Friendship

Although life is full of joys, it can be sad and discouraging as well. It can drag some people to the bottom of a pit, one that seems to have no end. Such is the case with many people, one inparticular. Although Life is not always that bad, this person had not yet learned that, and she did not believe in herself as much as she should have. Thank goodness for best friends.

The girl sat there, she was staring out the window next to her bed. She hated remembering, there were so many painful memories. She knew that there were good memories too, some were even within the bad memories. Much had happened that made her sad, so much that made her feel worthless inside. So she just sat on her bed and stared out the window. She had to remember, no matter how painful it was.

The thing that was caught up in her mind was the conversation that she had had with her mother a few days earlier. They were sitting in the family car and had been talking about the vacation that they were going to go on a few weeks from then.

They planned to drive to Oregon and do things on the way. When in Portland they would stop for a short while to visit her grandma and would then head for Seattle, Washington and do things in that area. After this they would go back to Portland and her mother would judge a pageant there. Once that was over with they would drive along the coast until they would get to their turn off to head home. Her friend, Lynn was going to come along for fun.

In the car her mother and she began to talk of the fun they would have while on vacation. The disturbing conversation that came up was started by this talk of vacation.

“Renee, you are not going to be offended when we are there, are you?” her mother gently asked.

“Why would I be offended?” Renee questioned in reply.

“You won’t get sad when you look back at your memories and remember Sarah,” Melody, her mother answered.

“I suppose not,” Renee replied silently.

There was a moment of silence between them, as her mother continued to drive.
“Have I made you sad, honey? About Sarah?” Melody asked.

“No,” Renee paused, “ I do miss her though,” she said with a downward cast look on her face.

“She does not deserve to have you as a friend, you are too good for her,” her mother told her.

“I saw a picture of her a couple weeks ago. Kelsey showed it to me, Sarah is very pretty, you know,” Renee told her.

“I bet she is, she has always looked nice, even though she is a little buff,” Melody mentioned to her daughter.

“It is hard for me,” Renee started.

“What is hard for you?” her mother asked.

“To know how well she has kept in contact with Kelsey and Karina, but not with me,” she answered.

“Her parents are different, that’s all,” her mother reminded her.

Renee remembered that letter that had come in the mail so long ago, the one that had said that they had spoiled Sarah too much on their last trip to where Sarah lived and that her parents, who wrote this letter, were disappointed that they had spent less time with family while visiting. It was obvious that Sarah’s parents had some disliking for Renee and her mother and father.

“Why does it trouble me so?” Renee asked.

“Don’t let it, I know you will be a little distressed when we go near where she lives and when we go to places that you visited with Sarah,” her mother told her.

“Yes, it is true that I miss her. That letter, it was so awful,” Renee said to herself.

Renee continued to gaze out her window and remember her old friend Sarah. now she went back even further into her memories. She began to think of the last tie she spoke to Sarah.

It had been two years ago, she and her mother were on vacation in Oregon where Sarah lived. They had taken Sarah with them to many places and their vacation was almost over. They were originally planning to go to Oaks Park the next day and bring Sarah along, but that night they had received a call in their hotel room.

“Hello,” Melody said answering the phone, “It is for you Renee, it’s Sarah.”

Renee took the phone from her mother and spoke into it.

“Hello,” she said into the phone.

The words that struck her were painful, but set in a bad way.

“Hi, Renee. I can’t go with you tomorrow, OK. I am sorry, but, well, I just,” the voice told her.

“Sarah, why?” Renee questioned.

“I have stuff to do at my house, and my parents say that I can not go with you because of that,” Sarah told her.

Renee hung up and told her mother what she had been told by Sarah.

Months later they received a letter in the mail from Sarah’s parents. It stated that they believed that Renee and her mother had spoiled Sarah and made her temporarily a little bit selfish and bad tempered. They said that that was the reason for Sarah not being aloud to go with them that last day of vacation.

Renee stood up and looked out the window again.

“I’m bored, I wish Lynn was here,” she said to herself.

She picked up a notebook of hers and flipped through it. She came upon a picture that an old friend, Saido, had drawn when they had first met. She went into the kitchen and picked up the phone, dialing a phone number.

“Hi, Saido, I am sorry that I could not get a hold of you,” she started, she had gotten the answering machine, “I know that we have not seen each other very often lately. We have not been that great of friends and all but, I was just thinking about you and the first time I met you, and I just thought I would call, so.. call me back, OK,” she finished.

Renee hung the phone up and went back into her room to think. She found herself thing about, yet another friend. Melissa, had been a best friend of hers for a short time but she had then found the truth.

“Renee, I can I talk to you?” Melissa asked.

“Yeah, sure,” Renee replied.

“Renee, my parents, they don’t think that we should be friends anymore, they think I should only hang out with people my age,” Melissa told her.

“But I’m only 2 years older than you, what is wrong with your parents? I want to be your friend, how can they be OK with this?” her mind flew wild with questions.

“What if I am OK with it?” Melissa questioned.

“No,” Renee whispered, backing away.

That was it, the most recent bad memory. There was also Karina who had broken up with her a week after her birthday 2 or 3 years before. They had been friend since kindergarten and were now in 9th grade. They had gotten back together eventually, but things never were the same.

There was so much for her to think of, she was not very good looking and had few friends, but there were those who meant everything to her. Lynn was one of those few, along with Charity, Melody (her mother), and Rick (her father). There were friends other than these such as Kelsey, Karina, and Saido. These friends had once been the people whom she would spend time with and talk to all the time, but they had turned into plain acquaintances. Those who were left she trusted with her life, especially Lynn.

