A Day to Eden

Every day, every playful day, Eden and I would talk about things that had nothing to do with school. Television, video games, drawing, even teachers who we though smelt bad. We were two music notes that sounded bad without the other. A blonde, freckled, brace face boy and a brunette, tall, four eyed girl. That was us. Days we would sometimes just draw each other, and others we would chase one another during recess. When one would get in trouble, the other would take the blame. We were the greatest of friends and we always stood up for each other.
But soon, all of that changed. The beginning of 5th grade turned out to be the day I would lose the closeness of my dear friend. We were no longer in the same class. He had been put in an All Boy’s class right next door. At lunch, we were no longer allowed to sit near each other, being that the All Boy’s class could not be together with a co-ed class. So basically the only time I could see him was recess. When that time finally came, I instantly rushed to him and hugged him super tight, telling him that I was sad because I couldn’t really see him anymore. He called me stupid and not to be such a cry baby, but I knew he was kidding. After our little reunion, we talked about what we did over the summer and about our classes. Everything was fine until a boy named Punesh Singh came up to us and asked:
“Are you guys dating?”
I simply said no. As a 10 year old, I still had the notion that all boys had cooties and if I held his hand, I would get cancer and die. Plus, why would I date my best friend? Gross! Punesh left after I threw something at him and when I turned to Eden, he had a blank expression, one I had never seen before.
“We aren’t dating?” he asked.
I shoved him a little harder than I had intended. “Of course not! It would be weird to date you.”
Eden’s expression then faded to a soft frown and didn’t look at me. I sat next to him, but we didn’t say a word till the bell rang. I asked if he wanted to go back to class together, but he completely ignored me and walked with the boys in his class. I didn’t understand what was going on, being that I was young, but in my mind I thought he shouldn’t get mad over something silly like that. But what seemed silly turned into something even more. For the next few days, Eden had not said a word to me. He would look at me and walk next to me, but never talk to me. Sometimes he would act as if he’s having a conversation with an imaginary friend. Soon, I gave up trying and accepted the fact that I lost my best friend over a silly question.
One day, I heard that Eden would be moving to a place called Kansas in a few days. Hearing such an awful thing made me want to cry. I had lost my friend and now I would never see him again. In response to the news, I would sit at a table by myself and sulk every time I looked over at him. I even tried asking him if he had a phone, but of course, he didn’t answer me. So I had an idea. I sat my usual place at lunch, by myself of course, and drew a picture of Marlin and Dory from the movie Finding Nemo, showing that friends will stick together even when I make you mad. I gave it to Eden’s teacher and asked him if he could give it to Eden for me. The next day, Eden did not come to school. At this point, I broke down and assumed the worst, he had moved before the teacher could give him the picture.
On the weekend, I started to draw very weird pictures. The people had no faces and the animals would attack one another. I refused to do anything outdoor related and I didn’t even play with my sister. At this time, my parents were divorced and I didn’t really know how to talk to my mom that well. The door bell rang and my mom went to go answer it. She said it was for me. When I got to the door, Eden and his dad were standing outside. I didn’t know what to say to him. His dad said that the teacher had given him the picture I had drew when he came to explain why Eden was absent that day. My mom brought his dad inside and Eden and I stood in the doorway. He thanked me for the picture and told me he liked it, trying not to look at me. It took me a while to say something, but I told him that I would be his girlfriend if he didn’t move away. Instantly, he gave me that look of disgust.
“Ew… why would I want to be your boyfriend?” he asked.
“Because you got mad at me for saying that we weren’t dating…”
Eden laughed at me and called me stupid again. He told me that dating meant being together with someone you like, like a best friend. I knew that definition was a bit off, but I finally realized why he was mad at me. He thought that I didn’t want to be best friends with a guy like him and just didn’t talk to me because of it. I laughed and shoved him away, a little embarrassed this time. After laughing for a while, Eden got on his knee and pulled out a peace sign necklace.
“Be my best friend again?”
It reminded me of a fairy tale, except that we weren’t royalty and we weren’t going to get married. Even though I wouldn't be able to see him at school anymore, it was good to know that I would have my best friend back, no matter how far apart we are. I told him yes and gave him one last hug. But he pushed me away, telling me that I had cooties. We laughed again and played catch until his dad was done talking to my mom. I waved good bye and looked at the necklace that he gave me. A cheap, plastic thing, but he had written his initials on the front of it. I still have the necklace and I still talk to him over the phone. But I’ll never forget that day, a day to Eden.