Following Her Heart (CURRENTLY EDITING)

Chapter 12

THAT NIGHT, MY MOM SILENTLY GAVE ME DINNER WITHOUT A WORD. She did give me a hug, and I was thinking, maybe she understood.

Anna called a little later.

"Hi Anna."

"Hannah! I cant wait for practice tomorrow for our play, can you?" she asked excitedly.

"That should be fun," I said, not sounding enthusiastic at all.

"Yes! I have a lot to do right now, I mean with ballet, drama now, and I will be joining French club, and of course, I have to keep up my grades. Sorry I had to miss school, I didn't feel well this morning. Did I miss anything?" she asked.

"Um, no, not really," I gulped. I felt bad for not telling her, my new best friend, about what had happened. To be honest, though, I was embarrassed and not sure Anna would agree on my new position I had taken as a "high school girl" (what Amanda kept insisting I am and that was getting just a little annoying the past few days).

"I will be there at drama tomorrow Anna. I got to go now, though, so I will see you tomorrow at school, okay?"

"Yeah, see you then Hannah! Love you!" Anna said softly.

"Bye Anna!"

"Um, bye Hannah," said Anna, with a ting of hurt it sounded like, in her voice.

Just after I hung up, I realized something. Anna had told me she loved me. She had never opened up that much before, at least not that I can remember. And I hadn't even told her I loved her back! What was the matter with me?!

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School the next few weeks flew by. There was drama practice Tuesdays and Thursdays. Art Club and French Club met on lunch-breaks on Wednesday and Thursday. I was busy with school. And all my activities. And with worry. About a lot of things.

I was so worried about my friendships and relationships lately. I had been rebellious a lot with my mom. She was worried about me, although she didn't say anything, I could tell. But Amanda told me that it'd be good to gain ground and win over independence, even if fighting and arguing with parents was the way to do it.

I barely texted Molly and Riley with my busy schedule. Anyway, they seem to be busy with their own lives, and barely seem in touch with my own. I don't need to be texting them all the time. Anna and I were not able to be together as much as we had planned at school and with everything. Danny seemed not wanting to talk to me at all for some reason. Even being at drama practice bi-weekly didn't help us much develop any sort of friendship yet. I thought getting popular and all would help him notice me more. It didn't seem to be working at all.

My grades were even lowering. Mom and Dad didn't know yet. I didn't want to tell them, because I had never let my grades slide before in all my life. I think I knew why they were. Amanda and I went out doing fun stuff a lot-shopping, going to the movies all that, going to a couple parties hosted by her friends, almost every night it seemed. Whenever I protested or told Amanda I needed to do homework or work on a project, she told me she was having one of her bad days and us doing something together would cheer her up. So almost always she won in the end. I wasn't the diligent student of before, studying and getting homework assignments done faithfully each night and weekend.

I had someone ask me why I was suddenly becoming best friends with Amanda. I didn't know how to answer the person at first. Then after questioning this myself, I realized why. Amanda is so popular at school. She's gotten me introduced to all the cool kids at school. She's transformed my wardrobe into a beautiful new set of clothes that make me beautiful, along with all the make-up she gives to me and taught me how to apply and put on perfectly. She's making me into a popular, cool girl with actual good looks. Amanda's great to be in my life right now!