The Seventh Grade Wars

Chapter One: CRICKET

If you ask me, the summer holidays breeze by faster than any other time of the year. 

One minute, you’re lounging in your cousin’s beach house, eating ice cream and hanging with your friends on the beach. The next minute, it’s time to go back to school shopping because you’re halfway through September already. 

In previous years, I was determined to live summer to the fullest. If I could help it, I never spent a minute indoors. I was always outside, doing something. 

And usually those things involved my best friend, Chelsea Parker. 

We met when her family moved into the house next to ours. That was when we were three years old. Since then, we’d been best friends. We made so many memories. The time we had a sleepover at her house and pranked her older brother by installing homemade stink bombs in every corner and crevice of his room we could find. The time when we opened our own lemonade stand in my driveway and accidentally put salt in the drinks, instead of sugar. The time we went to camp together and got lost in the woods by our cabin. There were so many great times we had…and I didn’t want seventh grade to be the end of it.

Both of us had older siblings. I had my sister Alana, who was going to be a freshman. Chelsea had two—Savanna and Lincoln. So we were very well educated in the way the junior high worked. 

Since our school was large, each grade level would be divided into three sides: A, B, and C. You would get randomly distributed into one of the Sides when you were in seventh grade, and you’d pretty much stay in it until you graduated. 

Chelsea and I didn’t want to be separated. Then we’d only see each other at lunchtime, and I definitely wanted to be with her more often. 

I’d gotten an email from Emerson High just yesterday. It reminded me to get all my school supplies in order, a link to the school website…and my homeroom, schedule, and Side. 

I was going to be a C Sider. 

I hated to ruin my last day of summer holiday thinking about school, but I wanted to find out about Chelsea. So I walked over to her house. 

I rang the doorbell, and Chelsea’s brother Lincoln appeared in the doorway. He was tall and good-looking and smart. I also knew he was very busy these days because he was applying to colleges. 

“Hi, Cricket,” he said.

“Hey, Lincoln,” I said. 

“Chelsea’s in the backyard,” he said before I could ask. 

“Cool,” I replied. “Thanks.”

I navigated my way through the Parkers’ house and through the back door. There was Chelsea, sitting in the big, twisted oak tree that was placed smack in the middle of the yard. Chelsea and I loved to climb that tree and just…talk about things. Their giant golden retriever dog, Bimbo, was sitting at the bottom of the tree. His ears perked up when he saw me.

“Hi!” Chelsea yelled when she saw me. “Come on up.”

I kicked off my flip flops and started climbing. Chelsea was up pretty high, but that never really bothered either of us. 

I got up to the branch she was sitting on and slid myself next to her. As always, Chelsea looked great. She had long, smooth chestnut-colored hair, eyes the same shade, and she pretty much looked good in everything she did. 

Sometimes it was hard having a friend who was, well, so much cooler than me. Everyone wanted to be her friend. Boys wanted to sit next to her. Nothing like that ever happened to me, because I was just ordinary. Nothing particularly special about me. 

Chelsea was good at handling all that. If we had something planned that day, she’d politely decline whatever party she was invited to, even if we were just going to Starbucks or something. She’s never been on one single date. I wonder if that’s just because she didn’t want to make me feel bad. If I hadn’t been with her, would she have agreed to all that?

One more thing about Chelsea. She’s ridiculously nice. She’s the kind of person who would give up her chair for you, but wouldn’t take it if you gave yours up for her.

She was so perfect it made me feel bad sometimes. 

“I knew you’d be coming over,” Chelsea said. 

“You did?” I asked. 

“Sure. You wanted to ask about the Sides.”

I grinned. “Well, yeah, I did. Which Side are you on?”

“B,” she answered. “How about you?”

I could feel my smile fading away. “C.”

Chelsea looked away. “Oh,” she said. 

“This stinks,” I said. 

As always, Chelsea was trying to stay positive. “Hey, Cricket. It’s okay,” I said. “We can always see each other at lunch or after school. Nothing’s really going to change.”

Yes, I thought miserably. Yes, it will.

“It’s just going to be so weird,” I said. “We’ve pretty much always been together in elementary school.”

Suddenly, Chelsea’s older sister Savanna appeared in the back door, holding their little four-year-old sister’s hand.

“Chelsea, it’s your turn to watch Rosi,” snapped Savanna, who always seemed to be grumpy about something these days. 

“Okay,” Chelsea agreed, and started to shimmy down the tree. “Want to come, Cricket? We can take her to Target or something.”

I found it a little upsetting Chelsea had forgotten about the problem already. 

“No, it’s fine,” I said. “I should go home anyway. Prepare for school.”

“We’ll text later,” she promised, then studied my face. “Hey. It’s gonna be okay. High school…it’s going to be exciting!”

“Yeah,” I said. But I was absolutely convinced this year was going to be ruined if I didn’t have my best friend besides me.