My Wacky Life

I ran straight to my bedroom. Hot tears trickled down my face. Dad still wasn’t home? Cool. He would have asked me what was wrong and what would I tell him? Hey Dad, Alex got a girlfriend and ditched me. I now have no friends. Is it okay if I drop out of school and stay in my room for the rest of my life? Not that I have a proper social life anyway. Yeah. That conversation would go well.

I hated Alyssa with all my being! She hated me and I hated her. It was as simple as that. Apparently Alex didn’t get that. Some best friend he was.

I heard the door of my bedroom creak open.

“Hey! You OK?” I heard Jared’s voice.

I buried my head into my pillows, not wanting to talk to my annoying older brother. He was done with his school this year and would be heading off to college in a few weeks. He was fairly tall and considered good-looking. I would never understand how. Maybe it’s because we’re related. Hmm, I’ll get back to you on that one.

“I’m fine!” I said. My voice came out muffled because of the pillows.

Jared closed the door behind him and sat down on my bed. OK. I lied. Fairly tall does not describe a guy with a height of 6’2. He was quite popular at school too.

“You can’t fool me Liz.” He said with a sigh. “You want to talk about it?”

I sat up wiping my eyes. What was there to talk about? It couldn’t be worse than this anyway. “You know Alex right?” My voice was shaky.

He raised his eyebrows. “That kid you’ve had a crush on since… forever?” He said teasingly.

My jaw dropped open. “I do not have a crush on Alex!” I smacked him on the arm. “We’re best friends!” I felt a painful stab in my heart as I corrected myself. “Were best friends.”

Since Alyssa started dating Alex, she kept him away from me. We weren’t able to spend as much time together now. After 8th Grade ended, Alex and I ended up not seeing each other at all. Summer was about to end and only about an hour ago, was I able to see Alex for the first time in months.

“Uhm… Liz?” He said as we walked down the street eating our ice creams.

“Yeah?” I asked him. He stopped walking and looked at me.

“I think we shouldn’t hang out at school anymore. After we start our 9th Grade. You know what I mean?”

“Does this have anything to do with Alyssa?” I asked him. The words sounded bitter and cold.

He looked at me sadly and opened his mouth to say something but I cut him off “Actually maybe we shouldn’t hang out at all. It’s not like it would make a difference to you.”

And with that I turned around and ran. All the way home. Now here I was, my face stained with tears, explaining to my brother how I would have no friends at all when I started 9th grade.
When I finished explaining all this to Jared my eyes welled up with tears again. He put a comforting arm around me and gave me a squeeze.

“Alyssa.” He said “I’ve heard her name somewhere. What’s her surname?”

“Smith.”

He made a face. “Stacy’s sister?”

I nodded. “I wish Mom was here. She’s the one supposed to be talking to me.”

Jared hugged me tightly. “I know…”

Even though Jared was a little mean and annoying at times he was still my brother and he was the one person apart from dad that no

Alyssa Smith would ever be able to take away. The hag.
Now that I think of it, I should have finished my ice cream instead of throwing it out.