Today was definitely not my day. This whole week hadn’t been my week. Everything was going wrong. First, I find out that my parents are getting divorced. That was Monday. It was not a great day if you ask me. Then, on Wednesday, I found out I’m moving to a new city. That meant I would have to leave all my friends and start all over again. I had never moved out of this city. I grew up here, my sister grew up here. The only few times we had left was to visit my grandparents but they usually came to visit us. The good thing is that we move in two days so I have time to pack most things without any help. My name is Liza by the way. I’m in ninth grade. I don’t really like talking, I like to write, and people say I’m antisocial. That’s probably why I have trouble making friends. Another reason why I don’t want to move if you didn’t catch that. My mom showed me pictures of our new home and it’s very pleasant. “Goodnight!” my mom yelled from the other room. “Goodnight Mom! Goodnight Liza!” Jane, my younger sister, yelled from her room. Yelling back at them, “Goodnight Mom and Jane.” I was in my bed thinking about everything that had happened this week. I knew the next day would be better because we would be moving most of our things in tomorrow but wouldn’t be moving there officially until Sunday. Soon after that, I fell asleep, curious if this week could get any worse.
The next morning, we woke up, got ready, cleaned some things up and loaded most things in the truck to take to the new apartment. It was only an hour away, but it seemed like forever to get there. I was excited because my mom had said I would be getting a bigger room. When we finally got there, Jane ran around the apartment and kept yelling, “Liza! Liza! I think this is our room!” I didn’t bother listening to her because I was not gonna share a room with her. She’s too lively and never gets quiet. All she ever does is talk. My mom asked her to go help our uncle carry some of the stuff from the truck into the apartment. She said that she wanted to talk with me for a minute. I totally knew what was coming. She was gonna say that I would get my own room and my own bathroom and that she would share a bathroom with my sister. Of course I would be more than fine with that.
“Hey Liza,” she said in a slow quiet voice.
“Yeah mom?” I replied, in a clueless tone.
“Can we talk?” she asked, again in a soft voice.
I felt like something was wrong. I questionably said, “Um, sure”
“As you may have noticed, there are only 3 rooms in this apartment. But one of them is too small for anyone to have. That means you’re gonna have to share a room with your sister… Is that alright?” she said in a timid voice.
I couldn’t say no. After all she’s been through and all she’s done for me and Jane. But Jane was the kind of person who barely had a filter. She’s always talking and happy and looks at the bright side of things but that can make her a little annoying. I had to put up with my sister. “Sure mom, I don’t mind,” I said, not 100% confident. I was really nervous because in less than 24 hours I would be going to a new school where I knew absolutely no one. I couldn’t fall asleep that night. What if everyone already had their own group of friends and wasn’t willing to accept me in their friend group? Or, what if I just didn’t fit in with the people there? Or, what if I never get used to the new school? It was all so scary I didn’t know what to do. All I could really do was sleep. It took me some time but I finally fell asleep. When I started falling asleep Jane woke me up. She was also scared of her first day at her new school. I told her a bedtime story. It was about a girl who was also agitated for her first day of school. But she was confident in herself
and that everything would go just as planned. Her school was near the ocean so they had fish as one of their lunch options. One of the kids tripped on one and then had a coconut fall on his head. Jane laughed. She fell asleep shortly after. That story made me feel better too. I fell asleep and was more excited for my day tomorrow at school.
When we woke up, everyone was in a big rush. Our room still was filled with boxes and mostly everything was in them. The closets were mainly empty except for some shoes. Because Jane couldn’t find anything, she missed the bus. I left my outfit ready to go the night before so I was ok but I couldn’t find my school stuff. I needed to leave. I took a few folders, two journals and a pencil and left the house.
