Smirker was busy getting his things for class out of his locker and he headed there after he closed it. Smirker walked to class and sat at his desk, he listened to the teacher while he thought about a friend. Class continued for about twenty minutes until the teacher said it was time for group work, Smirker was partnered with Sandalwood and Flash Sentry. Sandalwood and Flash Sentry worked while Smirker did not do much work,
"Are you alright, Smirker?" Sandalwood asked,
"Yeah, just looking back." Smirker replied,
"Looking back? On what?" Flash Sentry asked, Smirker showed the two a picture of a girl,
"Who is she?" Sandalwood asked,
"A friend of mine, we first met in fifth grade, I was eleven at the time, and she was ten." Smirker replied,
"What was she like?" Flash Sentry asked,
"Nice, friendly, I was bullied by almost all of my classmates throughout elementary school, my teachers were mean to me, too, she was one of the few students who wasn't mean to me, and she tried to give me advice on how to deal with my anger over being bullied." Smirker replied,
"How did you two meet?" Sandalwood asked,
"We were classmates." Smirker replied,
"Did you two talk to one another?" Flash Sentry asked,
"Yeah, she and I were chosen to work in groups sometimes, she would listen to me and give me a thumbs up whenever I finished talking, I spoke to her sometimes and soon learned that she was from another state, and this was her second year at my elementary school." Smirker replied,
"How often did you two see each other?" Sandalwood asked,
"Not often, but we did get along most of the time when we did." Smirker replied,
"You didn't go out to see her?" Flash Sentry asked,
"No, I only left home for school or with my parents when I was young." Smirker replied,
"You didn't see your neighbors?" Flash Sentry asked,
"They weren't outside much, I was usually the only one playing outside." Smirker replied,
"So you only saw her at school?" Flash Sentry asked,
"Yes." Smirker replied,
"How often did you two get along?" Sandalwood asked,
"Quite a bit, until there was one time when she saw me looking at her chest out of curiosity, she got mad and told the other girls, they got mad at me as well, she would tell me to stop looking at her, and she once got mad at me for looking in her direction because a student was using a marker to make squeaky noises on a board and pretended they were fart noises, I tried to explain but she ignored it, I thought I made another enemy, but she didn't stay like that, she took a picture of me and her other classmates at the end of the school year, and was back to her nice self the next school year." Smirker replied,
"Wait, you two went to middle school together?" Sandalwood asked,
"Yeah, we had social studies class together, and gym the second semester, I was worried at first that she was still mad about last year, but she said hi to me and asked how I was, and we got along ever since, we also rode the same bus, that was when I saw her older sister, we didn't interact, she also did chorus in sixth grade, and she would sing on the bus sometimes." Smirker replied,
"Did you see where she lived?" Flash Sentry asked,
"It was in a different neighborhood, far away from where I lived." Smirker replied,
"Oh, well, you still could've went to see her." Sandalwood said,
"I didn't, I didn't start walking out of my yard until the next school year, but even then, I didn't walk to her neighborhood, I just walked around my neighborhood and close to my elementary school." Smirker replied,
"It sounds like you two didn't talk much." Sandalwood said,
"We didn't, not until eighth grade, but in seventh grade, I had a hard time making friends just like in elementary school, my classmates and teachers would get mad at me, and the students on the bus and my family didn't want to spend time with me, but whenever they did talk, they often said mean things and I would argue with my mom, and my dad once said he's sick of hearing the stuff I say, my oldest brother said I act stupid and my other brother would not want me in his sight or hear me say anything, and students complained to school about me being annoying, I asked her does she see anything wrong in me, and she said there's nothing wrong with me." Smirker replied,
"You two started conversing more in eighth grade?" Flash Sentry asked,
"Yes, but we still didn't talk much, I was asking about the female body since I didn't know much about it at the time, and she explained a few things, that was the year when she tried to sleep on the bus." Smirker replied,
"Tried?" Flash Sentry asked,
"There were three sixth graders playing a guessing game up in the front rows, they would say the words out loud and she would get a little mad and say she's trying to sleep." Smirker replied,
"Did you two have classes that year?" Sandalwood asked,
