Friends now, friends forever was a statement that I truly 100% believed in. I knew that it was stupid to think that way, but I was still innocent and hadn’t experienced pain like I have now. Over the years, the percentage started to grow smaller and smaller after my cherished middle school friends broke off into different cliques. The populars, the hippies, the jocks, and so on. Naturally, I don’t fit into any of the categories and neither did Amanda Walsh. Me and Amanda formed our own little group that only consisted of the two of us. People would look at us strangely when we sat down at a empty table every day during lunch and we were perfectly fine with that. We still are perfectly fine with it. We were like that through elementary and middle school, until last summer when all of the beliefs I held to be true were questioned.
“Summer’s almost here, Cec! I can already see it. The endless days of fun checking out cute guys and watching reruns of gossip girl.” my best friend Amanda states gleefully. It has been a grueling year of getting report cards and being grounded the day after for the past year but I am prepared to turn over a new leaf with sophomore year. First though, I get to enjoy every second of being with Mandy until schools starts.
“Cece! What are you and Amanda up to today? We should do something later.” Molly, my close family friend gushes. I giggle and nod.
“Of course we should! You know you are always welcome to watch GG with us for hours.” she sighs.
“I totally would, but I’ve got to go check out some actual gossip. Maybe if I’m lucky I’ll even catch a popular doing something dumb. It’s not uncommon nowadays anyways.” she laughs then starts walking to her next class. I know that the typical teenage summer day is filled with many consecutive parties, where people go crazy for a night never thinking about the consequences their actions bring. And of course I have been invited plenty of times in the past, but I have always declined. Why would I go to a party to see people that I barely see at school and pretend to be someone I’m not when I can be comfortable with my best friend just chilling out and being crazy? That’s something reserved for people like Tessa Andrews. I’m pretty sure that her goal in life is to have fun and make sure that she looks good doing it. I’ve never been jealous of her before. Not even of her skinny, five foot ten inch frame, golden, wavy curls, or her piercing blue eyes. Actually, there is one thing in her life that I want. Connor Bradshaw. It’s pretty pathetic, but I’ve been drooling over him since two years ago when he threw a bag of chips in the wrong direction during lunch hitting me in the back of my head. His friends laughed, but he came over with a concerned look on his face and asked me if I was okay. I’m not gonna lie. I was pretty pissed off at the time, but after replaying the moment in my head a few times, background music to my favorite romantic dramas started to play when he talked and now I’m hooked. It’s all thanks to a bag of Lays that happened to fly at the wrong target. The fantasy abruptly ended when I found out the next day that he was dating Tessa. “I think I need a distraction from CB, Mandy.” The only person I’ve told about my love troubles is Amanda.
The last block of the whole school year has ended, signaled by a shrill bringggggg. We have discovered that most people are really not that smart. After observing the pattern of the juniors and seniors for the past year, I;ve figured out that they all only think that there is one hallway that leads to their lockers. The B hall. Nobody bothered to explore and find the J hall, which conveniently led directly to the lockers. We avoid the cluster of people in the main hall by cruising down the back hallway. It’s the perfect wrap to freshmen year.
“Should we go to your house today or mine? I think that we sh-” Suddenly her phone starts ringing.
“Sorry. It’s my mom. She probably just wanted to know what I was doing today to celebrate.” I hear her whisper some things and say yep and okay a few times before hanging up.
“What’s up? Did something happen?” She smiles and replies with a shake of her head. “Nope. She just needs to tell me something when I get home.” I smile and say “ I guess we’re going to your house then!” When we finally arrive, her mom rushes outside. “Amanda what took you so long?” Amanda and I share a glance, and her mom finally sees me. “Oh, Cecilia! What are you doing here?” I peer over at Amanda, and she shrugs. “Mom, I didn’t know that you wanted me to come alone. Cece and I were already walking home anyways. Why are you so worried?” Amanda asks. Her mom smiles and asks if it would be okay to hang out some other day. Taken aback, I quickly say of course and wave good bye to Mandy. “I’ll text you!” She shouts while I walk away before heading into the house with her mom. What was that all about?
For some reason, the minutes seem to flow by really, really slowly. Wow. Is this how it feels for everybody else? I never realized what it felt like without some crazy scheme to plan with Amanda. That’s just how it’s always been. Rrrrrr. Someone texted me. I look at the screen. It’s Molly.
Guess what??? She sent.
What happened?
Connor Bradshaw BROKE UP with Tessa!!!! My heart stops. Tessa is the one person that I’ve never imagined could be dumped by anyone. The fact that it was by Connor makes it one million times better. I have to tell Amanda. I quickly type back
Thx for the info! I gtg but I’ll text you later????. I unlock my phone and find her name at the top of my favorites list. After five rings she picks up. “Cec? Hey.” I don’t know why, but she doesn’t sound happy. “Are you okay? You sound upset?” In the background I hear her mom say “Amanda, please can you just listen for a second?” Something doesn’t seem right. “Should I come over?” I ask hurriedly. “NO!!!” she yelps. “I mean, I’m fine.... I’ll call you back okay? Bye.” She hangs up. I couldn’t even tell her the awesome news. Now the Connor news doesn’t seem like happy news anymore, it seems almost childish. I don’t know what to do, or where to go, so I decide to jog down to my and Amanda’s favorite cafe in our neighborhood, CHIC’s bakery. By the time I arrive at the crowded cafe, I’m sweaty and out of breath. It probably wasn’t the smartest idea to run on a 90 degree day. Tessa is in the cafe coming out, but my mind is jumbled up with thoughts so I don’t see her coming. If I had, I would have ignored my urge to pass out from the heat and sprint away from the door, but I didn’t. I rush directly into Tessa.
“What do you think you’re doing? She shrieks. An iced cappuccino that she was holding is now spilled all over my white running shirt and her magenta silk blouse.
“I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you.” I sputter out. This is so embarrassing, because everybody around us heard her high pitched scream. Finally, she looks at my face. Her face turns ten times darker than it was a second ago. She’s about to say something when someone steps from behind her. It’s Connor. “Tessa, stop harassing her will you? It was a mistake.’ Her golden head spins around to face him.
“Oh yeah? Just like how our whole relationship was a mistake?” I just barely refrain myself from gasping out loud. Molly didn’t tell me that she texted me right when it was happening. How did she get the information so quickly anyways? He looks at me and says “I’ll get some napkins. Stay here.” Wow. He just completely ignored Tessa. Her face flushes a deep crimson and she glares daggers at me. This is bad. Nobody has never noticed that I exist except a few close friends, but now people are taking pictures on their phones and I know that in seconds me and my sweaty, now brown shirt will go viral. Connor comes back and starts wiping the floor slippery with coffee and ice. I need to leave, now. Connor says “Wait, Cece...”, but I don’t know what to do, so I apologize once again to Connor and Tessa then bolt.