The school was much bigger than my old one. The courtyard tons of different plants and was twice as big as the one at my old school. Everything seemed to be larger. The classes, cafeteria, the library and the labs. That day I actually made a friend. Her name was Ivy. She was amiable and cool and I really liked her. Voluntarily, she asked to take me from class to class and to show me around the school. I thought she liked me. But today in school, something odd happened. Someone slipped on a banana peel and then a juice box fell on their head like the story I told Jane the night before. It was just a coincidence, but it did seem a little odd. At dinner Jane told us all about her school day and all about how she made lots of friends. She seemed very content. That night I told Jane a different story but with the same characters. This time, the girl had made new friends and was happy at her new school. She lived in a tropical area where there were active volcanoes. One volcano was about to erupt but it started raining really hard and the volcano cooled down. All was great and no one got hurt. I heard Jane fall asleep so I did too. In the morning, I went to school and it all started as a normal day until science class. Some kid had brought in a volcano. I wasn’t very surprised because it was science. The lab was filled with old projects made by students in the past. There was this other volcano that was really big and had a sign that said, “Do Not Touch.” When the teacher was talking, the volcano erupted and the sprinklers went off. It was an accident and no one got hurt but everyone had to evacuate the building. I thought it was a little funny but the teachers sure didn’t. I came home and told my mom all about it. She didn’t like it very much either. A few weeks passed and I was getting a little scared but surprised. I hung out with Ivy after school some days and it was lots of fun. She was my best friend at the moment. Bits of the stories I was telling Jane, happened in my life in a realistic way. That night, I told Jane a story about how the girl became very popular and everyone liked her. Jane didn’t like that story very much. She asked what would happen with her other friend. I said, “Well her other friend wouldn’t care. She didn’t need her other friends anyway,” I thought about that for a second. I was excited to find out what would happen. I woke up and i got to school early. Nothing happened. I was still the same person. But Ivy just stared at me then looked down and walked away. I walked up to her and tried to talk to her.
“Hey Ivy,” I said, cheerful to see her.
“Hey Ivy? Really Liza?” she answered.
I was confused. I didn’t know what was wrong. “Is everything alright?” I asked with a concerned tone.
“Liza, stop. I know what you said about me. I was so kind to you because I know what it feels like to be the new kid in school. But you were just using me,” she said.
Now I was really confused. I looked at her with a confused face and asked her what happened. She said that the whole school knew. Someone said I didn’t need Ivy and I was just using her. Just like the story I had told Jane. I needed to fix this. I would be so lonely without her.
Throughout the school day I couldn’t focus on anything. That night I tried to fix it with the story I told Jane but it did nothing. No matter how hard I tried, Ivy was not willing to talk to me. The stories didn’t seem to fix it. I didn’t know what to do. I asked my mom what she thought I should do. She said I should talk to Ivy and explain the situation.
“I tried but she won’t talk to me!” I told her.
“She doesn’t need to talk to you. All she needs to do is listen,” she said.
That’s exactly what I did. I arranged a speech but nothing seemed right. I just told her the truth. I texted her asking her to meet me in the cafeteria after school. I know she read it but she didn’t respond. I went after school anyways. She was there. I was so relieved. I thought she didn’t even want to see me. To talk to her was all that was left now. I was nervous and didn’t remember what I had practiced. I was just going to have to talk to her.
“Hey Ivy, can we talk?” I asked.
She didn’t answer.
“Look Ivy, I know you don’t want to talk to me. All you really need to do here is listen. I’m sorry for what you heard from others. I know it hurt your feelings a lot. It was wrong of me to think like that. I looked back at what I did and i know it was completely wrong. You treated me so kindly and made me feel so welcomed. I’m so terribly sorry for what i did and i understand if you don’t want anything to do with me anymore. Just wanted to let you know I am sorry.” I picked up my things and slowly left.
I was far down the hall when i heard someone speed walking behind me. It was Ivy. I waited for her. She looked like she wanted to talk.
“Liza!” she said happy to see me, “I accept your apology. I’m sorry for being childish and avoiding you.”
“You’re not the one that should be sorry, Ivy! It was my fault! I’m just glad we’re alright now,” I said in a joyful tone.
After a few weeks, everything seemed to be back to normal. The only thing that had changed was the story telling. I hadn’t told Jane any stories that didn’t come right out of a book.
Written by plumtree
Topics: Archive (2012-2019), Uncategorized