Friends Forever

The cold wind whipped against Jenny's face while she walked into the local pizza parlor. The warmth of the all too familiar building relaxed Jenny's muscles in a soothing way. A smell of greasy pizza comforted Jenny as she sat down with her sisters in the booth appropriately named, "Sponge bob Madness," by her and her sisters.

Sponge bob figurines surrounded the three girls on the table. The smiling face of Sponge bob got annoying after a while to Jenny, but she couldn't ever remember a time when her sisters and her had ever sat somewhere else.

"Hey, I'm Ben, and I'll be your server. Can I get you anything to drink?"

"Sprite," Jenny replied with a roll of her eyes. Katie, her youngest sister, let out a slight giggle at the cute waiter. Jenny didn't have the heart to tell the eleven year old that the senior boy was already taken.

Ben walked over to Jenny's parents table, and Katie stated, "That boy is so cute!"

"Kate. I think he's a little bit too old for you," Ally, Jenny's other sister, said. Jenny had to laugh at how often her sisters thought alike with her.

The Tuesday was just another ordinary day in the life that seemed to blur itself into just a bunch of memories to Jenny. Little did she know, that this day was far from ordinary. For one thing, today was her best friend Maggie's official Sweet Sixteen. Jenny still couldn't believe that her friendship with Maggie and Ashley had lasted for nearly seven years and counting. Not many friends can say they survived both elementary school, middle school, and what was left of high school.

Ben soon came back to the table with the drinks, and Jenny ordered her usual of a rigatoni solo meal with a slice of warm bread that seemed to melt in your mouth.

Ally continued to make Jenny and Katie laugh throughout the entire time it took for their meals to come out. The girls' parents had to repeatedly tell the girls to lower their voices in the restaurant. They didn't care much though since they came to the parlor somewhat often.

Just as Jenny thought she would have to spit out her Sprite from laughing too hard at Ally's sarcastic remarks, Jenny's steaming bowl of Italian goodness was placed in front of her on the table. Jenny barely waited three seconds after Ben left to give her parents their food before placing her paper napkin onto her lap and digging in.

The warm spaghetti sauced slurped into Jenny's mouth, and Jenny sighed in contentment. She loved Italian food. Jenny continued to eat her meal while pausing to laugh when one of her sisters said something outrageously funny.

Jenny wiped off her mouth, realizing that she had eaten all of her delicious meal. Ally still played and twirled her spaghetti noddles. Jenny rolled her eyes and nearly jumped a foot in the air when the vibrate on her phone went off.

Ashley's smiling face showed up on Jenny's phone, and Jenny opened up her cell with a smile. Having straight A's for all her life, Jenny figured that Ashley had another question on their enriched language arts homework.

"Hey Ash!" Jenny greeted warmly. Jenny watched Katie's expression with a smile. Jenny pointed a finger to her lips signaling to Katie that she had spaghetti sauce on her face.

"J-J-Jenny? C-C-Can you t-t-talk?" The voice on the other line had Jenny's smile falter immediately. A cry rang loudly over Jenny's speaker. Where did Jenny's happy Ashley go?

"What's wrong?" Jenny abruptly questioned. She stood up from the booth without an explanation to her family. Jenny followed the walls until she somehow ended up in the back of the pizza parlor. The cell phone was pressed tightly to Jenny's cheek as she waited for Ashley's response. "Ash... Ash, what's wrong?" Jenny tried to ask the question as soothingly as possible. The sob that escaped from Ashley's voice caused Jenny to cringe.

"My... My... My uncle." Jenny's heart sank. Just three days earlier Ashley's uncle had been emitted into the hospital. Jenny had prayed for him, but apparently things had gotten worse. Far worse.

"What is it Ash?"

"He- He... He's got brain c-c-c-c-cancer." Ashley hiccuped. Jenny coughed herself feeling tears threaten to fall from her face. After all, it had just been four years before that Jenny's Uncle Jimmy had died from cancer. He was the young age of thirty-eight when he left, and Jenny still to this day got chocked up just thinking about it.

"Ash... oh my gosh." Jenny's thoughts ran a million miles an hour as she heard Ashley's sobs over the phone. Jenny was completely speechless.

"J-Jenny..."

"Ash, do you want me to come over?"

"I-If you c-can, but you d-d-d-don't have t-to."

"I'm coming over," Jenny said determinedly. There was no way she could leave her friend in this time of need. "I'm eating out right now, but I'll be over as soon as possible."

"Okkkk.... Bybyeeee." Jenny wiped away at her stubborn eyes before heading back to the table. She was absolutely astounded that in just a matter of five minutes, Jenny's life had been turned upside down.

Jenny nearly knocked over her mom's drink. "Mom, we need to go. Ashley's uncle has cancer. I'm going over her house." Jenny's mom nodded her head once, and twenty minutes later, thanks to the extremely slow service in getting the check, the entire family was on the road.

With the reinforcements of six Hershey's chocolate bars, Jenny sprinted up the walkway to Ashley's front door. Ashley opened the door, and upon seeing her, Jenny wrapped her best friends into a tight hug. A cold tear hit Jenny's face. Ashley wiped away a tear. "Come on. Let's go upstairs," Ashley stated before leading Ashley up the flight of stairs to her room.

Jenny opened up Ashley's door and closed it back up once both girls were in the room. "My parents are at the hospital," Ashley muttered. Jenny could feel the awkwardness of the moment surrounding the atmosphere in the room. Jenny had no clue what to say. She knew exactly every single emotion Ashley was going through, but Jenny could not think of one thing to say. Jenny sat down on Ashley's bad, leaving enough room for Ashley to sit down.