Her other best friend was Charity, whom she had met less than a year ago. Renee was home schooling for 9th grade and had become part of a journalism club that was directed by Charity’s mother. The two had soon become great friends and spent much time together, even after Charity moved to Tulare, a two hour trip from the small town that Renee lived in.

When Charity first met Lynn things were a bit awkward. It came about by this: Renee had invited Charity to come with her to church on Monday night youth group meetings.

“Hey, Lynn, this is Charity,” Renee said introducing Charity.

The night went by slowly but was soon over. Renee could tell that there was something between Charity and Lynn that was not quite right, but she could not figure it out.

Thinking of these things, Renee took out a CD titled Essential Baroque, put it in the Stereo that sat on her desk, and pushed play. She laid down and continued to think of all these things that she was remembering. The things that were locked in her memory forever.

“Oh, how I wish Lynn were here,” she repeated to herself.

The music comforted her and helped her to relax, but the thought of what friendship meant to her stayed fresh on her mind.

The thing that came to mind this time was the conversation that she had with Lynn one time. Ever since Lynn had met Charity she had made an effort to spend more time with her, Renee had not noticed this.

The conversation that took place was what made Renee realize why things had been so strange and shy between Lynn and Charity that night. She had made many efforts to get the two friends together, but to no success. After this day she knew things would be different.

The day that it happened Renee had stayed the night at Lynn’s apartment and they went swimming in a pool that was located there. They were all alone, no one else was near. They began to talk and soon went into a conversation.

“Renee, can I trust you with what I say?” Lynn asked.

“Yes, I suppose, what is it?” Renee questioned.

“Well, we are always going to be friends, right?” Lynn asked.

“Of Coarse,” Renee replied, “In fact, you should get to know me more, and Charity..”

“Yes, but what about us?” Lynn interrupted.

“You are my best friend,” Renee told her.

“And I love to hear that, but what about Charity?” Lynn questioned.

“She is my friend, but I have known you longer and have come to know how great of a friend you really, truly are,” Renee told her.

“Can I tell you something?” Lynn asked.

“You already asked that, Lynn and my answer was of coarse,” Renee replied.

The water around them was steady and they floated about the pool until they reached the deep end.

“Renee, when I first saw you at church with Charity I...” she paused.

“Yes, you..” Renee whispered.

“I was kinda, sort of, jealous of her,” she gave a great sigh, “When I saw you with her and how great of friends you were becoming I just, I got jealous. I guess it made me realize that I wanted to be your friend and that I cared about you and wanted to spend more time with you,” Lynn finished.

“Wow, jealous, for me, of her, because of me, this is so strange, yet amazing,” Renee told Lynn.

“I know it is, but still, what I want to know is, I have given you my secrets and I want to know how you feel, can I trust you?” Lynn questioned.

“Lynn, you are my best friend and you have no idea what you have done in my life. I know how much you have gone through, and I have gone through a lot as well, this conversation has made me realize what you realized long ago, you are my best friend and I will be forever grateful to you,” Renee told her.

As this memory was thought about, Renee wished she could have said more that say.

“Renee,” her mother said, entering the room, “I just talked to Lynn’s mom and she says that things are not going too well.”

Lynn’s parents had gotten divorced long ago and her father had always just tried to use her, not love her. At that moment Lynn was in Louisiana with her sister-in-law. She was staying at the base camp for her brother for a month and a half. Things did not go well there. Her sister-in-law’s father was dying of Liver Cancer and was going to die any day.

“Her sister-in-law’s mom invited her dad to visit. So Lynn is distressed because Shannon, her sister-in-law is pushing her to make up with her dad because she knows what it feels like to be losing a father but does not realize how Lynn feels,” Melody finished.

“I should call her,” Renee mentioned to her mother.

Renee picked up the phone and called the number that had been given to her to call when wanting to get a hold of Lynn.

“No one is there,” Renee told her mother.

“Well you can try back later, her mom said that they have been getting back late from the hospital lately, and they are two hours ahead of us, remember that,” her mother told her.

Renee went back to he room and began to think again.

“Poor, Lynn. I wish she was here. I wish there was something that I could do to make her feel better,” she said to herself.

She stood up and sat down at her desk. She took out a pen and piece of stationary paper and began to write.

“Dear Lynn,

I have just heard of what is happening over there and I am so sorry. I have been thinking for so long, remembering and looking back at what you have done for me. I wish there was something that I could do to help, something to make you feel better. You have done so much for me. You are my best friend. Remember that day at the pool? I will always be your friend and you mine. You are the best friend that a girl like me could have. I am afraid that this all I can think of to say. I wish there was more. I wish I could cheer you up. I wish you were here to cheer me up. Everything is so dull without you here, so boring. There is no one to talk to, all I can think of is my friends, old, and new. I even think of Melissa and how she broke up with me but then signed my yearbook signing it, ‘your friend, Melissa” and underlining the word friend. You are my friend, Lynn and I will never forget that. I hope that everything will be all right. Your best friend,
Renee,” she finished writing and put it in and envelope.

“I miss you Lynn,” she whispered quietly to herself.

Renee was up until midnight that night trying to get a hold of Lynn, but she knew that she had to go to sleep eventually and stopped trying.

The next day Renee’s mother would send the letter she had written Lynn in Louisiana.

She continued to lay on her bed and remember. She looked out the window and took in the memories.

“I can’t wait until vacation, Lynn. You have done so much for me, you have made me smile. You are my best friend,” she said, laying her head down to sleep.