She is just a little girl. Thirteen years old but nine inside, like a lot of middle schoolers. Experimenting with makeup, being flirted with but never actively flirting to the boys in her class. Insecure yet wearing a cocky attitude. That’s Lena.
Life is rough when you’re a kid. You may not think so because your life is tougher as an adult, but you forget what it’s like when your friends mean the world to you and your world falls apart.
Lena’s friend Abigail got sick. Badly sick. Missing the school semester sick, in and out of hospitals sick, closing herself off to her friends sick.
Abigail wouldn’t return Lena’s texts. Was it even possible she had her phone turned off? She went to her friend’s house and rang the bell. Mrs. Gates answered and said, “Abigail isn’t seeing any visitors, I’ll let her know you stopped by.”
And just like that Lena was down one best friend.
It’s really hard to replace your bestie. Nobody else gets you like they do. You’re not as comfortable with somebody else in the same way you were comfortable with them. Lena couldn’t be her own weird self with a different best friend – she had to pretend to be normal.
Eighth grade didn’t turn out as planned.
It was a lonely second half of the year. Lena was nervous about high school next year. How would she manage all on her own? And she was worried about Abigail. How does it feel to be so sick that you can’t even stay in touch with your friends?
She had her answer one week before graduation. That’s when Abigail came back.
She looked different, approximately 20 pounds lighter and her hair was cut real short. They sat together at lunch the first day and Lena tried to restore what they once had, but somehow the silliness they shared was out of place...READ MORE
