I headed over to 42nd Silk Road and found an arcade and a decorated party in the front window. I took that as my party. As I walked in, I was tackled by Issac and Carmen, my two best friends. I met Issac in first grade at the park. It turns out he was new to the town, he just moved from Seattle with his older sister and mom. We hit it off very well and our moms did too. They exchanged numbers, and we set up a playdate at his house while also helping them move in. His house was across the ring of houses and 3 to the side of the diamond ring. The neighborhood was called Diamond Ring Road because it was smack dab in the middle of the other neighborhoods. So the houses were positioned in a ring shape. There was a hole so people could get in and it looked like a diamond so people started calling it 'Diamond Ring Road'. I thought the name was nice, compared to 'Munchester Road' and 'Calbond'.
After having that first playdate, me and Issac would leave to go to the other's houses for everything we could think of. Playdates, asking questions, telling one another about our day, even doing homework. By that point, we were inseparable. I met Carmen in 2nd Grade math class, she was a quiet girl and kept to herself 90% of the time. She would never play with the other kids, and just read a book or play with her dolls alone. She was too shy to be a teacher's pet, but she did get all her work done days before it's due, and always got A's on everything. My teacher Mrs. Salma was always trying to get her to play with the other kids, but she just wouldn't budge. She left her alone after a few weeks of trying. One day, I decided to walk up to her with my new Legos and asked if she wanted to play. She agreed, and we set up a mini-school, with actual staff instead of students part-timing as teachers. We slowly but surely became friends, me becoming shyer and Carmen becoming more strong and confident. She doesn't take anything from anyone now, and if you mess with her friends, you mess with her.
"Hey birthday girl!" Carmen yelling also trampled on top of me. "Hi Carmen, hey Issac." "So, how's it feel to finally be 14?" Issac asked me. He's a month older than me, so he likes to bring up the fact of him being older than me almost all the time. "It's good, I feel mostly the same." "What do you mean 'Feel the same'? We're going to high school this year Dakota. If you haven't heard, it's a big deal." "Yeah, so was 1st grade, 2nd grade, and everything up to now." "Hey! That was the old me!" Issac was starting to shout in his high-pitched voice. He used it whenever he was flustered or mad, qhich was a lot of the time. He immideialy realized and calmed down, trying to talk in the deepest voice he can. "I, my emo friend, am Issac 2.0." Before I can retaliate, Carmen reads my mind and says, "Okay 'Issac 2.0', tell me why middle school is so amazing." "We finally get to be teens! You know, going to 7-11 by ourselves, actually having to care about puberty, and the best part of all, getting lockers!" "But those were all things we did in 4th grade-" "But this time, we're one step closer to high school." "Uh-huh, anyways, this day is about Dakota, so how about we hit Skee-Ball?" I perked up, Skee-Ball was my favorite arcade game. I take that chance to say "That's the best thing I've heard this morning." and take my card.
