October 16th, 1984
13
There are a lot of hard words in my books. Not always because they are long or com-pli-cated, but because I just don't know what they mean. I've come across one just know. It is about two small people, children, like me. But they are not co-workers. Or sib-lings, which means they have the same Mama and Papa. They are different.
"What is friend?" I ask Mike, placing my finger under the word.
"What?" He looks surprised and scoots towards me, making my palms start to sweat.
"Friend."
"Oh. A friend is… someone you trust with anything. They're there when you need them. You can give each other cool stuff, like comic books and trading cards. And friends don't lie."
"Do you have friends?" I press further. A friend sounds like a good thing to have. Do I have friends?
"Yeah, of course. I have Will, Dustin, Lucas- they're my friends from high school- and everyone at college, and…. You're my friend, El." He stammers the last bit of his sentence.
"Oh. Thank you." I feel heat warm my cheeks as I smile. It is nice to be a friend.