Behind Every Smile

An Unexpected Friendship

Everyone, or at least me, has been asked the same questions over and over since they were little. Questions such as,
"How are you growing so fast?" And " What do you wanna be when you grow up?"
But it seems the most common question people ask me, is "Why are you so obsessed with comics? And "What's life like as an only child?"
I promise you, those answers will come, but first, allow me to tell you the story behind all those questions, the story of why I consider friendship to be one of the most precious qualities of life.

This all began in the beginning of the school year, the first day of Middle School. I wasn't sure whether to be excited or afraid.
"You still awake back there?" My father snickered, noticing my zombified, lifeless look.
"Y-Yeah..sorta." I mumbled, gazing out the window, remembering what time it was; 6:30 a.m.
In my opinion, being awake that early is, no doubt ridiculous. Usually, I'm not fully awake till at least nine o'clock.
"Well, we're here, have fun, I'll see you in six hours!" He shouted, just before I leaped out of the car.
Six long hours of sitting at a desk, which means writing notes for at least four, and the other two would be staring up at a board, now doesn't that sound fun.
Our school was assembled on a long steep hill, a long narrow path running through the middle of it. I knew it would be mayhem trying to get from class to class, considering everyone in the school was going to be walking on this one path.
"Bella!" I turned around to see my oldest friend Shaina run towards me.
We new each other better then anyone else. She had chocolate eyes and skin with shiny black hair, that for as long as I could remember, stretched all the way down to her back.
"You look lost," She smirked.
"I don't think lost is the right word." I chuckled, looking around for the rest of the group.
Shaina noticed my eagerness and shook her head.
"Nobody is here yet, just you and I for now." I nodded, giving up on searching for them.
"One of the older kids on the bus told me there was a gum tree at this school." Shaina continued, trying to push on the conversation.
"A gum tree?"
"Yeah, and a tree that has a bunch of shoes dangling from its branches." We both laughed, it seemed like a pointless effort to try and throw a pair of shoes tied together around a tree branch.
"You wanna go see?" I noticed her begin to walk up the main route that ran all the way up the hill.
"Why not, I guess." I couldn't help but see for myself if what she heard was true.
It didn't take us long to notice the several pairs of shoes twisted along the branches of a large bulky tree in front of the cafeteria. Both of us nearly gasped in amazement, there was at least ten pairs of shoes up there!
"I didn't know shoes grew on trees." Shaina mumbled with a slight smirk.
"I didn't either, or gum." I scoffed a little.
"Guess we both learned something new today."
The crackly sound of the school bell grabbed our attention, causing us both to look away from the irregularly designed tree.
"Well, I'll see you at lunch, if we survive that long." I watched her roll her eyes before walking the other direction.
I could tell she was as nervous as I was, or still waking up from five hours of sleep, as I was. There was nothing worse then starting off the day with Math, at least in my opinion. The room was bathed with a strong scent of flowers, and as always, was cold enough to keep everyone frozen solid in their seats. One side of the room had a large picture of a sunset, drawn into the wall. The rest of the room was cluttered with maps and charts, including a somewhat readable picture of the periodic table.
I sat myself down near the far corner of the room, only because it was the only spot where the air conditioning didn't blow down my spine. Little by little, more unfamiliar faces welcomed themselves into the room. I could already tell how this year was going to go, considering most of the girls were already wearing makeup, and shirts that barley went down past their stomach. I could've cared less about the percentage that had a boy's arm around their shoulder.
It was at that moment, I knew I was a certain outcast, again. Even today I never understood why girls my age drape themselves in what they think will get them attention. I guess it has, oddly enough.
My attention moved to another unknown face, who sat herself next to me, keeping her head down. To my surprise, she wasn't wearing makeup, or dressed to impress. The girl's eyes were hidden by a light blue ball cap, and dark brown hair stretched all the way down to her lower back. We both came to class in a normal attire; jeans and a sweater. At least I wasn't the only one who didn't stand out completely.
After a long ten minutes of discussing class rules with out new teacher, we were given our first assignment; draw ourselves.
I could hear about everyone in the class groan after receiving their directions, besides me. Drawing was something I enjoyed more than food, the ONLY thing. Shaina knowing this, told everyone I knew, and thanks to her, I find myself constantly drawing pictures for someone else's homework, that they were suppose to do. You're right, I should've said no, but I'm one of those people who nearly forgets how to say the word when people ask for help.
As told, I began drawing on a sheet of paper, using as many colored pencils as possible, at least until I noticed someone watching me. I turned my head slowly, only to notice the girl sitting next to me glare at my drawing, then look back down at hers.
The girl looked as if she were frustrated, and somewhat nervous.
I cleared my throat quietly before thinking of some way to start a conversation with this quiet girl.
"Y-You dropped your black." I felt myself stiffen, was this really the best thing I could come up with?
The girl turned her head, gazing at me with her crystal blue eyes in confusion. I reached down below her desk to grab the fallen black colored pencil then set it on her desk.
"Oh..t-thanks." To my surprise, she smiled for a quick second, enough for me to realize she wasn't completely shy.
