5000 ‘til            Nadia El-Ali H block

    Everyone has one. Someone they can count on, tell everything to. Well, like any normal kid, I had a best friend. Her name was Amberr Maxwell, the funniest girl in the world. Every day we hung out, did something fun and memorable, until February 1, 2009, when she moved to Virginia. I was devastated; not wanting to believe my best friend was gone. To my surprise, her leaving lead to a complete U-turn in my social life. Exactly a week after, I got to know another amazing girl named Abby Charles, and that’s when it all started.

    I was still in shock from the fact my best friend had just moved far away and I probably wouldn’t be able to see her again. But one after school evening at basketball practice, a girl named Abby Charles walked up to me and asked me to be her partner for the drill we were doing; I said yes. We joked around the whole practice and had an amazing time, so I decided to get to know her better. We hung out the next day at lunch and in between classes, and had so much fun. 

    By the end of the year we were good friends; I can’t say best, yet. She invited me to participate in a school event my middle school was doing. I said yes, and we volunteered there for about 2 weeks, not even doing our jobs. That’s when we started talking on the phone for hours on end, sort of like Amberr and I use to do. We had the stupidest jokes, and with them we could talk a language all our own and nobody would understand; how could they? We just laughed and laughed and laughed, making unforgettable memories. Just then, the summer ended. School once again was ready for the unforgiving amount of kids to attend their first or last year of junior high. (Honestly, who cares about seventh grade? It’s nothing special.) At the back of my mind, I was thinking about how boring another year at that school was going to be. Abby said it was going to be great, and wouldn’t let me think any different. So we bought our school clothes, trying to convince ourselves this would be a great year. 

    We arrived at school. Everyone was hugging everyone like they haven’t seen each other for years. Abby and I stayed calm and collected about the whole thing, only saying “hey” to the few we liked. The day went on, as boring as I had pictured it. By last period, I knew this year wasn’t going to be the year I’d be talking about through high school. Abby felt it too, that boring I-just-don’t-care-anymore feeling. With this, I knew school would be a struggle.

    “Well, if you have an attitude like that all year, it will be.” Abby reminded me every day. I didn’t want to admit or realize that she was indeed right. I knew if my attitude was like this all year, nothing would be fun. But how am I supposed to have fun with the kids that annoyed me the most?

    “I know,” I’d reply, “I guess I could try to have fun?” I put on a fake smile and she just laughed.

    “We’ll make it fun. Promise.” And with that, the fun started. Well, what we called fun started.

    We didn’t really listen to the rules. The classes we had together were any teacher’s nightmare. We were mean to the “cool kids”, walking past them like we were better than they ever could be. I was friends with most people over there, but they hated Abby, so I decided they didn’t deserve my respect. Who needs them, I had one amazing friend. That’s all I needed. Not to say we didn’t have other friends; obviously we did, but they didn’t want to get involved in what we did half the time, which wasn’t that bad in our opinions, but whatever. We kind of started our own clique; Abby, Alexa (another good friend of ours), and I. I could see the envy in people’s eyes. They obviously didn’t like us, but wanted more than anything to be us. Sometimes we got a little carried away, went a little

overboard; oh well. What can I say? She promised we’d have a fun time and we did. The year went on, day by day, our reputations getting better and better, in my opinion.

    “I have a great idea!” It was the last week of school. This idea was not great, but stupid, and probably the most fun idea we’ve had all year. 

    “WATER BALLOON FIGHT!” Yes, you heard us right. Abby decided it would be so fun to end the year with a water balloon fight. I remember that day…

    “I bought a 500 pack of water balloons for $2. Great deal right?!” Abby was so excited. I can’t say I wasn’t. Her and Alexa offered to hold as many water balloons as possible in their backpacks, and with that we were set. It was fourth period PE when we started filling up the balloons, only getting to about 100. Madi Hoyer had to help us fill them since Alexa wasn’t there. By lunch we had about 350 filled. Keep in mind, though, these weren’t ‘water balloons’, but rather balloons we filled with water. The difference? These balloons were x100 bigger. Ready or not, here we come.

    We ran through the halls of the school, yelling and screaming, throwing balloons like crazy. Everyone soon started to join in. There were so many kids involved; this was by far the best experience of my life. Then, the security started checking bags to see who started all this. Abby, Alexa, and I had to get rid of what was left over from the fight, and fast. So Alexa threw the balloons at the ground while Abby and I stepped on them. I could feel the adrenaline rushing through my veins as we tried hiding the evidence before the security saw us. They finally reached us and asked for our bags; they were soaked. 

    “Why are these bags wet, ladies?” asked Mr. Dominguez, the assistant principal.

