A Blue Rose

Person On The Inside

Keith

If someone told me I'd be best friends with Declana someday a couple of days ago, I'd slap them silly and take them to mad house! But apparently that's exactly what happened. We do everything together now, and she's like my coat of armour. Whenever I'm playing basketball with the boys, Declana is watching us and whenever I ask to meet them after school, Ethan is forced to say yes! In fact, now nobody can hurt me when Declana is around, and even if she isn't, people still know I'll tell her eventually. When I do go over to hang out with the boys from basketball, she's always there to support me. All of the boys in our class are on the basketball team, all except Ernest. I don't even know if he has a friend or not. He's a nerd. The funny thing is, I don't remember seeing Paige a lot lately. She hasn't talked to us in days. I don't know if I was paying attention or not, I haven't really cared ether. But anyway, I found out that there's so much more to Declana than just a bodyguard, she's also funny, creative, and very intelligent. I don't see how it's possible for her to have a slight mental disability, but I could care less about that. I guess in kindergarden we just got off on the wrong foot. I used to pull her hair, she used to step on my feet. One time in second grade, I punched her in the face for throwing a baseball at my head. We both got in big trouble that day. One other time in fourth grade, she dumped a bucketful of mud on my head for pushing her into the river when we were in the park with Paige. In fifth and sixth grade, we were constantly challenging one another to arm wrestles, races, and other competitions. Sometimes we played fairly, sometimes not. In first and third grade, pushing and shoving was our favourite activity. Now, everything's different, and frankly, better. I met Declana the next day in the school yard. She was talking with Paige. "I don't understand, me and Keith are friends now," stated Declana. "Shouldn't you be glad?" "I am glad, but maybe since we're all friends now, we can talk all together," suggested Paige. "It's just that, I want to get to know him better. Personally, I think we're best friends, and we like it that way. I guess we can talk all together, but sometimes you just don't connect with us and understand some things we do," remarked Declana. "Don't take it the wrong way. We are still your friends, but we just sometimes want to alone," I said, walking into the conversation. I could see Paige make her nervous face. "Oh well. I oughta find someone to connect with me then, since no one here can," she replies and strolls away. I hate to see Paige sad, but I think she'll get over it. I've been friends with Paige for a long time, and she's a bit bossy. And I guess she took advantage of us when me and Declana didn't get along, we were easy to manipulate. But that doesn't mean she's a bad person, she just gets ahead of herself too quickly. Declana and I shrug it off and keep walking and talking. Meanwhile in the corner of my eye, I could see Paige dragging herself to a bench. She sat down and sighed heavily. Declana could see her too.