Apologize

Ex-besties

My mind is filled with past memories as I walk home. Ash gave me ibuprofen a while ago to help, and it's been successful so far, though my legs are still weak. I still can't believe Cartney used to be my friend. I can't believe that she used to be sweet or kind or anything other than a narcissistic brat. But, believe it or not, she once was a decent human being.

I met her in the sixth grade, the time when I was the most awkward. She was a natural beauty with blonde hair, blue eyes, and an amazing figure. We were locker buddies, meaning she had the locker next to mine. Paige had the locker on the other side of mine, so I was stuck in the middle. Cartney was actually kind of tall for her age, compared to the other girls (myself included), reaching about 5'4 at age 11. I remember the first day we met like it was just a few days ago.

"Psych!" A boy yelled, slapping my open water bottle onto my lap. I squealed as the water drenched me from my flat chest down within mere seconds. Paige gasped and quickly grabbed napkins from the center of the table, handing them to me. A little girl who'd been sitting at another table got up and found a teacher. I panicked as the water soaked into my socks, but I held back any tears that stung my eyes. I wasn't a crybaby before, I'm not a crybaby now.

"It was him," Paige pointed at the boy who smacked my water bottle, then quickly retracted her hand, knowing it's impolite and rude to point. The teacher quickly walked over to the boy and began having a talk with him. I sighed as I continued to dry my soaked clothes. The girl from the other table walked over to me and smiled.

"Hi, I'm Cartney. Sorry about your clothes," she said. I returned her smiled.

"It's fine, you're not the person who soaked them. I'm Kayla, by the way," I told her. I could wash this uniform when I get home anyways.

"Uh, yeah. I'm in English with you. And we're locker buddies." I looked down. I knew she looked familiar!

"Oh, heh, well maybe we can eat lunch together tomorrow?" I proposed. Cartney smiled widely and nodded, then looked at Paige , who was quietly eating her mashed potatoes.

"Yeah, and she can come too, if she wants."

"Yay! I'm Paige," Paige smiled and shook hands with Cartney.

And that was the start of our great friendship.... Until one day.

"Listen, I'm just tired of being teased about hanging out with 'losers'. We can still talk, maybe just not as much? I really like Ash, but I don't want him to think I'm a loser or something," Cartney apologized over Skype. She had shown up today with mascara and blush, maybe even a little bit of perfume on. It was September of Freshman year when she started to drift apart from us. And all that time, I never bothered to try and figure out who this 'Ash' dude was.

"Oh, well... that stings," I replied honestly, referring to how she blatantly called Paige and I both losers.

​​​​​"I guess we can't really stop you," Paige added quietly. I nodded and smiled at Cartney.

"Do as you wish, we aren't forcing you to be friends with us. I guess we'll see you around," I said before closing my Skype. A part of me was hurt, mostly because now I knew how a number of people at school saw me: as a loser, someone who doesn't matter, someone who's unimportant and insignificant. That said number of people saw me as I saw myself.

I opened the front door of my house and was greeted by the pleasant scent of my favorite dish: Chicken Alfredo sand Asparagus. Dad headed the door open and smiled at me from the kitchen table. But if he's at the table, who's making dinner?

"Hey, sweetie. Are you okay?" A familiar female voice asked from their spot at the stove.