The Mystery Continues...(VW2)

Chapter 5: Random strangers...

"Was that necessary, Rose?" Stella groaned with a chuckle after I hit on her head when we passed by each other - which is rarely, nowadays. But yes, we're still friends and call each other nicknames, and have that freedom around each other, so I don't really care much if she walks around with her other group. I do the same, it's no big deal.

"It wasn't, but I needed to," I giggled and walked off with Riley towards the bus stop. While I used to go home by my van, Riley went in her mom's car. She used to be in another van before, but changed when it got too crowded. I'd do the same if it weren't for Alan and another friend of mine from eleventh grade, Kale, being in my van. I couldn't lose them just for my own comfort.

"Mom was telling me," Riley started out of the blue, "that I should probably never have a friendship with the other gang again. You know, Britney's group."

If you're wondering, Britney's female gang included Kadie, Stella, Ariel, Elsa, Susanne and Daisy. Kadie and Stella were probably the only ones closest to me and Riley from this, and they were the only ones who were not so toxic. And then there's Britney's POPULAR gang which included Britney and the toxic guys, led by Spencer-the-jerk. That gang was worse.

However, both Riley and I had bad experiences with the female gang. Kadie used to be Riley's bestie while Stella was my best friend until ninth grade, as you know. But since the starting of this class, Kadie suddenly started being like a person stepping on two boats at a time by going around from one group to another, while Stella just started hanging around with Elliot instead of me. I didn't care much about Stella's ignorance, as that was how it had mostly been at school and we chatted mostly only on WhatsApp, but Riley was really hurt by Kadie's ignorance on her because they were best friends since forever.

Riley cried for days, and though she acted so well-off and bold in front, she had emotional problems too. She was just like Sam in some sort of way, except that Sam was worried about family problems while Riley worried about friendship problems. There's no particular difference though; because to us, both are the same. However, Kadie, who didn't actually talk to me much till sixth grade, started hanging out with me via chat during the virtual period and got pretty close to her, and from what I knew, she too had really bad problems at home. Her dad's family hated her mere existence while her own dad was quite emotionally distant from her, leading her to the first stage of depression until she talked it all out to me. Then in the same way, she got close to Laxel and Devyn too, but distant from her best friend Riley. Yes, Kadie's at fault for what she did to Riley, but her circumstances led her to it. Her family hating her, her own dad neglecting her, and her mom being the only one for her, she felt alone. She started hanging out with everyone and trying to keep touch so that she won't be alone at last, like she is at her home, and will have at least some people with her even if others chose to ignore her. But in the process, she lost a true friend.

In the same way, I understood my own best friend too. Though Stella had no family problems or problems at school - at least, not in my knowledge - she too might've a feeling of being neglected if she remained in our group, or the feeling that her friends might start disliking me if she brought me with them everywhere she went. Maybe she did it for me, just so that I won't be badmouthed by her other friends, just so that I can remain with my friends and not be forced into their group everytime. Whatever she thought, I won't blame her, because it was the best decision. At least we're still friends, though not so close as before. This is what adolescence does to us sometimes, we make decisions that maybe right in our eyes but wrong in others'. And decisions that change us entirely.

I was the one to comfort Riley during all this, and we were already close enough through WhatsApp during the virtual time, leading to us being the ultimate best friends at last. We both had gotten the same experience from our friends, and we had different reactions to it, but now we're all over it because we got each other, the right ones.