“My dad is going to be 15 min. late” jenny said via text message.
“Okayeeee?” I replied, adding extra e’s.
I walked to bathroom and plugged in my flat iron. I looked at my reflection, the mirror still showed that small eight grade girl. It was November, and I was now a freshman but I still looked the same since the end of middle school. I wondered if Jennifer still looked the same. I had not had the possibility to hang out with Jennifer for the past few months, because of camp, family visits and school. I was excited to see her, to talk to her, to tell her everything that had happened to me. Jennifer was my best friend, my fake sister. I honestly loved her, and I knew she loved me too. I knew that our relationship was getting weaker and weaker, so I decided we hang out that Saturday afternoon.
My phone started vibrating, I knew it was her.
“Hello?” I asked, just in case.
“Jenny, Winy I’m outside” Jennifer replied without pausing.
“Alright” I replied hanging up
Jennifer never rang the doorbell, she was afraid to wake up my parents. She would complain that she would feel weird if she woke up my parents by accident. I always told her, my parents rarely took naps in the afternoon. She would insist and say “Still winy, still!” and we would change the conversation.
I opened the door and there she was standing, smiling in front of me. She looked different; she had done her hair differently. Her long natural hair had been replaced by a dyed honey colored shade, with bangs and extra unnecessary gel. She had gotten taller, and now I had to look up to her. Her face showed a mature look with waxed eyebrows. This wasn’t my jenny… well this jenny looked different.
We both hugged each other smiling. She commented on my height and we talked about her growth spurt. Holdings hand we walked to his dad’s green van. On our way to the movies, we talked about everything, school, boys, my hair, her hair, and what had happened to us.
Jenny had changed, a lot of things had changed and I felt like I was not part of her life anymore. I felt replaced, somehow.
“OMG! Winy I got to tell you about Diana!” Jenny said as we walked to bathroom.
“Who’s Diana?” I asked, concerned.
“Diana is like my best friend! I call her D.C and Winy she looks just like you!” she replied smiling, not paying attention to my face as she checked her makeup. “Cross is so fun! Dam I skipped so many times!”, she added.
”You skipped classes?” I asked looking at her with a serious stare. Not waiting for an answer I added “Jenny! What the hell are you doing! You never skipped classes…!”
“Chill Winy, I’m careful” she said looking at me. “I never get caught, and me and Diana do it all the time” she added giggling.
“Never say never jenny” I said looking at her.
“BS winy, nothing’s going to happen, plus I like the rush” she said smiling.
I had a strong worried feeling in my heart. I did not like this. Whatever Jenny thought was fun, was obviously wrong choices. Jenny had been taken the wrong choices, and I didn’t know how to react. I couldn’t honestly tell her how I felt about them. I was afraid she would classify me as corny, or boring because of how she was now. On the other hand I couldn’t tell her it the right thing, I would feel guilty.
We sat outside; the movie wasn’t going to start ‘til seven and it was only 5:55. The wind was blowing hard, and jenny started jumping around. She started singing random song lines, and I started laughing. I joined her and hugged each other for the third time that night. I told her how much I missed her, how much I wish we were still in middle school always there for each other.
I reminded her of the good times we used to have, and she would smile and agree. I started telling her of school and how busy I had been. She replied by saying “It’s okay”
Suddenly while she was sitting down on the pavement I said “Jenny, you know your like my sister right?”
“Yes, Winy and you are mine too” she replied.
“Jenny, tell me the things you’ve been doing lately…” I said slowly
Jenny looked at me puzzled, and said “What things?”
“Anything” I replied knowing that she was avoiding the answer to this question.
Jenny started to talk about everything, and good and the bad things she had done. She told me things that had been happening in her house, how her friend Yayi almost always pushed to do bad stuff. She confessed that her brother was going to drop out of high school, and that her mom was really stressing. There had been fights at her house. I hugged jenny as she kept weeping.
Time passed by really fast. It was six something all of the sudden and we had been crying. Although I had felt replaced, all of our feelings had been shared and what she meant to me, was what I meant to her. We walked back to the movie theater and entered pushing the door in front of us, next to each and most importantly together.