Involuntary Friends

chapter 1

You might think that people always choose their best friends. Like you have a choice of who you hang out with, what you do, what you say and stuff like that. You also might think that those people become best friends because they got to choose each other. It's funny how that's not how I got my best friend. Actually it all was set up for us. My older sister Becca, and her older brother Alex, we're going out at the time. And being awkward enough I was attending a new school that year going into 6th grade. I wasn't going to know anyone and let's just say I'm not the best at making friends. Well it just so happens that Alex's sister was going to the same school and was my age. So naturally, Becca and Alex wanted to set up a sort of "play date" for his sister and I. Just the thought of being awkwardly forced upon another girl and having to be her friend wether I liked her or not just made my stomach tie in knots. She could be the weirdest girl I have ever met! For all I know she could be a physco serial killer! I wanted absolutely no part in it. As you can probably guess I didn't really have a choice. So I spent the next week dreading this horror of a "play date" with Jessica.

I was brushing the tangled knots out and then dragging the clamped hair through my steaming straightener. Today was the big day with Jessica. I tried to imagine that she was in my same situation and hated this idea of being forced friends, but all I could think of was a weird little girl wanting a friend and being way too overly excited about this. I didn't want her to be awkward or strange. When I show up at my new school knowing no one but her, it's going to ruin my whole new school reputation! I figured I had to make the best of it anyways so I put on some eye shadow and ran over my tear line with some black eyeliner. Finally, I brushed on a coat of mascara. even if she was strange I didn't want to come off as strange too so I tried my best to look presentable.

The plan was to go bowling. How great right? Bowling is a fantastic first impression on a new "friend". Anyways Jessica was going to be at my house any minute ready to go bowling and I had no idea what to expect. I was an emotional mixture of annoyance and anxiety. I hated talking to new people, and it only made it worse knowing that I would have to go to school with her if something terrible happened.

*knock knock knock*
Oh boy she was a knocker. We had a doorbell why didn't she ring it? This is already a bad sign. I quickly unplugged my phone from the charger on the side of my bed and rushed to my front door. My mom was standing at the top of the stairs watching as I opened the door.
"Hi" I stuttered.
Standing in front of me was a skinny, dirty blonde girl. Her hair was pulled into a pony tail and she wore glasses. She smiled and the light reflected off of her braces.
"Hi." she replied.
I stepped aside so that she could get in. she was pretty but I still couldn't tell what her personality was like. My mom smiled and overly excitedly said
"Hello Jessica! How are you? Its so nice to finally meet you!"
Ugh it's so embarrassing when she does this. Her voice gets all high pitched and she's being annoyingly nice. Jessica stepped back a little over whelmed.
"Uh Hi. I'm good. Nice to meet you too." she replied hesitantly.
I wanted to just get this over with so I told my mom I would be ready in a minute and rushed back up the stairs to my bedroom.When I got in there I realized maybe I should have brought Jessica with me into my room.. Oh well. I grab my red converse and slip them on. Then I look in the mirror hanging on my door one last time and walk back out to the family room where Jessica and my Mom were sitting on the couch. My mom tends to make my friends uncomfortable with her weird niceness but I noticed Jessica was trying her best to put on a smile and be nice back.
"So are we going to go?" I interrupted my moms small talk.
"Sure, if your ready." She replied.
So I smiled and slightly motioned for Jessica to follow me. She jumped right up off the couch and started traveling behind me. You could tell she was eager to get away from the crazy lady(aka. my mom). We walked out the front door into my car. I got into back seat with her so that she wouldn't be alone back there.
"So do you know anyone else that's going to Helms?" I casually asked.
Helms was the school we were going to attend.
"Um yea I know one other girl, Martin. We have been friends for as long as I can remember." She replied.
wow ok this isn't so bad. We can actually have a normal conversation. But not so great that she already knows a girl. now I'm going to be the third wheel with them. Now I'm going to be the one to sit across from the two of them at the lunch table instead of on the same side. I'm going to be THAT girl.
"Oh.. that's cool." I sighed.
But then I smiled at her again. I couldn't let her know that I was practically depending on her to be normal and sit with me at lunch.

The drive to the bowling alley was sufficiently awkward. The ride was mostly 2 seconds eye contact and small talk that we both didn't care about. So far she hasn't done anything too weird yet. And I'm betting she isn't a serial killer so I guess you can say it's going a lot better than I imagined.
We arrived in the parking lot of the Bowling Alley.
When we were walking up to the building with the large bowling pins painted on it, Jessica and I fell behind my mom.
"So your name is Nicole right?" Asked Jessica.
"Yea and your Jessica?"
I already knew she was Jessica but I just needed a way to fill the silence and avoid more awkward eye contact.
It wasn't the best strategy but it's what I had to do if I was going to get through this. We told the man at the desk out shoe sizes and he handed us navy blue and red bowling shoes. she walked over to lane 14 which is what the man told us.
"Ok so you girls can go pick out some nice balls." my mom said so nonchalantly.
Jessica both exchanged and a look of pure immaturity and tried to hold in our laughter as we turned away. It was so unexpected to think the same way at her. At least I know she has a sense of humor now.

The whole rest of the "play date" at the bowling alley Wasn't half bad. she always had something to say though. It could be from a witty comment to a story about her friend Emma that she seems to spend most of her time with. And from what I hear she sounds a little weird. Not the bad weird though. The good weird that you do on purpose and entertain everybody with. I think that's how I could describe her. Once I broke the ice some more we talked about how we had most of the same classes at Helms.