Look Me in the Eyes, and Promise Me Friendship

Everything was okay today. She made it to the bus on time, and she wasn’t late for her homeroom American History class. She was lucky enough to not even see Raelynn in the hallway before school with her posse, and she wasn’t even in class yet. Adrianne, her female best friend, sat next to her like always and she started to ask her questions like crazy.

“Does my hair look okay today?” she whispered and looked away. Aubrey looked at her and Adrianne cut her off before she could answer.

“Please tell me this is a cute outfit,” she requested. “Is my make-up alright?” she questioned and Aubrey stopped her before she could ask anymore questions.

“Your hair look’s really good today, I absolutely love that outfit, and your make-up is perfect; and before you ask, your butt doesn’t look to big in those jeans, your nose is perfect, your smile isn’t crooked, and blue is so totally your color,” she joked and but was still confused.

This wasn’t like Adrianne at all. She never worried about how she looked, and she barely ever wears make up. Why the change in character?

“Good,” Adrianne replied and she acted relieved as she began eyeballing the new kid that just transferred school’s a week ago.

“Why are you so worried about all of that now? Do you like that kid or something, and you want to impress him?” Aubrey asked randomly and didn’t expect the response that she got.

“Shut up!” Adrianne whispered, yelling at her playfully, not trying to be mean. Aubrey finally got it.

“Oh, so you do?” Aubrey asked and Adrianne slowly nodded her head gazing off into an incredibly happy daydream. Suddenly the teacher Mrs. West quieted the classroom down to say an important announcement.

“Okay. Quiet down,” she demanded making a downward motion with her hands and then she continued.

“Some of you may have noticed that Raelynn Peters isn’t with us today, and some of you are probably oblivious to everything, but she will not be joining us for a while,” she began and everyone started looking around, finally realizing that she was nowhere to be seen. Everyone looked back at the teacher for the details.

“Miss Peters was in a car accident last night and she is in critical condition, but the doctors think she will be okay,” every single person in the classroom was speechless, including Aubrey and Adrianne.

Aubrey felt so bad. It’s kind of sad how you don’t realize how much someone meant to you until something happens. Raelynn really didn’t mean anything to Aubrey, but she meant a lot to Joe and that’s all that matters. Unexpectedly, something started to ring in Aubrey’s book bag.

She looked around to see what idiot was letting their phone ring in class, and it took her a second to realize that she was that idiot.

"I must have accidentally put it in my book bag,” she whispered to Adrianne leaning down to shut it off. Mrs. West didn’t care about cell phones in the classroom, but it is still embarrassing to have your phone go off like that.

"I’m sorry Mrs. West, I really am," Aubrey apologized quickly and everyone laughed.

“It’s quite alright. Okay, now that everyone knows the situation, we can begin class. Today we will be discussing the Great Depression,” Mrs. West carried on rather quickly with something that no one ever likes to discuss. Every single person in the classroom moaned and hit their hands on the desk. Students tend to think of it as boring. Yeah, we know; it was great, and it was depressing.

Throughout the whole class period, Aubrey was getting pretty antsy. Joe was the only one that had her number, and he knew cell phones weren’t allowed on campus. He knew better to not call. It must have been something really important.

Of course she knew part of what he needed to say, but she knew that he would probably have more details. As soon as the bell rang, and it was lunch time, she ran out of the building. With Adrianne not too far behind her, she found the safest place that she would be able to use her cell phone to call Joe back.

“466-1235,” she said out loud as she pressed the buttons. The number was saved in her phone, but she didn’t want to waste time looking for it. She knew it by heart anyways. The line started to ring.

“It just keeps ringing,” Aubrey announced out of breath. She was about to hang up and try again, but suddenly within the last second someone answered the phone quickly.

“Aubrey?” Joe’s voice was heard. Aubrey smiled, glad that he caught the call. “Aubrey I’m so glad that you called. Raelynn’s been in an accident,” Joe notified her like she hadn’t known already.

“Mrs. West told everyone,” Aubrey replied sounding sorry. “I’m so sorry Joe. How is she doing?” she asked and he answered with a little more information that she asked for.

