The Unlikely Friendship

The beginning of the end

Unedited.

***************************************************************

It was the beginning of the end of life as I knew it, and it was going too quickly for my taste but not quick enough. The morning flew by until it was time for 4th period, in other words gym class. I started to walk down the linoleum tiled halls reminiscing about freshman year, heading to the same gym that started my friendship with Ben. It has been almost four years since that fateful date and it only seems like yesterday. I notice as I walk that the halls have been freshly painted and as I approach the gym I can smell the fresh coating on the refurbished gym floors, a strong scented odor that only means that school has officially started and I cannot deny it any longer. The floors were shining under the lighting and people were wandering in and heading towards the opened bleachers.

It was the biggest gym class being composed of seniors and juniors, composed of four separate classes in one class period. Hazel and Kelley were in my gym class along with two other girls I know, Colleen and Gemma. Ben and most of his cronies from the football team are also in this class, not that I minded them but they are all your typical jocks they go hard during gym. I found my assigned gym teacher, Mr. Burke and walk over to the bleachers and sat down with Hazel, Gemma, Kelley, and Colleen. We started to talk and gossip about the latest events that have happened to the other classmates. Noelle Jones the queen bee of the school walks right up to where we were sitting and puts her hands on her hips and glares at us, well me to be exact.

"How was your summer, Andrea? I heard that you were the third wheel for Ben's family's vacation."

I look up at her briefly before glancing over at the clock wishing that time would speed up.

"I do not think it is any of your business Noelle."

Noelle glares at me and then scoffs. "Of course, it is my business, anything dealing with Ben is my business." She looks at me as if she was studying me before she continued "You know, I never could understand how you too could be friends. You two are so different from each other, you don't even socialize with in the same circles."

"Well, it is one of a kind!"

"It sure is. Listen to me real close, I understand that we are entering the senior year and very soon we will be going our separate ways. But Ben is up for a huge scholarship and he needs to focus on it. You might become an interference, a distraction with him trying to split up his time between two friend groups. So, I would suggest starting to pull away from him and get used to him not being around all the time. It's just a thought!" And then she walks away from us and heads to their group on the other side.

Ben looks over to our direction and as the bell starts to ring signaling that the period was over he walks over to us with a confused and puzzling look on his face.

"What was that about?" he asked us.

I just shake my hand and act indifferent to the previous conversation I had. "Nothing at all. Hazel, Gemma did you hear about the new gym dress code policy for the girls?"

"There's a new dress code for the gym? What is it?" Kelley asked me with big eyes. Ben leaned up next to me and slung his arm around my shoulders as we walked down the hall.

"Yeah, I heard about that. Supposedly we can't wear tank tops anymore and they sent out a friendly reminder that our shorts have to be at least fingertip length." Gemma said while she was digging through her backpack.

Ben paused and glanced at Kelley and Gemma "What? That is not right why would the school come up with such restrictive rules? That is withholding every one of their expressive rights. Let those tight tank tops and shoulders shine!"