Valerie Gale

Chapter 5: Reminiscing

Sydney always loved her Aunt, mostly because her Aunt always loved Sydney.

She loved hearing stories of Sydney's mother and her Aunt when they were younger, stories of how they divided their shared bedroom with a line of tape across the floor, or how they used to rip out the last few pages in each others books just to annoy the other.

The stories should have made Sydney glad she was an only child, but it only made her feel like she was missing out. That was until Valerie came along.

Sydney was 5 when she and Valerie first met. Valerie's father was in her father's football team, back when her father was young and could actually kick a football. Sydney could remember coming to their games, the early mornings on the wet oval, grass stains and muddy knees. She could also remember Valerie, the girl with pink cheeks and tawny hair.

There was never a specific moment when they decided to be best friends. They were young and the only girls of their age to pass the time with so it just grew naturally. They never watched their fathers play a game, they were too busy playing their own. They used to run off into the trees that surrounded the oval, making huts out of twigs and leaves and carving their names into the trunks so big neither of them could wrap their arms around it, and trust me they tried.

Soon enough they didn't just meet on those cold early mornings. Valerie practically lived at Sydney's house from the age of six to ten. She would have her side of the bed, spare changes of clothes in Sydney's cupboard, her own spot on the couch. They were sisters, maybe not by blood but they were brought up together, so much so that they became the same. Everything Valerie did, Sydney did and vice versa. Valerie joined the gymnastics team, so did Sydney. Sydney cut her hair short, so did Valerie. If one cried, so did the other. It was as if she could feel her pain.

Then came seventh grade.

Sydney quit the gymnastics team. It was no longer their thing, It was Valerie's. Valerie would do anything to be better than Sydney. She would fight her over who was better, ignore her for weeks after competitions. She even told all the other girls Sydney pushed her off the beam once. Sydney knew it was pathetic, she didn't want to fight and she didn't want it to cost their friendship. So she quit.

She thought it would all be over, the stupid, childish competition.

It wasn't.

Valerie spend the next year spreading rumours about Valerie. Awful, disgusting, evil rumours.

First it started simple. Did you know the only reason Sydney gets such good grades is because she writes the answers under that God awful skirt of hers. I wouldn't be surprised if she let you sneak a few answers, she wouldn't mind lifting it for a person or two. Or it was, Sydney totally thinks you're fat, she told me so herself. She was surprised so much person could fit inside a school uniform.

But then it turned worst.

I heard Sydney's parents fight a lot. I bet it's over Sydney. She'd be the one to ruin their marriage.

It was no longer about who was the better gymnast. It was about who was the better person. Although almost everything Valerie said was a lie, people believed her. Sydney was left with no one, except Madelyn. Madelyn believed Sydney and, above all, she believed in Sydney. She still does.

It was the worst year of Sydney's life, but she endured it.

Sydney remembered the first day of year eight. She was so nervous, so terrified she broke out in rashes. They covered her arms and legs and burned bright red. But there was no one there to tease her about it. Valerie was gone. She left, just floated away like a balloon cut from a string. No one knew where she was going, and nobody followed her there.

Sydney thought that was the last she'd ever hear about Valerie Gale. She'd never have to put up with that girls insults again. But Sydney could have sworn it was her voice, Valerie's, that whispered to her English.

She'd know it from anywhere.

It was a voice she knew just as well as her own.