“She’s doing okay, but right now i’m not so happy with her. Before you say anything...” he started out and she knew that this was going to be important, so she just kept her mouth closed. Adrianne stood beside her not knowing what was going on at all. “I know that you didn’t like her, and I should have taken that into consideration. Her friend was the one that called me and let me know what happened, and she also told me some other stuff,” he kept going, and she was hoping that Raelynn’s friend didn’t lie about things to get Aubrey in trouble with Joe.

“Apparently she has been going off and partying when I have been gone, and from what I understand, she has cheated on me several times,” he sounded pretty upset when he mentioned this. He really liked Raelynn, and she had to go and mess things up for everyone.

“Joe, I’m so sorry,” she responded sympathetically, almost tearing up because of Joe’s pain. “I had no idea,” she lied, but she couldn’t just come out and say ‘yeah, I knew that already’. Joe and Aubrey talked for a while about different stuff including the package that he sent home. She explained how happy she got and he told her that he knew that it would make her happy.

The rest of the day went as smooth as it started. Adrianne and Aubrey were talking about things through the day and a topic had come up that Aubrey hoped would never cross Adrianne’s mind. Something that she hoped she would never have to explain to someone ever again, but life isn’t perfect.

“Aubrey, we have known each other for four years, right?” Adrianne asked Aubrey as they were walking to their buses. Aubrey knew where this was going and she started to shake a little bit.

“Yeah,” Aubrey answered whispering and her body became cold.

“Well we have been best friends since 7th grade and we have not once gone out and done anything. We haven’t hung out at each others houses and talked about boys while painting each others nails at a slumber party. We haven’t gone to the mall and shopped for music or clothes and accessories,” Adrianne started and Aubrey was right.

This was exactly where she thought it was going. She didn’t want to tell her that she couldn’t do all of that because of her father. She didn’t want to bring anyone over to her house in chance of putting her friends in danger, and she also didn’t want to put herself in more danger than she was already in. Aubrey just nodded and Adrianne became confused.

Did Aubrey not want to do this with her? That is exactly what was going through Adrianne’s mind. She didn’t know if Aubrey was avoiding her or just didn’t want to bring any of that up.

“Why?” Adrianne quizzed and it left Aubrey with nothing to say. She was flabbergasted. She got to her bus and she could only say one thing.

“Ill call you later okay?” was all she said then she stepped up onto the stairs of her bus. It made Adrianne pretty mad. She knew there was something that she was hiding from her, and she wanted to get to the end of it.

The bus ride gave her time to think; to think about Joe, to think about Raelynn, to think about her mother, father and life, and to think about this situation with Adrianne. She wanted so badly for everything to be alright, for everything to be present and pieced together correctly.

Right now problems are occurring, because she is trying to look for those several missing pieces of the puzzle of life. Those pieces that make everything better are the ones that are no where to be found. They haven’t seen the light in several years and with them missing, it’s just making the situation even worse.

Right now she needed her best friend to be there for her. They always knew the right things to say, and they always helped her through the roughest times of her life. She needed Joe to sit up in the Tree house with her and hold her and tell her that everything was going to be alright, but right now, he was just a missing piece of the puzzle.

Instead of going inside when she got home she just slowly walked over to her home away from home and gradually climbed up into it. She looked back on the happier times of her life hoping that it would make her feel a little better.

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“Best friends forever, we will always be. Joe Adam and Aubrey Amery.”

“Through the thick and the thin, I will always be there for you,” little 7 year old Joe said to Aubrey, sounding as sure as he could be. His best friend believed him.

“I will be there for you too Joe. If you are stuck in the mud, ill pull you out, and if you are drowning in the water, ill save you,” Aubrey said, unsure of what thick and thin meant. Joe laughed at her and Aubrey didn’t know what was so funny. Joe tried to explain.

“When I said, through the thick and the thin I meant through the good and bad times,” he clarified and Aubrey looked at him like he was crazy.

“Where did you get something like that?” she questioned him with her little hand on her hip and tapping her foot.

“I heard my mommy say it one day,” he answered her and shrugged his shoulders. The two seven year old children laughed and started to play house like they always did.

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Aubrey laughed but cried at what she had remembered. Those were the days; the days where everyone was happy and when her father actually treated her like a daughter, and acted like a father.

Those were the days that she had all that she wanted, and there was only one piece of the puzzle that was lost; her mother. At that age she really didn’t understand why her mother wasn’t there anymore, and she didn’t try to understand it until she was a little older.