WHEN the dance ended, the students came in circle around the bonfire, before the organizers have us two strings, one with the color of red and one with a color of blue. They wanted us to give the red color strings to the people we wanted to thank, and the blue one to the people we wanted to apologize to.
The reflection began to start, and of course, Becca gave both of her strings to Scott, the same way that he did. Nathan and I chuckled to himself, watching the two of them nearly kiss. Nathan gave me his red string, while I gave him the blue one.
"Thank you, Natalia. Thank you for being my best friend. And for not giving up on me. You made my high school so memorable."
"Aww... Here. Take my blue string. Sorry for everything. For not listening to you... For being too stubborn all the time. I'm always glad to have you as my best friend, Nathan."
He hugged me, and I did the same. On the other hand, I was surprised, seeing how Elyzz and Lia exchanged their red strings, thanking one another for being a good friend through the good and bad times of our high school journey. And then the two of them came over to my direction, before handling me.their blue strings.
"Lia... Elyzz..."
"Here, you can have it," Lia started off.
"Yeah, like, I'm really, really sorry, Natalia without H. It's like, we always... You know, caused you a lot. I heard Lia and Freeda's conversation as well. Like you did. And she's like, you know. Really messed up. I can't believe that she's been using us for her evil plans against you all this time. We are sorry, and I hope you forgive us," Elyzz lengthy explained.
"Elyzz tried to confront Freeda as well... But just like me, she failed. I guess it was all our fault. We allowed her to control us. We are very sorry for everything that we did to you, Natalia. I hope it's not yet too late for us to be friends," Lia added, making me nod at their direction.
"Like what I said earlier, it is never too late to have a new friend." That makes the rule number twenty-nine of my manual.
After that, I smiled at them, before taking the strings as a sign of forgiveness. Nathan came over, before putting his arms around my shoulders that made me turn to look upon his direction.
"What now?" I asked him.
"You are still holding your res strings. To whom will you give that one?" he asked me.
"I think I already knew who. Just wait here."
I leave him behind, before walking towards Freeda's direction. She say there, still holding both of her strings as if she doesn't want to feel the point of this reflection. I came over, before placing the red string in front of her that immediately made her turned to look up and frowned at me.
"Really? Why would you want to thank me, Natalia without H?" she asked me, raising one of her brows.
"I wanted to thank you for making me stronger. For allowing me to experience the thrill of my high school days. If it wasn't for you, my life would have been boring during those four years. So take it. I realized so many things because of you, Freeda."
"I don't need your string," she stated, before rolling her eyes upon my direction.
"I am not forcing you to have it. I will just leave it here, and allow you to decide on your own. At least I did my part, and I think that is more than enough, Freeda," I answered, before leaving her behind.
Acceptance will always be the key. If she will keep on rejecting the fact that there is no winners and losers in high school, then it will be her lost. Life is not a competition nor a ride about popularity. It will always be a timeline of memories which each one of us had a proper place in. High school might be hard sometimes, but because of my friends, not my manual or anyone else, it became much easier and way better than it is.
Our retreat finally came to an end, and the happy days our now over. We are now going straight towards our final exams, one that they called as hell week. Today, we are back to school again while reviewing in the Cafeteria for the upcoming test. Lia and Elyzz, even Liam, already joined the squad. And I can't believe that it will be much happier with them around. However, on the other hand, I feel bad for Freeda, seeing her being all alone at the corner of the Cafeteria.
"Looks like the world has changed now. Freeda, the most popular student in our seventh grade is now graduating all by herself," Lia stated, before chuckling to herself.
"Yeah, like, you know. She's like too invested upon her popularity and it's like you know, like she already forgot about her friends," Elyzz added.
"Well, we can't blame her either. All of us wanted to be popular back then, right? I even attempted to join your group before," Becca said, slightly sparing some sympathy for Freeda.
"Let us just continue to study and do not talk about her. I mean, the final exam is coming near and we are now graduating... The last thing we need is to fail the upcoming exams," I stated, feeling sorry for Freeda.
"Yeah, Nat's right. Come, Becca. I'll teach you how to solve this," Scott interrupted our conversation. "Where's Nathan anyways?" he asked, noticing that my best friend if missing.
"He's in the Library. He wanted to be our class valedictorian so he needed some quiet place to study on his own," I explained.
"Wow, such a nerd," Liam commented, before we continued our study.
After a few hours of reviewing our notes, I noticed that Freeda is missing, so I decided to excuse myself and find her on my own. I followed her trail and realized that she is back in the Library, maybe hiding from the crowd. I looked by the shelves, before I saw her at the corner, crying. I wanted to come and give her some comfort, but I was too afraid to be push away once against.
I took a deep breath, gaining the courage that I need in order to talk to her. But then, just as I was about to step out, I noticed someone getting near her, and it was no other than my beta friend, Nathan. I was shocked, the moment that he sat down besides her and put his arms around her shoulders, slightly caressing it to make her stop crying.
I bit my lower lip, having the feeling that I never felt before. What is this? Am I... Getting jealous of them? But why would I? I mean... We are an unbreakable squad right? Then why do I feel this way? Is it because... I already like my best friend a lot?