    “Are you accusing us of something, sir? Does this have something to do with the ethnicity types of this group?!” Everything between the administrators and Abby was a fight. With her, nothing was easy, nothing left alone without argument. Maybe that’s why I loved her so much. That and the fact that she was brutally honest.
    “Just get to class. Hurry, you’ll be late.” I’m not surprised that’s all he could say.

    “Are you saying we’re slow? Black people are really fast!” By the way, Abby ALWAYS makes jokes about her race. I guess it’s a habit. 

    “JUST GET TO CLASS.” And with that, we left, giggling at how frustrating we made his life. The next class we all had together, our legs covered with mud and grass. It was obvious we had started this whole balloon fight, but Abby wouldn’t let them accuse us. She was too headstrong. We held hands and skipped to class, excited and sad; excited for high school in gereral, sad we’re all going to different ones. Abby always said make the best of what you can have. 

    Promotion day was here. Everyone looked so pretty with their dresses and handsome with their suits. It was a day where everyone loved everyone, and friends cried for other friends who weren’t going to the same school as them. Just like the first day of school, Abby and I stayed calm and collected. We didn’t even say “bye” to anyone, we just left. Our group decided to meet up at iHop for a last day of school/goodbye Nadia and Alexa breakfast. Remind me never to go to a restaurant with Vivian ever again.

    “Hey, waiter Victor. Viiiiiiiiicccctorrrr….VICTOR COME HERE I WANT SOME APPLE JUICE!” she yelled, not even caring that he was serving another family. I’ll never forget that girl.

    After breakfast everyone said goodbye, and Abby and I headed out to the park with Becca and Deja. Abby had filled up more water balloons and we had a water balloon fight there too. I had the best day ever, but that best day came to an end. Summertime. 

    Summer was summer. Hanging out with Abby was basically part of my schedule. We were neighbors so it didn’t really bother our parents. That’s why we didn’t freak about going to different high schools. She started working hard to make the cheer team. Everything was great, until Abby figured out she was moving to Bermuda…
    Just like that. Dreams crushed, hard work for nothing. She was moving countries, never to be seen around here again. At first, I thought she was kidding, until she started crying. I don’t blame her, out of nowhere she was getting taken away from her friends. Not only moving states, but COUNTRIES. Again, I felt that feeling I did when Amberr left; disappointment, sad, empty. I couldn’t believe my boo was leaving, the girl I put all my trust and love into. She was leaving, and it’s not like I can buy a plane ticket and visit her; I can’t pay for a ticket to another country. I know I mentioned her moving countries more than once, that’s just how devastated I was. I remember the last day I saw her; it was the day she left.

    “I’m almost done mom!” she yelled through her door, taping boxes. I was there, helping her fold clothes to put into her suitcases. She wasn’t even close to being done, she just didn’t want to hear her mom nagging her. We talked about how different it was going to be, and how she isn’t going to feel comfortable with her dad. 

    “Why should I?! He’s the reason we left in the first place. I don’t want to go back.” I can’t blame her. We finally finished and started to watch a movie, but her mom told us she needs to go to bed for the early flight. 

    “How far away is Bermuda from here?” I asked, holding back the tears from behind my eyes.

    “Around 5000 miles. This plane ride is going to suck !”

    That next morning, it was 11 o’clock. My mom pulled up and told me to get my stuff; I did. I put everything in the car, and looked back at the door. Abby was standing there, and started crying. She gave me a little motivating speech about school and whatever else and told me to behave. 

    “I’m going to miss you, best friend. I love you.” We hugged and I sat in the car, trying not to cry. I couldn’t help it, though. My best friend was leaving. She’s the reason I even tried at school, she was my motivation for everything. And with that, she was gone; out of eye sight. Her last text said “5000 ‘til. Greaatt.” It stuck with me. 5000 ‘til. I can’t believe she was moving 5000 miles away. Unfortunately, her American phone doesn’t work over there. I didn’t know if I would ever talk to her again. I cried all day.

    It was Tuesday, August 24; I was with the volleyball team in the war room. I got a call from an unknown long distance number. I answered.

    “Boo? I hope you hear me, cause I’m not repeating this. YOU BETTER NOT GET KICKED OUT OF THAT DAMN SCHOOL.” I screamed. It was Abby. Our conversation was interrupted by practice, but just talking to her since she left was amazing. We now talk every day about everything. She tells me funny stories about the weird store names and emphasizes how everyone is black. You knoowww.

    She had a huge affect on me. How? You only need one true friend to survive life. Doesn’t matter if your neighbors or live in different countries, if you have that one person you can go to for everything, I promise life will be amazing. Obviously, we have ups and downs, but that one person makes life’s downs seem like ups. Everything is okay when you have a friend like Abby is to me. Life will be life, just x1 million better with that one true friend. Trust me, it makes a difference on how you see everything in your life, for the better. Some days, you just wake up and smile. That wouldn’t be possible without that one person, that one girl, and I’m thankful for her every day. <3