Loser Lessons

A Friend Is One Who Knows You And Loves You Just The Same

A Friend Is One Who Knows You And Loves You Just The Same

“Did you talk to him yet?”

                “AH!” I screamed in surprise, smacking my head into the top of my locker.

                “Oh sorry.” I turned around to glare at Ashley who was smiling innocently beside me. “Well, not really… you needed a good smack to the head.”

                “Gee, thanks…” I said dryly, closing my locker.

                I had been trying to avoid human interaction all day, but I’m obviously not very good at it because Ashley found me and it was only lunch time. I had tried extra hard, getting my Dad to drive me to school, hiding in the bathrooms, and I even sacrificed my right arm by diving into a fake plant so that Taryn didn’t see me on her way to class.

                “So did you?” Ashley pushed, following me as I started walking down the hallway.

                “No,” I sighed, “I don’t have any morning classes with him… besides, I feel like it should be more private than in the middle of class.”

                “Well, what are you waiting for? Go do it now!”

                “I don’t think I’m ready…” I mumbled, staring at my feet. I mean, why would I deserve for Carson to forgive me?

                “I don’t care! What happened to the Annie from before, you were all pumped to get your best friend back!” Ashley nudged me. “Come on, you can do it.”

                “You’re right,” I nodded. I could do this. It didn’t matter if Carson forgave me; he still had to know I was sorry. It was the right thing to do. “Let’s do this.” I marched to the library with Ashley right behind me jabbering to herself in excitement.

                I strode to the library door and just as I was about to pull it open, my feet got glued to the ground. ‘Oof!’ Ashley muttered as she slammed into my back. “What the heck, Annie?”

                “I can’t do it!” I started breathing quickly, Carson was just over there. So close.

                Suddenly a sharp pain hit my face and there was a loud smack. “OW!” I hissed, putting my hand to my face. “Why’d you slap me?”

                “Because you’re being an idiot! Now get in there before I hit you even harder.”

                “Fine!” I glared at her. “You’re a jerk you know…”

                “I’ll be waiting, tick tock!” she grinned, tapping at her nonexistent watch. I sighed, before taking one more deep breath and stepping into the library. I let the door close quietly behind me, and I walked slowly towards Carson’s table, my heart pounding the entire time. Breathe, Annie, you can do this.

                I played my Mom’s words over in my head again. When I had told her about everything that happened, she was… well, she wasn’t exactly sympathetic. ”Well, you screwed up, Annalise, you’re the one that needs to fix it. If you want his friendship after all this, it’s going to cost you. The question you have to ask yourself is, is it worth it to you?”

                Yes, I thought immediately. It was so worth it.

                I stepped out around the shelf and looked at Carson. As usual he was sitting at the table, eating his lunch and catching up on his homework. He looked between his book and his paper, jotting things down quickly in that little scrawl of his, shaking his bushy hair out of his eyes a couple times. My heart ached, and I realized just how much I had missed him for these past two months. Even the little things. Like how his nose twitched when he was deep in thought, and how his pinky slid across the paper as he wrote to steady his hand.