of their seats and turned in their test papers. “I failed,” I said to Dani.
“Sky, you’ve got to stop worrying about Kayla. You aren’t thinking about anything else!”
“I know, but I can’t help it.”
“Oh, look!” Dani said, pointing to someone coming towards us. “There’s Kayla!”
Kayla stopped in front of us, and glanced at Dani. “I'm going to go find Scarlett and eat lunch. Bye!” Dani said happily, and left, leaving me with Kayla.
“Dani gave me a pep talk yesterday at lunch,” Kayla said in a quiet voice.
“Oh.”
“She said that you felt like I didn’t like you anymore, and that you hated how I never really paid attention to you guys anymore.”
“True,” I said slowly.
“Skyler, I didn’t mean to give that impression. It’s just that my mom and Sandra’s mom are best friends, and my mom wanted me to hang out with Sandra.”
“But you could have talked to us too,” I said, the words coming out sadder than anything I’ve ever heard.
“I know, and I'm sorry. I just really liked Sandra after hanging out with her for a few days. I kinda felt like if I didn't hang out with her as much, she would leave and hang out with her other friends.”
“I tried to pull you back, but every time I tried, you waved me off and continued talking with Sandra.”
“Sorry, Skyler. I guess I kinda felt like you guys would want to be my friends even if I didn't hang out with you guys as much. But Sandra’s popular, and I didn't want her to leave. Not saying you guys aren't popular,” she quickly added.
“I know we aren't very popular, but just saying, you shouldn't choose friends based on if they’re popular or not.”
“Yeah, I learned that the hard way. One of Sandra's friends don't like me, and now, Sandra won't talk to me because her friend doesn't want her to.”
I couldn't really understand why someone wouldn't like Kayla, other than the fact that maybe she was stealing Sandra away from them, but I just nodded.
“I'm really really really sorry, Sky,” Kayla said with regretful eyes. She definitely looked genuinely sorry, and I gave in. “Could we start over?”
This is what you wanted, isn’t it? I thought to myself. Of course it is. Just say yes! I nodded. “Yay!” Kayla screamed into my ear, hugging me. And I hugged her back.
Kayla and I walked together to our lunch place and spent every minute catching up on things we missed. Dani sat off to the side, and I called her over to join us. I definitely didn't want someone else feeling what I had felt these past few months.
Kayla, Dani and I were best friends again, just like that. At least for now… Sometimes I wondered if Kayla would leave us again, if she really had learned her lesson. But I didn’t worry about it too much. What mattered most was that we were best friends now.