Chapter 1: The Fight

Hi guys! I'm trying to update more frequently, and I am going to update this story often. Just so you know, the characters are normal humans in this book. No elves. And Sophie and her friends don't show up till the end. I though Marella deserved the spotlight...

RR:

ProjectMoonlark101: A deep and moving story. Also, a long one. Thanks for reviewing!

Guest: oh, you don't have to be sorry. But thanks for reviewing!

Today's Friendship Quote: It's okay to cry, it's okay to be sad about it.

Hi. I'm Marella.

This is the story of how a ten year old (aka me), fell through the cracks of friendship and was hanging on for dear life, feeling like one of these days she was going to have to let go. But she got herself back up and made her life better again. I won't tell you how, just yet.

This story starts on March 13, on a Wednesday. One of the worst Wednesdays of my life, actually.

I guess the story could start anywhere. It could start the weekend before, at that terrible sleepover. Or the party before Christmas, where we screamed at each other about stolen candy and scared some of the little kids.

But I feel like this is he moment it really, truly, broke.

Here we go...

Me and my best friends, Dessie, Kim, Seren, and Kendra, had made a plan a couple weeks back to create cute Easter baskets to exchange each other this Friday, a couple weeks before Easter.

We had drawn names and I had gotten Kim. I was super excited about my basket, which I had just finished and was ready to exchange.

It had gotten a little stressful because it was supposed to be a secret, so you didn't know who everyone else was making a basket for. But word had gotten around and now Dessie was upset, mostly because this was the second exchange we had done, and the first one had been like this too.

But we made it through the frustration and we're talking excitedly about it during recess at school.

Kim and Kendra wouldn't stop talking about it, and Dessie was trying to speak and getting agitated. Dessie is sort of a chatterbox (and many other things), and I was surprised she hadn't burst yet.

I tuned myself into the useless conversation, which had now turned to some stupid YouTuber.

I, personally, do not watch youtube and am not into the whole "social media" thing. Neither is Dessie. Seren is trying to make her way in but failing right now.

Kim is a big social media person and basically has every site you can think of totally managed. Kendra isn't far behind.

Anyway, Dessie had given up trying to talk and was now walking away. I could tell she was upset and I had some feelings about the situation too, so I followed her.

We walked in silence around the playground and I waited for her to talk. I could tell she was waiting for the other girls to follow us and apologize but they never came.

I didn't look back as Dessie sighed.

We sat down on a bench and I looked at her.

"This is getting worse," she said.

"What is?" I asked, even though I knew the answer.

"This...I don't even know what to call it, Marella! It's just..."

"Ever since the sleepover, it seems like we have been more distant from Kendra and Kim." I offered.

"Yeah," she said weakly.

Dessie is my best friend out of our whole group. I've known her since third grade and we are super close.

"And Seren," she said, looking up at the sky. "She seems to kind of...switch, you know? She's so cool around Kim, and could be the total popular girl."

"But when it's just me and her, she's so nice and really different then when she's with them." I agreed. "And I feel like everything's changing."

Dessie shook her head sadly. "We've all been so over dramatic about everything."

I nodded. "The other day, I shoved Kim, and it was totally a playful shove, I swear. It didn't hurt her at all. It barely moved her. But she yelled at me. And I feel like that's the reason for all of our fights."

Dessie nodded. "Don't get me started on the sleepover..."

We spotted Kim, Seren, and Kendra walking up on the hill, no doubt talking about us. But not in a good way, I could tell.

We trudged up to them, and they turned away. We tried to talk, but they just left.

I yelled at them, suddenly angry. Seren glared at me and Kim yelled back.

I don't remember much after that. It felt numb. Shocking. Tears came to my eyes but never fell.

It was strange. Our group of friends fought often, about silly things that would be forgotten the next day. But we always fought. We alway wanted to yell and scream and share our opinions and take sides and get angry.

Never, ever, has our group given each other the cold shoulder or refused to talk. There's too much feelings piled up for silence.

That's when I knew something bad was happening.

I could almost feel the glass shattering in my heart as Seren said: "we don't always have to be together, you know."

It meant more than just a little space. That's the thing about our group of friends. We can't stand being without each other. It's just instinct.

Little did I know that instinct was going to do me no good in the next few days...