A Replacment

Replacing a friend

After all that had happened, I decided to just come clean and tell Kiki why I did what I did. She quietly listened to my story, while Andrew went to go get a surfboard from his house, seeing as it was almost morning. After I was done, Kiki gave me a confused look and said, "you know, if you would've just told me what was happening, I would've just gone, you didn't have to say all those mean things to make me go."

I chuckled awkwardly and said, "yeah, well you see, I didn't want you to be unhappy when you left, so I wanted to do something that would make you want to go, so...yeah."

"I fail to understand what goes on in that head of yours." I nod my head. "Yep." We both laugh as Andrew walks over to us with a large surfboard in his arms.

"Kiki, it's almost sunrise, you'd better get going." She opens her mouth to say something but closes it and looks out at the huge waves, a thoughtful look on her face.

"I thought I'd have a little more time," she says quietly. "But I know I have to go." She turns to me and smiles. "Thank you Nikki, for everything you've done these past few days, I couldn't imagine having a better friend." I return the smile and put my hand on her shoulder.

"Same here, meeting you has been an amazing experience, and I'll treasure it forever."

"I just wish I didn't have to leave," she said, looking down sadly.

"I'd take your place if I could," I say honestly, I mean after what happened with Ms. Hilga, I'd be more than happy to leave this world, there's nothing here for me anymore. But Kiki deserves to be here, she's got a lot of things going for her.

"Maybe you can." Andrew's voice turned our attention to the elderly man as he continued. "I mean if you take Kiki's place in the movie, I don't think anything will change, things will probably go back to the way they usually were."

I turn around to face my friend. "That's it! I'll take your place and live in Wet Side Story, and you can stay here and live in the real world."

"Yeah that's a great plan, but where will I live? I know earlier when we were fighting I said that I'd go live with Devon, but now that I think about it, it'd probably be kind of weird to live with someone you just met." My face fell after I realized that she had a point, living with someone you just met, no matter how much you like them, might not be a very good idea.

Andrew once again jumped into the conversation and said, "you could live with me Kiki." She looked at Andrew with a hopeful look in her eyes. "What?"

He shrugged and layed the surfboard on the ground. "Well like I said, me and Alexandra were never able to have children, and, to be honest, it's been very lonely these past few years without her. I would love to have a chance at having a child, even if you aren't really mine." He stopped for a moment and looked at the ground, and immediately I could tell that adopting Kiki would probably mean a lot more to him then he let on.

"So, what do you say Kiki? Would you like to be my daughter?" Kiki gave him a sympathetic and excited look.

"Of course! I'd love to Andrew! Thank you."

At that moment, Kiki's body mysteriously started to sparkle up and she began to shake uncontrollably. I began to panic, hoping and praying that she wouldn't disappear, but almost as quickly as it came, the sparkling and shaking stopped and her body went back to normal.

"Oh no, Nikki we have to get you in the movie as soon as possible, say your goodbyes quickly," Andrew said with panic in his eyes. I quickly hugged Kiki and quickly spoke.

"Kiki, before I leave, I just want you to know that after my parents died, the reason I never had any friends wasn't because of Ms. Hilga, it was because I was afraid of losing another person I care about, so I shut myself away from people, I shut that part of my life out so I wouldn't get hurt again, but now I know that was a mistake. Don't do what I did Kiki, don't shut people out, you have a great life ahead of you. Don't spend it alone, ok?" I spoke as fast as I could, my voice trembling after each word as I tried to keep away the tears in my eyes, remembering all the times I ignored all the other girls in the orphanage, never wanting to hang out or talk because I was afraid, and now I realize what a complete snob I must have seemed like, and I understand now why none of them stood up for me when Ms. Hilga kicked me out. But I tell myself that after today, I won't ever do that again.