Just As I Am

Eight

It didn't last long. My sleep, I mean. I closed my eyes for like a second and the next thing I knew, it was morning.I so did not want to go to school today. I could skip school. Lots of people did it, right? I was not in the mood to face Melissa today. The only problem was my dad. I needed to get past him.

"Oh my gosh. This is so painful", I said dramatically.

"What is it, Karen?" Dad asked, showing no emotion in his voice.

"Cramps", I said and wrapped my arms around my stomach.

"Is it that serious?" Dad asked again.

"Yes. I think I might even throw up", I said and pretended to throw up on the floor.

"Not here, Karen. You're staying home. You're not in a good condition to go to school.

I smiled. Mission accomplished.

Ugh. I hate Mondays. It's like bad luck or something. I woke up late and I missed like two lessons. I heard voices coming from the bathroom. I recognized one of them as Melissa's. I was about to open the door but was stopped when I heard the next thing Melissa said.

"And right after that, things went back to normal. It's like nothing even happened. I love how she's so naive. She actually thinks we're really friends. Like I would want to be friends with a loser like her. I'm only friends with her because she does something for me. The new kids are always the naive ones", Melissa said and I heard a series of giggles.

"Have you heard about Diane?" Nicole asked.

I didn't want to hear anymore of their gossip. Two-faced liars. She was actually the one who sweet-mouthed me on Saturday. I can't believe I was friends with them. Those rumours were true. Yes, they were rumours but they were true.

I sat on the bench at the parking lot, waiting impatiently for them. Normally, I would walk to their lockers and we would walk to the parking lot together and then go home. I finally saw them. I was so angry. I saw Melissa's perfect dressing, her perfect hair and perfectly manicured nails. Just looking at her made me even more angrier.

"Hey, Karen. We were supposed to meet at our locker. What happened?" Melissa said sweetly in a fake voice.

Everything about her was fake.

"What do you care about it? You don't even care about me. You don't even like me", I said, pointing my index finger at her accusingly.

"I care about you, Karen", Melissa said.

I hated the fact that she was afraid to admit that she was a liar.

"Yeah, right. You care about me. I hate this friendship, Melissa, as much as you do. It's all fake. I'm done with this", I said, standing up to leave.

"Do you mean that this is actually over? Karen you are going to regret this", Melissa said as if she didn't believe that I would actually leave.

"What I regret is not doing this earlier".

"I'm going to make your life miserable if you leave".

"My life is miserable with you in it. It would be less miserable without you".

I didn't notice the crowd which had gathered to watch our argument. I didn't care if Melissa was the most popular girl in the world. I wanted a true friend, not a fake one.