Learning to enjoy the treasures you have is an important part in life. But when those treasures surprise you by walking away, that's the hardest part. My name is Alice Gehabich and for me, it was a friend. Runo M. was my first real friend. Runo and I have been friends since the third grade. We both loved to ride our bikes and loved spending the holidays, weekends, and summers together. She's 15, just like me, and was pretty smart.
One summer, Runo and I settled on cleaning up her room. It looked like a thousand horses stampeded through the area. As soon as we got going, Mrs. Mudale, Runo's mom, called her for some help. I continued cleaning after Runo left. Vacuuming was my favorite part of cleaning, so I decided to clean up every spot. Handling the vacuum like a broom, I slurped up the dirt in every corner. When I bent over to suck up every dust under the dresser, I found a book. My eyes glazed over the words that etched DIARY on it.
The book was a miniature, bright pink that looked more like old scraps of paper than a diary. Usually I would not snoop in private belongings, but when I picked it up from underneath the dresser I saw that the pages were messed up. So I decided to put it back together. While doing so, I saw my name in a passage that really caught my attention:- It made me cry when Papa told me we're moving. He told me not to tell Alice because it might break her heart. I think that moving to London would have been fun if Alice and I were going. Well, I will just enjoy the last summer I have now.
Okay, just to let you know, when I have friends going to school with me, it gives me some social traits. Friends help me realize my good qualities. Even though I felt distraught over the situation, I decided not to spoil our friendship by letting Runo know how sad I was right then.
When Runo returned, I had the room nice and spotless. "Wow! This room is as clean as a ballroom!" Runo complimented. I stuffed her diary under the mattress… just in case she saw it. Hopefully Runo would never realize I read her innermost feelings. At that point, I made a vow to give Runo the best summer a best friend could.
The next day, Runo had complete control. I let her do things I even hated doing. We went to the boring museum to try new foods from different countries. She spent a lot of time trying foods mainly from Europe and Italy. We went to the Casserole Store to study what makes it smell. Eww! We watched her stupid brother, Line, do his band show. Although she normally likes them, Line's band was not too great to Runo this time. I think they stink all the time. Runo became aware of what I was doing and, like I said, she wasn't dumb. "Why are you doing all this? It's not my birthday or anything."
"Runo, I know you're moving to London. I kind of read your diary," I confessed.
Runo's eyes widened and I could almost see little question marks bouncing around her head. But, realization sprang to her face and she was very upset. My head dropped like a sorry puppy with its tail between its legs. Suddenly, she shrieked furiously, "You read my diary, didn't you? How could you! You were my best friend!" She walked away, not letting me explain. If I had never said anything about that stupid diary, she wouldn't have gotten mad at me.
Ever since that day, Runo never spoke to me. The only time I saw her out was when she was with her mother. She never looked at me, either. I didn't know when this would end.
It was two weeks until school and I had to talk to Runo. But it wasn't easy. Her mom had a very weird accent and couldn't understand me well. When she wants to say kiss and make up, she says 'Hess an wake up'. When I finally got through to Mrs. Mudale, Runo refused to see me. After what seem like 15 minutes, Mrs. Mudale emerged from the room.
"Runo wuz reele mad. I tock to 'er. You can go en."
It took me about a minute before I replied. Mrs. Mudale needs to work on her English! "Thank you, ma'am." I entered the still fresh room.
"Runo," I began, when I saw her lying on the bed with her back to me.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to invade your privacy. I would understand if you didn't want me as your friend—"
"No," Runo interrupted, "I should never have acted that way. I was being a jerk. I didn't even let you explain. But what were you talking about when you said I was moving to London?"
I told Runo what happened and how I read her diary.
"Hold up. Are you talking about this?" Runo held up the same pink, ransacked notepad, I saw earlier that day and started to laugh. "This notebook is isn't my diary. It was a novel I started on. I was making a story about you and me. Ha, ha! Guess I shouldn't use our real names, huh?"
I felt relieved but confused and I couldn't help but ask, "What about the title? It does say 'DIARY' on it?"
"I put that there so no one would read it until I was done. After that anyone could read it. You actually think I would move to London and not tell you? Ha, that's a laugh!" Runo exploded with harder, unstoppable laughter.
So I learned my lesson. Never peek in on a pink booklet with the words DIARY on it. By the way, Runo and I made a promise to tell every secret, we can, to each other. So I'm glad about one thing, Runo was my social treasure and she was going to school with me, next year, after all. YAY!