Friend Forever

My School

  "Hey Mallory!" Carly shouted at me as she was waiting at the end of our sidewalk the next day. It was almost nine'o clock in the morning on that day, and it was our first day of grade four. I for one was excited, since I was always excited to start the new school year. Although I was usually upset that summer break was over, I also felt it was time to return back to school. You could only sit around and hang out with friends for so long until I wanted to do more. And school was the switch in routine that I didn't mind. I really didn't mind school, since Carly and I did everything together for two years already. Everything was better with her.

I skipped down my sidewalk and met up with her, as we both turned and began to walk down our street and towards our school which was only two blocks away. Our street had two sidewalks on either side, and we were traveling down the left one. The large trees that were on either side of the grey cemented sidewalk were shady and tall, as many different coloured green leaves on branches hung down, and provided lots of shade. Cars lined our street as well, as they parked close to different houses. Birds sang in the trees above us, as they whistled and hummed along. It was a pretty day that day. With the blue sky and warm sun. With the slight wind swooping by us, and flew the other way. That day felt different in a way. Maybe that was because it was the first day of school, or maybe it was because of something else. Something I wouldn't realize until later on in the day. Later after school, perhaps.

Carly and I kicked rocks excitingly, as we continued to skip down our street, heading towards our school not too far away.

"What teacher do you hope to have?" Carly asked me as I looked over towards her, and she tilted her head a bit in a question.

"I really like Mrs. Ling. Everyone says she's really nice," I explained to her, as she nodded away as well.

"Same with me. I heard she lets you sit anywhere you want, and you can choose your own partners in class and everything!" Carly squealed excitingly once more, as she brought a smile onto my face in an instant. Carly could always do that to me. No matter how upset, angry, or simply in a bad mood, with no doubt she could always cheer me up. Making me smile, usually making jokes or trying to get me to laugh. And every time, it worked well. She really was my only true friend. A friend I hoped would always be there for me. A friend in which I hoped we would always be close. Always be friends. Forever. And I truly did, at the time, believe we would be friends forever. But later on, I found out that would not be true.

As we walked down the other streets approaching our large, wide and yellow-blue-bricked school, our skipping had stopped, however our walk gained speed. It was hard to believe that I actually liked school when I was younger, but it was the truth. I mostly did enjoy it, however that was all because of Carly.

We held onto our backpacks tighter, as our speed walk turned into more of a slight jog, and then a run as we entered the back of the school, into the field that was located behind our school. The field where the play structure was in, along with the swing set. The very field we would go out and play for recess.

"Race you!" I shouted at her first, as I got a quick head start, and laughter emerged from her mouth as she began to pick up speed.

"Hey! Not fair!" She yelled back as she mentioned my head start, however I knew she wasn't really mad. And the two of us rushed through the newly cut and green grass, as we could see other kids approaching the school as well, coming from the field and the front of the school. We passed by them all as we ran—myself in the lead—as the others kids only walked ever so slowly, as if they dreaded every step they took closer to our school. But I didn't feel that way. Neither did Carly I knew.

"Ha! I win!" I shouted at Carly as I yanked open the heavy doors to the back of the school, as she was a close second behind me.

"Yeah yeah," she shoved my shoulder a bit as she smiled at me, and we both stood there for a few seconds trying to catch our breath. The inner part of our school was more crowded, as kids lined the halls and waited near the front doors. The usual routine on the first day. The usual routine we had all become equipped to. On the first day, there were tables set up by teachers near the halls leading to the classrooms. Large lists of students were tapped to the tables, and beside each students' name, right beside it was a long line, and it connected to a teachers name. The teacher who would be ours for the rest of the year.