Ashley took her cue to sit down beside Jenny. "So, how are you?" Jenny asked, and Ashley let out a choked sob. Jenny immediately threw her arm around her friend. Ashley rested her head on Jenny's shoulder, and Jenny simply rubbed her back through the green hoodie she wore.

"Ash... It's ok. Everything will be just fine. It will be ok." Jenny continued to say random phrases of reassurance. She knew that after hearing that someone you love could be taken away from you, the only thing you wanted to hear was everything will be ok.

Jenny could hear Ashley still crying on her shoulder, and Jenny couldn't stand it any more. Before she could stop herself, Jenny started to cry along with Ashley, wiping away at her own tears. "This would be so much easier if I wasn't a sap," Jenny cried. Ashley's tiny laugh could be heard, and Jenny smiled for a brief moment. Everyone close to Jenny knew how the easiest of things made her cry. Not that this situation was easy because it certainly wasn't.

Ashley lifted her head off of Jenny's shoulder with the saddest expression Jenny had ever seen. Tears still fell from her eyes, even though Ashley tried to hide the fact. "It will be ok Ashley. I promise." Even though Jenny couldn't promise such a thing, she said the words anyway. Seeing her friends hurt caused her to hurt.

Jenny just stared at Ashley, smiling at her through soaked eyes. Jenny and Ashley talked about a few things, Jenny offering Ashley a chocolate bar, which Ashley accepted graciously. Girls and their chocolate never went wrong.

Jenny moved the water bottle on the bed so it didn't spill all over the mattress. "Oh, don't worry," Ashley stated with a sniff. "It doesn't spill." Ashley then proceeded to grab the water bottle and tip it upside down. Jenny laughed for the first time in an hour, but it really felt like weeks, as the water gurgled out of the water bottle out onto Ashley's bed.

"ASHLEY!"

"Oh crap." Ashley turned the bottle quickly right side up. "I swore it didn't spill when I did that earli-" Ashley cut herself off when she looked over the edge of her bed to find a wet spot on her carpet. She smiled half-heartedly. Jenny immediately hated the fake smile that took Ashley's face.

Ashley quietly stood up from the bed and walked over to her bookshelf. She grabbed a familiar blue binder. Since seventh grade, Ashley, Jenny, and their other best friend Maggie had all written back and forth in a journal. They were on their third journal already. They loved the feeling of sharing their innermost secrets without being judged.

Ashley sat back down on the bed, opening up the first of the three journals. The ragged cover brought back all-too-familiar memories for Jenny. She smiled just thinking about all of the goofy things she said back in seventh grade.

For the next two hours, Jenny and Ashley read over all of the pages, laughing when their friend Maggie would say something hilarious. The two girls laughed when the read the line, "I have to go pee," by Maggie. They still wouldn't let her forget that one. Jenny was amazed at how horrible everyone spelled. Ashley's, "tomaro", made both girls smile knowing how badly they all sucked at spelling. Kind of ironic since all three girls are now in the advanced English class.

Seeing how simple life was back then, made Ashley and Jenny reminisce on old memories. They were amazed that they had withstood years of tragedies and complete exuberant moments. It was funny how they all freaked out when they had an easy thing such as a math test next period, when now they worried about what colleges they were going to be attending.

As Ashley went to check up on her younger sister for a moment, Jenny skimmed through the pockets of the binders. A piece of paper caught Jenny's attention. The bold words of "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter glared back up at her. The lyrics were printed out, and Jenny had to realize how true the words fit the current situation. At the top of the page, in Jenny's handwriting, she wrote This is my song. The tiniest of smiles played from Jenny's lips before Ashley walked back into the room.

The sudden ringing of the phone caught both girls off guard, and Jenny realized that it was close to eight thirty at night, nearly two and a half hours after she had first arrived at Ashley's house. Ashley talked to her mom, and the phone was loud enough for Jenny to hear that, when Ashley said to her mom that Jenny was over, Ashley's mom had said, "That is so nice."

Ashley hung up the phone with a smile. Still not her true, overly happy smile, but it was getting closer. "That was a sweet conversation." It was always amazing to Jenny, how in moments like this people banded together, letting all of their other problems go away.

"If... If I leave now, will you be ok?" Jenny asked as gently as possible.

Ashley nodded. "Yeah, I think." Jenny quickly called her dad to come and pick her up.

The girls talked for a few more brief minutes before the bright lights of Jenny's pick up truck shown into the window. They walked downstairs not even realizing that five minutes had gone by since Jenny hung up the phone with her dad.

A ringing from the doorbell echoed throughout the house, and Ashley opened up the door for Jenny's dad. Ashley's dog, Jasmine, tried to escape, and Jenny laughed when Ashley's brother had to eventually pick it up and hold it.

"If you need anything call. And I mean anything, call," Jenny stated.

"Thank you," Ashley whispered.

"You're welcome," Jenny said before walking outside. The cold air hit her hard, and she waved back to Ashley before stepping into her dad's truck.

"So did everything go ok?" Jenny's dad asked gently. Jenny nodded her head.

"Yeah. It did." Jenny paused thoughtfully as he dad sped away from Ashley's house. "We're best friends... I cheered her up. I hope. It's my job... That's what friends do, pick one up when the other falls..."

As we go on
We remember
All the times we
Had together
And as our lives change
Come Whatever
We will still be
Friends Forever