I'm here to tell you a story of a friend of mine. Her name is Sharpay Michelle. Sharpay was this ordinary girl. She had long straight black hair, tall and a bit pretty. She was rather smart and somewhat talented. She was a very friendly person that she made quite a number of friends. She had this very close friend named Gabriella. Gabby is the kind of girl you want to be with everyday and boys really like her a lot. So between the two friends, jealousy is always present but they never told each other about it. These two friends never fought too, until something happened that started to change their relationship.

Gabby joined a group where Sharpay was not a part of. Sharpay started to feel left out so she hung out with other people. She even hung out with the so-called bitches, the nerds and the losers. When she made friends with them, the losers, the bitches and the nerds became friends too. For her, these kind of friends made her realize that their names given by the people was not the real them. It was just plain old story-making. She wanted to stop these gossips by hanging most of the time with them. It was a lot to handle but Sharpay managed it.

What she couldn't manage was the new group of Gabby. At first, Sharpay thought of Gabby's group to be okay. But as time passed by, Sharpay got irritated with the group because Gabby's group started to make stories of her new friends. Sharpay got mad and confronted Gabby about her new friends. Instead of Gabby telling her group to stop gossiping, Gabby got mad at Sharpay so Gabby decided to never talk to Sharpay ever again. That was the first fight they ever had.

For the next few days, Sharpay kept on saying sorry a lot of times. She said sorry in the first period, she said sorry during recess and lunch, she even said sorry during dismissal time. Even when both of them got home, Sharpay made e-mails about being sorry and wanting their friendship back. She also texted Gabby and Sharpay even tried calling her. But still Gabby didn't respond to those sorry messages.

The next morning, Sharpay was waiting for the bus outside her house to go to school. All of a sudden, a big truck ran over Sharpay and she was rushed to the hospital by the neighbors. When Sharpay's parents arrived after 5 minutes, the doctors informed them that Sharpay had died when she arrived at the hospital.

In school, people didn't know the condition of Sharpay. They were in shocked when they found out Sharpay was absent. She had a perfect attendance for the past 3 years. And even though she had a cold or a fever, she managed to go to school. But this time, she couldn't handle some things so maybe that was the reason she was absent. Yet, people kept thinking that the reason she was absent was because of the fight between Sharpay and her used-to-be-best friend. So people kept staring at Gabby the whole day with a mad look on their faces. And Gabby felt guilty of the things she had done to Sharpay so she texted Sharpay. She even tried calling her but there was no answer. She figured she can say sorry to Sharpay tomorrow.

The next day, people were arriving in the classroom, but still Sharpay wasn't there. When, the bell rang, everybody was glad. They saw Sharpay going inside the classroom to sit on her chair. They couldn't talk to her because the teacher had arrived.

"Okay class, now were… Oh! Sharpay, you're back. What happened?"

"I had an accident and the doctor advised me not to go to school yesterday, so now I'm here." said Sharpay.

"Good. Well today, we will continue to read our essays…"

Three students volunteered to read their essays in front of the class. When they were finished, Sharpay volunteered to read her essay in class.

"Okay, now my essay is about friendship…" Sharpay said.

She continued to read her essay, while most of the girls, especially Gabby were teary eyed. Then, the bell rang and it was recess time. Gabby approached Sharpay.

"Look, Sharpay I'm really sorry about what happened. I didn't know what I was thinking. I really feel guilty about what I have done, so please forgive me. And I promise my friends and I will not make anymore stories about your friends or other people" said Gabby.

"You know I'll always forgive you no matter what you have done"

Then the two girls smiled and hugged each other. Suddenly, the principal spoke through the speakers.

"All juniors, please report to the gym immediately"

"Hey Gabby, I really need to go to the bathroom. You can go ahead and I'll just follow"

"Okay"

Inside the gym, everyone noticed that the principal and Sharpay's parents were there. But Sharpay was nowhere to be found in the gym. Then the principal started to talk.

"Uhmmm… I don't really know what to tell you kids. We all know of a girl named Sharpay Michelle. Well, yesterday morning at about 6:30am, Sharpay lost her life. She was run over by a big truck. And right now, her body is laid in her home. I know it is a very dreadful thing, but right now, we just have to accept the fact that she is gone."

Gabby was taken aback. She felt one part of her had shut down. She couldn't believe the words coming out of their principal's mouth.

At that moment, a white figure started to appear behind Sharpay's parents. It was Sharpay, and she was waving goodbye to all her friends. Gabby started to cry when she saw Sharpay mouthing the words, "Thank you". I guess everybody saw it since everyone in that gym cried.

When she looked back at the seat, she saw a letter and it was addressed to her. When she opened it, these were the words written on it:

Dear Gabby,

I'm really sorry for what happened between us. I know that it was half my fault because I thought you were changing. And I really got mad when you said bad stuff about my friends. It really hurt me to think that my own close friend just said something bad about them.

Well, I'm glad that was over.

I may not be here anymore, but I know you'll survive. I hope that you'll be happier now. You should make even more new friends. You may replace me and forget about me, just don't forget about the memories and the beautiful friendship that we've shared.

And I better remind you, I want you to be happy so don't cry too much because of me. I just want you to be happy for me too because I'm now in a peaceful place.

Your friend forever watching you always,

Sharpay

During Sharpay's funeral, many people arrived. Even Gabby's friends were there. Now, it is Gabby's turn to say a few words about Sharpay.

"I didn't expect that on the first day of High School, my seatmate would be my best friend. My first impression on Sharpay was that she was a mute. She didn't converse to anybody for a whole day. But then, when I spoke to her, I realized she could talk and she was a great person. And eventually, we became close friends. She is not only one of my closest friends, she is actually my best friend and I just hope that she knows it."

How did I know these things? Let's just say that I have experienced the things that my friend experienced. And right now, I'm hoping Gabby would find a new close friend and they will share more beautiful memories, just like the memories that Gabby and I shared…