"No, sixth grade was the last year I had classes with her, we rode the bus together, she was friends with almost everybody, one thing that did surprise me in sixth grade was she actually knew almost every student in the school." Smirker replied,
"Really? Wow, just like how almost every student here knows me." Flash Sentry said,
"I'm quite well known, too." Sandalwood said,
"Anyway, on the last day of eighth grade, I asked if she remembered my biggest bully from our class in fifth grade, she said she does, and I said I think he moved, and she said that's good, she then said she hopes he doesn't come to our high school and he was mean, I don't remember the rest of the conversation, we said bye to one another afterwards." Smirker replied,
"Did you two go to the same high school?" Sandalwood asked,
"Yes, I saw her early that year, I asked her if the biggest bully from our fifth grade class was at the school, and she said he is, I asked where was he, and she said she saw him around briefly, that was the very last conversation we had." Smirker replied,
"Did you two stop being friends?" Flash Sentry asked,
"No, I just didn't see her or hear about her, and then when I became twelfth grade, it happened." Smirker replied,
"What happened?" Sandalwood asked,
"On this day, five years ago, I got a phone call from my school that a student died, I told my family, I didn't find anything, so my dad looked and I was called over and I saw her name, she was killed in a car crash, I became surprised because I thought she moved since I didn't see her or hear anything about her." Smirker replied,
"Oh, did the school do anything?" Flash Sentry asked,
"We had a moment of silence for her, I saw some of her friends crying and in tears, they didn't want to talk about her either, I actually handled her death pretty well when compared to her friends, I was still sad, though." Smirker replied,
"You didn't go to her funeral?" Sandalwood asked,
"Couldn't, had to arrive by car, I didn't have one, so I couldn't attend." Smirker replied,
"Did you talk to her friends about her?" Flash Sentry asked,
"I did talk to one, he said he and others checked on her boyfriend often to make sure he was alright, he also said he cried when she died, that surprised me because when I was in elementary school, boys crying over anything was socially unacceptable, even though I cried a lot." Smirker replied,
"Did you cry when she died?" Sandalwood asked,
"No." Smirker replied,
"Sounds like he didn't take it well." Flash Sentry said,
"I don't think he did, he said he that he was the one who wished her goodbye and hugged her before she started driving home on the day she died, and he just wants to hug her sister when he sees her at church, I do wonder how her family has been sometimes, even though I don't know them." Smirker replied,
"What else did you do after she died?" Sandalwood asked,
"I asked another girl who knew her if she missed her, she said she thinks about her every day, we also had a paper up on a wall in a cafeteria for seniors, she wrote "We made it" on it, I was able to tell she was excited for her last school year, one girl wore a shirt to pay tribute to her as well, I saw her birthday was August 24, but when I saw her picture, I actually almost didn't recognize her." Smirker replied,
"Why not?" Flash Sentry asked,
"Because her looks changed, in elementary school, she had dreadlocks for sometime before switching to regular hair, she usually kept her hair tied in a ponytail, when I saw her picture on a video of her funeral, she had an afro and a nose ring." Smirker replied,
"Was she really that unrecognizable?" Sandalwood asked,
"For me, yes." Smirker replied,
"Did anything happen to you afterwards?" Flash Sentry asked,
"Actually, yes, at the end of the school year, students got yearbooks, and the first thing I did when a classmate let me see his was look for any pages with her on it, I found it in the back, it was a picture of her and a quote from her mother about how she was an angel and she will be missed, I became sad when I saw that, too, and just when we were about to graduate, we were given shirts with the names of every twelfth grader was on it, I saw hers, I got very sad and threw it away on impulse." Smirker replied,
"Did anything else happen?" Sandalwood asked,
"One more, it was at our graduation ceremony, she was mentioned and was said to be kind, intelligent, and always there for others, I agreed since I knew her personally, that made me sad, too, that was the last thing I heard about her, I look back on this day every year because this is the day she died." Smirker replied,
"I'm sorry, Smirker, and remember, we're here for you, too, come on, let's start our group work." Sandalwood said, and the three got to work and worked together on the classwork.
Author's Note
In memory of a friend, killed in car crash September 5, 2014.
