It was the middle of 6th grade. “Samantha, are we still friends?” Izzy asked.
“Maybe, maybe not,” Samantha answered sassily. Izzy knew it was a no. Samantha had done this before. They had gone to the same school since first grade but were in different classes. That year they were Daisies in the same Girl Scout troup. Izzy always asked Samantha questions to try to get to know her better, but she wouldn’t answer. Izzy figured she was shy.
In second grade, Izzy would run towards Samantha to try and play with her, but Samantha would try to find a secret spot to hide. Then one day, Izzy saw Samantha and asked her if she wanted to be friends. Samantha said, “Sure.” Because it was so fun playing together every day, Izzy felt hypnotized by Samantha to play only with her and not with any other friends.
At the beginning of 6th grade, Samantha wouldn’t play with Izzy, and Izzy was very upset about it. Eventually, she knew it was time to give up on Samantha as a friend, so she played with her other friend, Evie, and they became best friends. Ever since then, Samantha would give Izzy fierce eyes, and Izzy wondered what it meant.
Izzy walked through the empty hall late to homeroom at the end of the day. As she rushed to her desk, a boy accidentally bumped into her.
“Sorry!”
“Sorry,” Izzy said.
“Hi, my name is Alex.”
“Hi, my name is Izzy. Doesn’t your mom work at RSM where my mom works? I think I saw you with your mom at Bring Your Kid to Work Day. I’ll be at the library doing homework in an hour. Maybe I’ll see you there or you can come over after?”
“I’ll see you at the library and we can walk to your house together,” said Alex.
“See you later!”
After school, Izzy went home with her new friend. They went upstairs to Izzy’s room. “Do you play an instrument?” Alex asked.
“Yes, I play the piano.” They spent time together for a couple of hours. After dinner, Alex went home and Izzy went to bed.
In the morning, Izzy ate cereal and her mom asked her if she liked Alex at all. “Yes. He was very nice. We are friends.” Izzy said kindly. She brushed her teeth and walked to school thinking about if Alex liked her like “that.” She felt like they were becoming good friends and maybe more…
Alex was a popular teen and an outstanding basketball player; the captain of the team. Every day after school he had practice and then went to the library to do homework. That day in school while doing homework, he was thinking about whether Izzy was a friend or something more.
At lunch, he looked for Izzy in the crowded cafeteria and saw her sitting at a table talking to friends. He changed his mind right away and decided he’d find her at the library after school instead. Izzy saw Alex talking to his friends at the boys’ table and felt happy to see him, but no way would she walk over there to talk to him!
After school, Alex caught himself skipping to the library and quickly started walking. He ran into the library and found her on the second floor in the quiet zone of the non-fiction section where they worked together before.
“Hi Izzy, do you want to come to my house to do homework where we don’t have to be so quiet?”
“Sure! Now?” she answered excitedly.
“Yeah, we can walk. It’ll take about 20 minutes.”
Samantha was coming home from taekwondo and saw Izzy and Alex walking together. She knew they were going to Alex’s house because she and Alex were neighbors. Usually, Izzy walked home with Samantha every day, but now Samantha felt like Izzy was forgetting about her. Samantha walked home slowly with her head down.
Once they arrived, Alex took Izzy to his underground music studio and started playing the drums. Izzy sat down at the keyboard and started playing Look What You Made Me Do. After they finished playing music, they went upstairs to do homework until it was time to go home.
During dinner, Izzy’s dad asked her about her day.
“It was a fun day. I went to Alex’s house. We played music and finished our homework. It was more fun than when he came to our house because we didn’t know each other that well.”
“Is he your boyfriend?!” her Dad asked.
“NO!!! He’s just a friend.”
“Ok. No need to get mad.”
The next day was Saturday. Alex and Izzy hung out the whole day at the mall. Samantha was also at the mall getting a Halloween costume to dress up as the zombie in the video, Look What You Made Me Do. While she was looking at the map figuring out where the store was, she saw Izzy and Alex in the clothing store a few steps away. Samantha thought about what she could do to get Alex away from Izzy.
Samantha walked up to Izzy and pretended to bump into her and said, “Hey Izzy, I haven’t seen you in a while. Can I talk to you in private for a minute?”
“Ok, I’ll be back in a second, Alex,” Izzy said reluctantly.
“That’s fine, I’ll be right here,” Alex said. Samantha pulled Izzy’s hand and they sat down on a bench.
“I don’t think Alex is the right fit for you. I think you should try another boy like Scott, but not at the beginning of high school. Focus on your art since that’s the only thing you can actually do besides music. And your friends. You’re being a really mean friend. Why did you keep me waiting at taekwondo and not even tell me you were going to Alex’s house?”
“How did you know I was at Alex’s house? Are you spying on me? That’s not being a good friend either. We’re even now. Spying isn’t being a good friend.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
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