To My Ex Friends

«Plan«

My parents were divorced in 2010. They met in the Navy. I would spend a lot of time at my Mimi's (my Dads Mother) house growing up. I do not see her much anymore because her political viewpoints get in the way of my Dads relationship with her. She was diagnosed with dementia in 2022 which is when her attitudes started to change.

There were two kids on my Grandmas street I would play with named Liam and Faith.  Sydney would eventually join the group after my grandma's neighbor met her now boyfriend. Sydney has an older sister, Jada, she recorded a video of me and Sydney doing an impersonation of the hit Nickelodeon show iCarlys' intro. Sydney was saying Sam's lines since she has blonde hair. I had Carly's lines since I am a brunette. Jada shadowed the role of the camera operator, Freddie! I thought our acting was close to perfection.

There was one time we made a band and sang a cover of the One Direction hit song What Makes You Beautiful. My grandma had a sun room attached to her house so that is where we performed. I remember Sydney was on the drums. There was a purple bell bracelet that Sydney remembers using that day. Faith played the maracas. Liam was on the guitar. Jada recorded the music video.

I had a crush on my Grandmas neighbor, Liam. I switched Middle Schools in 2017. I started that fall! Liam went to the Middle School. I was happy because the school that I started attending mid-way through 3rd grade wasn't working out. I thought I would have the same classes as Liam. I envisioned the effective plan in my head.

The truth was I went down the delusional rabbit hole. We did not have any classes together. He could tell I had a crush on him. It made him feel awkward. I would listen to the song Red by Taylor Swift and think of him when the line "Loving him was red" was sung. Our friendship became a thing of the past when 8th grade started.

My friendship with Sydney was also fading because we didn't visit my Grandma much anymore. I didn't see her. Sydney has a cool birthday. She turns 18 on the 4th of July. I hope she and her sister are doing great. I can't believe she is almost an adult. She's gonna be an adult when I upload all of the parts of the story at the end of July. Liam turned 21 this year on May 27th. It is hard to believe that we went from playing house to becoming adults.

It took awhile for me to convince my Mom to let me change schools. Once my Mom and I moved into our 2017 apartment she finally caved in. It was the start of 8th grade. I met this girl whose name was Harper at 8th grade orientation. We did not have a close friendship outside of class. She was there as someone I knew so it made the transition to a new school less stressful. She was in my History and Music class. We would see each other at school dances. I saw her at the 8th grade formal. There was a Father Daughter dance at the High School I ran into her at. We hung out together at prom. We just happened to be in different crowds.

The plan I had in my mind was different than I had expected. I was blessed with a large friend group. I texted my Mimi in 8th grade saying "God blessed me with such great friends". I was  REALLY thankful. This was when I least anticipated the arrival of new people.