"What's your name?" I attempted again, still watching her draw with her back slumped over her paper.
"D-Danielle." The girl mumbled, still keeping her eyes on the paper.
"I'm Bella." I responded with a slight grin, feeling more certain about my response.
"It's nice finally meeting someone who doesn't roll their eyes when you try and talk to them."
"Yeah, or smell like a beauty salon." Danielle scoffed, smiling a little as I laughed.
Out of all the thousands of movies I've seen, out of all the quotes I've heard, I've always followed one, even today; "All you need is twenty seconds of insane courage, and I promise you something great will come out of it".
From that moment on, just from those twenty seconds, I found myself to enter the world of who I never realized would become my best friend. We told each other our stories of our most memorable days of summer, and worst. The more we went on, the more I learned to discover Danielle was an outcast like I was
The bell rang for second period, forcing all of us to leave our seats.
"Hey, if you want...if you want, you can come meet my friends at lunch."I offered, noticing Danielle start to walk the other way.
"I'll think about it." She shrugged before walking off, keeping her head down.
That afternoon I was pleasantly surprised to see I had found my way down to the cafeteria outside the Gymnasium. There were crowds of students gathered around most of the small tables outside. Obviously I had no chance at finding a seat. At least until I noticed Shaina trying to wave at me from underneath a large oak tree, near the outside of the locker rooms.
"Bella Bear!" I heard Tiffany, one of my other good friends, tease before hugging me tightly.
"More like Stickella." I heard another one of my friends mumble, making fun of how skinny and short I was.
Tiffany, Chloe, and Hannah were my other friends that I knew since elementary school. People always teased me for having friends that weren't "my kind" and that somehow I hated white people, considering most of them were Asian. All three of them had brown eyes, long black hair and wore glasses. But that never stopped me from calling them my friends, and never will it.
All of us were teased at some point in our lives, whether it was how short we were, how much we weighed, or the people we hung out with, we all knew how it felt, which is why we are all very close friends, because we understand each other.
"So, how was everyone's morning?" I ask before sitting against the tree comfortably, taking out my packaged lunch.
"Wait, it's not morning anymore?" Shaina raised her eyebrows in shock.
"Looks like someone is still half asleep." Tiffany snickered, I couldn't help but laugh.
"I think all of us are, or at least me." I replied.
"I sure am, I stayed up till three last night finishing homework." Hannah groaned, taking a small bite of pasta she brought from home.
"Homework?" Shaina turned her head confused.
"Not for school." She added, looking at Shaina.
Shaina nodded before taking out her lunch, giving up on the conversation obviously.
I felt Tiffany tap my shoulder before whispering in my ear.
"There's been a girl over there who has been staring at you for five minutes." I follow her eyes only to see a familiar face, sitting against the wall of the locker room next to us.
Instantly I get up, I couldn't believe my eyes.
"Danielle! You came!" I walk up too her with a partial smile, trying not to act too surprised.
"I-I didn't want to barge into the group so I thought-" I chuckled at her excuse, rapping my arm around her shoulder.
"No no no! You weren't barging into anything! Come on, I'd like you to meet my friends!" I recognized her shy expression as I led her over to the group, trying to keep a friendly smile on my face.
"This is Tiffany, Hannah, Shaina and Chloe." I explain, gesturing my hand as I speak.
"Everyone, this is Danielle." Shaina stood up, flicking back her short black hair before shaking her hand.
"What's new Danielle?" Shaina smiled, sitting back down.
Danielle shrugged, sitting down next to me while hugging her bag pack close to her chest.
"N-Not much." She shrugged her shoulders before glancing at her emotionless.
"It's the first day of school, the only thing that's new about this place is us. WE are what's new." Tiffany smirked, taking a bite of her granny apple.
"True.." I nod slowly, watching Danielle's expression chance into a grin.
I felt another tap on the shoulder, but this time it wasn't Tiffany.
"People are looking at me like they just saw a ghost." Danielle mumbled, her eyes following a group of girls walking past us, snickering before whispering to each other.
"Don't mind them, I could care less about what people think." I mumbled, quiet enough for only her to hear.
"Why not? The last thing I wanna be called is a geek." She grunted, crossing her arms.
"Well, what's so bad about being a geek? It's just another word for being different." I could tell by her facial expression, she couldn't take me seriously.
"Nobody wants to be that "different" kid at school, especially at this one." Danielle replies, looking away with small sigh.
"I do, in fact, all of us do." I turn my head, noticing everyone listening, Shaina nodding her head.
"But why? Don't you hate being made fun of?" I noticed Shaina look down at the ground, her grin fading.
"Yeah, we do, but that won't stop us from being ourselves, that's why we stick together, that's what friends, true friends are for."
Danielle's sigh, to my surprised, faded, her eyes raising to notice Shaina stick her arm out.
"Together no matter what." She grins, turning her head at Chloe.
"Together no matter what." Chloe stretched her arm over Shaina's, all eyes focused on Hannah.
One after another, everyone's arm was over each others, all eyes moved to Danielle.
"Come on Danielle, get your hand up there!" Tiffany urged.
Danielle slowly flashed a smile, sitting up quickly.
"No matter what."
Those were the words all of us remembered and said, reminding us of the promise we all made that day, a promise that would eventually to be broken.