The Friendship Bracelet

Promise

It was Wednesday. We were sitting in Bonnie's room, and Madelyn had called Lara's phone. Madelyn spoke, "Ah! I thought you three might be together!" She delayed before speaking again, as if waiting for a reply. "What you did earlier, in the shop, we really don't appreciate that, so you have just caused more trouble for yourself than you could even imagine."

Bonnie spoke first. "How? I mean, you won't seriously kill her, now will you? You'd be sentenced to life in prison. I mean Madelyn, would you and Willow really survive in prison?" We all knew that Madelyn was with Willow, it was pretty obvious. Our assumptions were confirmed when Willow spoke up. "No, but we know someone who could." Cody laughed a little then spoke up in his deep and menacing tone of voice, "Me." Bonnie, Lara and I all simultaneously wailed, "Oh, no."

Madelyn spoke quietly, "And before you ask, no, we don't feel guilty. If anything the world would be better off without you there." A tear rolled down my cheek and Lara hung up. Lara hugged me again and Bonnie did soon after. "We'll protect you, always. Nothing will happen to you while we're around. We promise," They both said sympathetically to me. "I'd probably already be dead without you guys," I sobbed in reply. Bonnie broke from the hug excitedly, "Wait! I have an idea! You know how Brad has a crush on you, right?" I nodded sadly and Lara quickly caught on to what Bonnie was saying, but I didn't. Lara finished Bonnie's statement for her, "If he was your boyfriend, this hell would probably stop!" I let out a short sigh and grumbled, "I doubt it. Willow, Madelyn and Cody are persistent, and when I say that, I am NOT kidding."

"Yes, but at least you would have someone capable of fighting back, I mean, he's the strongest guy in the school!"

"Cody is the second strongest and only by a fraction. Plus, he has all his friends. Having Brad as my boyfriend might stop some of the teasing but it won't stop the physical bullying."

"Hm... Good point. We can try though, you never know. I just don't want to lose you," Lara sobbed in reply. Bonnie tried to be happy in our moment of sadness, "You've had a crush on Brad for FOREVER. You have to try." I just stared at the floor.

We sat in silence until I got a call from an unknown number. I shrugged at the girls and picked it up. "Hello?" The mysterious caller spoke, his voice shaking nervously, "H-hey Grace. It's-it's Brad. I j-just wanted to say that I'm sorry for what happened to you today, you didn't deserve it. In fact y-you deserve the opposite, you deserve l-love and praise."

"Really? Thank you!"

"Look, um, I was wondering if you've heard the rumours about me liking you." His voice was still shaky so I figured out he was definitely genuinely nervous about talking to me.

"Yes. Brad, you don't have to be nervous, I'm not going to get mad."

Suddenly realizing that I was talking to Brad, Bonnie and Lara got really excited. They stood up on the bed and silently celebrated by jumping up and down on it. Brad spoke again, "Okay, well those rumours are..." He trailed off then delayed the rest of his sentence, "...completely true."

"Really? I mean, of all the girls in our year, me?"

"All the other girls would make me go shopping or do something similar. Either that or they're a slightly less horrible version of Willow and Madelyn. Not you though, you're different, you like the things that I do, but a lot more. You enjoy math, science and history. Other girls roll their eyes when they find out that's what I like other than sport. I just think that we could be amazing together. What do you think?"

"I'm flattered. Really, really flattered."

"Oh thank god, that was the second hardest part."

"What, may I ask, is the hardest part?"