Everyone Needs A Friend
I was a junior in high school when I lost my best friend. Nobody understood the horrifying pain he went through but me. My best friend's name was Travis Shields and I was the only one he could talk to. Travis was what you could call weird. He was tall and athletic and was the best on the soccer team. Travis was also very quiet and very mysterious.

Travis Shields had sleek black hair that was always slicked down. He had deep midnight blue eyes that were always ice cold. Travis was always emotionless when he was around other people. The only feeling he ever felt was pain. He wasn't like this when we were around each other, alone that is. Then we had to go our separate ways.

Our friendship started at the beginning of our junior year. He was exactly like I said he was. I was the most popular girl in school and I was working with him on a project for Communications. At first I groaned with utter most disgust but then I noticed something about him when he looked at me. His midnight eyes had warmed up when I looked towards him but then he quickly turned his eyes back to an icy blue stare. Then my friend, Kana Jones, lightly tapped me on the shoulder and said," What a drag that you got stuck with Travis Shields."

I looked back at my friend and said," Yeah, what a drag." After Communications class, I stopped Travis and asked him if he would meet me outside the front doors of the school after school. "Sure. Whatever you say, Laura," he lazily said to me in his annoying tone of voice. After school I saw him waiting for me like I asked him to. He was wearing his gym uniform so I guessed he had gym for his last class. I walked up to him and said," Come on. Let's go."

He looked at me with a blank look and oddly said," Go where?" I told him that we were going to my house to work on this project and he simply just sighed and started following me. We had finally gotten to my white house when he spoke a word for the first time. He said," This is your house?" I replied back with a warm smile and nodded. We went inside and started our Communications project and finished it with time to spare. I asked," Do you want to go down to the creek out back?" He smiled for the first time that I have ever known him and nodded.

We sat on the creek bed and I asked him why he was so emotionless. He replied back," Ever since I was a young boy, I have been mistreated and beaten by my parents. My parents were cruel and wicked so one day I just couldn't take it and I ran away. I was twelve when my parents were killed and I didn't cry one bit. I had lost trace of my emotions by the time I was thirteen. I have no real friends to talk to and I don't know if I ever will. You're the first person that I have ever told this to." I looked at him like I had only known him for two days and was in pain for what he kept bottled up inside for sixteen long years. All I could say was," Travis, I am so sorry for the way my friends and the others treat you but if they knew they might be kinder towards you." Travis had a few tears running down his cheek. I started crying right along with him and before I could do anything else I said," I'll be your friend." Travis looked at me with a grin across his face that made him look totally different. So after that day we were the greatest of friends but nobody knew that everyday we would go down to the creek and just talk to each other. I learned so much about Travis and he learned a lot about me.

We would go to movies and play on the computer constantly after school. We would help each other with Algebra 2 homework. Travis and I were always together after school and would do everything together. My friends were kinder to him after I stuck up for him. Our favorite song that we listened to everyday was "Lean On Me" and we would laugh everyday.

All of that changed when I found out that I was moving away. I was so hurt inside and so was Travis when I told him. All of my friends were so mad when they found out. I went to my room and cried all night because I was hurt that I was leaving someone who needed me. I don't mean my friends. I mean Travis because I was the one who helped him become more social.

Those last few weeks were the hardest weeks of my life. When I would pack I would always cry my heart out just thinking about it. Travis was always over there helping me. When I would cry, he would walk up to me and give me a hug and cry with me. The final day I had with Travis was so hard to bear that we went down to where we first became friends and I just cried. The day came and I gave him one last hug and I got in that car and I cried that entire way from California to Arizona.

I gave my address to Travis before I left and when I got to that house I saw a note on the door that said, " To Laura Bynes." Inside the note it said," I miss you already but you have helped me so much and don't you dare forget me and maybe I will come down this summer. Your friend Travis." I read the note over and over. I looked at the picture of him in the yearbook and smiled. I had helped someone who needed a friend. Now I couldn't have been happier and I listened to our friendship song.