TM #139: Making Friends.
Lilah wasn’t one of those children who cried on their first day of school. Lilah had been waiting for this moment for what felt like a lifetime, she wanted to go, she wanted to get things started. She wanted to get her life started. At five she was bored of play dough and cookies and crayons and licking the sides of the mixing bowl.
Her mother cried, her mother cried enough for both of them. Her mother was the last parent to leave the classroom that day.
By the time her mother had left the other kids had already started to perform the ritual they would learn to perfect in later life. They were pairing off and grouping up, forming their own little gangs in which there was some solace if not protection in numbers. There weren’t many choices left. A fat kid. A girl with a weird and unfortunately large birthmark. A boy who smelled pretty foul. And, finally, a girl of bland appearance and no noticeable smell - it was slim pickings but this girl would have to do.
Kimberly Stedman-Strudwick. The girl said the name with such authority that it left no room for argument. It was a name that left no room for argument, no room to be anything but impressed. Kimberly even pronounced the hyphen with great care:
“I’m Kimberly Stedman Hyphen Strudwick.” She would say, whenever given cause to make introductions.
Lilah felt ashamed of her name and it’s lack of hyphen. She felt an irrational anger towards her parents for not taking more time to choose an appropriate name, a name that could meet the competition head on and shoot them down.
“I’m Lilah Morgan.” Lilah replied. It was that easy to make a friend.
And Kimberly was a good friend. She kept Lilah’s secrets, always let Lilah be Nancy Drew when they played make-believe and most importantly she always saved Lilah a seat on the bus.
Kimberly moved away at the end of the third grade. Lilah cried all the tears she hadn’t found on the first day of school and she spent a summer filled with anxiety about whom she could sit with on the bus. But fourth grade began and Sally Atkins (no hyphen available) for no conceivable reason saved Lilah a seat. Kimberly Stedman-Strudwick was soon forgotten. Lilah found it was so easy to a make a friend, but so much harder to make that friendship mean something.
Lilah Morgan
AtS
408 Words
Her mother cried, her mother cried enough for both of them. Her mother was the last parent to leave the classroom that day.
By the time her mother had left the other kids had already started to perform the ritual they would learn to perfect in later life. They were pairing off and grouping up, forming their own little gangs in which there was some solace if not protection in numbers. There weren’t many choices left. A fat kid. A girl with a weird and unfortunately large birthmark. A boy who smelled pretty foul. And, finally, a girl of bland appearance and no noticeable smell - it was slim pickings but this girl would have to do.
Kimberly Stedman-Strudwick. The girl said the name with such authority that it left no room for argument. It was a name that left no room for argument, no room to be anything but impressed. Kimberly even pronounced the hyphen with great care:
“I’m Kimberly Stedman Hyphen Strudwick.” She would say, whenever given cause to make introductions.
Lilah felt ashamed of her name and it’s lack of hyphen. She felt an irrational anger towards her parents for not taking more time to choose an appropriate name, a name that could meet the competition head on and shoot them down.
“I’m Lilah Morgan.” Lilah replied. It was that easy to make a friend.
And Kimberly was a good friend. She kept Lilah’s secrets, always let Lilah be Nancy Drew when they played make-believe and most importantly she always saved Lilah a seat on the bus.
Kimberly moved away at the end of the third grade. Lilah cried all the tears she hadn’t found on the first day of school and she spent a summer filled with anxiety about whom she could sit with on the bus. But fourth grade began and Sally Atkins (no hyphen available) for no conceivable reason saved Lilah a seat. Kimberly Stedman-Strudwick was soon forgotten. Lilah found it was so easy to a make a friend, but so much harder to make that friendship mean something.
Lilah Morgan
AtS
408 Words