Proving Webster Wrong

Chapter Three -- Chloe

Chapter Three

Chloe

The Andrew sitting in front of me was so much like the little boy that was always tagging along, but for some reason I still felt like he was completely different. I didn't know the seven-teen year old that didn't wear his emotions on his face or that would be brave enough to step up and try to take control of the situation or that had spent so long with a girl who's only goal seemed to be trapping him in a little box just for herself.

I thought about his statement. We had been pushed apart but we had also grown up. The two went hand-in-hand in my memory, in the way that we had become who we were today. "It's the same thing, Andrew."

He bent his head over and rubbed both hands through his hair. The hair that was once so short you couldn't tell if it was curly or straight now stuck up and brushed his eyebrows in waves. "Why do you keep calling me Andrew? Remember, you were the first one to call me Drew. If it weren't for you I doubt the name would have caught on."

Yes, I did remember. We were ten when I decided that he didn't look anything like an Andrew and declared him Drew. I refused to call him anything but that. It was only a couple of weeks before the name caught on. I also remember that it wasn't just the two of us. Terri-Beth and Crystal had been a part of it.

We had been talking about what a mouth full Terri-Beth's full name was, and how weird. Terri-Beth Louise Peters. She was always saying how even her parents have a hard time yelling her full name for they usually just say Terri Louise Peters. It was why she insisted her initials were TLP and not TBLP. Then we all started spouting out each other's full names, seeing which was the hardest to say.

Chloe Mackenzie Lewis.

Andrew Nathaniel Parker.

Terri-Beth Louise Peters.

Crystal Alexa Sanders.

Somehow it became us talking about whether or not our names fit us. Terri-Beth declared herself weird and said her parents were always calling her a handful. Crystal was the pretty one. I was the simple but different one. That just left Drew. I decided he was too passive for Andrew, that a shorter name like Drew would fit him.

Everyone agreed.

I pulled my mind to where were, to the picnic table in the park we spent so much of our childhood at. "Andrew, why am I the only one here?"

He didn't look at me. Instead he spun around on the bench he sat on and faced the play equipment. "I'm surprised they still have the wooden set out. I was always covered in splinters after playing on that thing."

It was true. And the set probably had termites or something in the wood. It was a wonder it was still standing. If I were a parent I wouldn't let my kids on the thing. I wouldn't let them on the old rusted merry-go-round, as my mom called it, that I remember always referring to as "the spinney thing".

"Come on," he said jumping from his seat and jogging toward the set. He turned back to see if I had followed and waved me over when he saw I was still planted in the same spot.

"It looks too dangerous!" I yelled. Well, more like I projected with my stage voice. All this time in drama classes had taught me the difference.

"Come on, you're the queen of the drama club or something like that, right? I thought you weren't suppose to be afraid of things."

If I had a dime for every time I heard that I could probably pay for college. I never understood this twisted view. Being on stage may be scary but it's a different feeling. There is something safe about it. Performing isn't just about one person being a focus, it's about a group coming together and telling a story. We're all there to help each other, to catch each other when they fall, to never let failure be an option. Even in improv, something I never thought I would be able to do, having a team makes it completely different.