The two of them walked passed me in the hall, completely wrapped up in each other. I had to use everything I had inside of me not to either throw up or punch them in the face. They both treated me like crap and see that neither of them cared at all, hurt even more. They wouldn’t even know each other if it weren’t for me. I always think back to that day they met for the first time and how it changed my friend ships with them completely.
St Patrick’s Day is supposed to be the best day of the year. Everyone dresses up all obnoxiously, and all of Maine South goes downtown and is obnoxious together. For weeks my friends and I had been planning what we would wear, what time we would go, who we would go with, etc. all to make the day as fun as possible. It ended up being 10-15 of my friends, some of our guy friends, and me. One of those guy friends happened to be the guy I sort of had a fling for, Harry. All of my friends knew that, even my own mom knew. We even went to girls’ choice together which made me like him even more. Anyway, the 20 or so of us boarded the train at round 9 o’clock in the morning. We looked like a bunch of fools; each of us were decked out head to toe in full on green and white, plus stickers of shamrocks or leprechauns all over our faces. I remember random people on the street getting annoyed of our obnoxious screams. We got downtown around 10:30 ish and headed straight for the Millennium Park where the rest of Maine South was. We were waiting to cross Michigan Ave, when a sudden cold wind blew. Do you ever get goose bumps and it brings a weird vibe as if something bad was going to happen? Well that’s what the cold wind felt like. All of a sudden I looked over and saw my really good family friend, Mary. She was the person I knew I could always have a good time with, and has been my friend for about 6 years now. She’s more than a friend-she’s practically my other half. She caught my eye and rushed over to give me a hug. At her side were her three fellow sophomore friends. I heard footsteps coming up from behind me and turned to see that it was Harry approaching to talk to me.
“Who’s this?” he asked, nodding his head towards Mary. She let out a little giggle and replied with, “Hi, I’m Mary.”
“Oh, I’ve heard of you. Alexa always tells me stories of how you and her are always doing dumb things together.” he explained. Mary and I let out a laugh in unison. The three of us continued in small talk for a couple more minutes, when both Harry and my friends wanted to keep moving, so we left Mary to go to do her own thing.
Looking back, I should’ve laid down the line more clearly that Harry was off limits. That is the number one rule in girl code, but apparently she didn’t get that memo.
Anyway, all of us continued to walk around downtown and my friends and I were having a blast. All of a sudden, I realized Harry and a few of his friends were missing. My friend, Jackie, who was going out with one of his friends called and asked where they were. She said they were down the block at Potbelly's so we decided to go meet them. When we got there, I was surprised to see Harry and Mary talking. I walked right up to them, but it’s like they didn’t even notice I was there. They were giggling and laughing and very touchy with each other. They kept grabbing each other’s hands and hugging almost. In complete shock, I walked right up to them to figure out what was going on.
“What’s going on guys...?” I asked nervously. They both continued to ignore me and walked away a little; they were too caught up in their own conversation. I cleared my throat and they both finally turned. I repeated my question, but they both just stared at me dumbfounded.
“Alexa go away you’re ruining the moment go away.” Mary scolded. Harry silently chuckled to himself. Outraged, I stormed off to be with my friends. ‘The hell with you two’, I thought. I was rejoined with my friends and continued to have a good time. A couple hours later, I saw Mary, her friends, and Harry walking towards where everyone else was. They were holding hands when all of a sudden they stopped. In the middle of the huge crowd there they stood, hand in hand. I watched from the side, unable to move, as she placed her lips to his. My jaw dropped. My vision started to become blurred with the tears I didn’t know had formed. My friends all turned to me, shocked expressions on their faces.
“Did she just do that?!” Grace exclaimed. Within seconds my friend, Erin, walked over to Mary and Harry. I was too far to hear what she was saying, but I could tell by her hand motions that she was yelling at them. The two of them continued to kiss, and I could think was how. How could you both treat someone you supposedly cared about like crap? My friend Kristin pulled me away from them, and I fell onto Grace’s shoulder and stood there crying for a few minutes. They tried to comfort me, and even Graces boyfriend came over to help.
“It's okay Alexa, you are so much better than that. You don’t need either of them.” Grace explained. Every time I tried to talk, more tears just came out. I felt so betrayed. My heart felt like a hammer had been brought to it and shattered it in a million pieces. I couldn’t comprehend what was happening. I started yelling and having a fit. I chucked my phone to the floor, and kept screaming ‘I hate you, I hate you!’ Still crying, my friends dragged me and we relocated somewhere else. It took about a half hour, but I finally calmed down. The only recollection I have of that time is a blurred vision of people’s faces and me staring blankly at the ceiling.
“I know you’re really upset,” Erin said, “but don’t let this ruin your day. You were having such a fun time before you saw them, don’t let what they just did ruin that. You’re here with all your real friends who care about you way more than either of them does. What they did was crappy and they deserve each other if they treat the people they care about like that. Now stop crying, smile, and let’s go have a good rest of the day.” I couldn’t help but smile and give in. I stood up with a new attitude, ready to forget what just happened.
Later that night, I remember my friends and I were relaxing at someone’s house when my phone buzzed with a text. Marys name flashed across the screen and I could help but scoff at it. It read “Alexa, I’m really sorry if you’re mad at me but I didn’t do anything. Nothing happened.” I had no words. She was flat out lying, and I had all my friends there to verify that I was telling the truth. The boys, including Harry, all wanted to meet up so we decided to go get ice cream. We piled into our car and met them there. You could feel the awkwardness in the air and cut the tension with a knife. Harry didn’t say one word to me, which was very smart. He knew if he said one word to me I would snap on him. After a half hour of awkwardness, he finally came up to me.
“What do you want” I asked
“Look,” he said. “I’m so sorry. It never should’ve happened and I’m so sorry I hurt you. It was a mistake and I honestly never meant for it to happen.” I could hear the sincerity in his voice. I shook my head, no words left to explain, no more tears left to show how much I cared.
“I don’t know what to say....” I replied. I was now faced with a difficult choice. She was my really good family friend, so I was sort of obligated to accept her apology, but on the other hand he was also my friend and was actually telling the truth and being sincere. I went home, and pondered what I should do for the rest of the weekend
Eventually, I told my mom what had happened. But initially, she had no idea. You know how it is, parents are oblivious sometimes. We picked Mary up for school, like usual, and when she got in the car I almost jumped into the back seat and slapped her. Almost. We drove to school like any other day, but so much was different. I saw her in a whole new light-a fake slutty light that is. We got out of the car, and I sprinted to my first period class. I didn’t want to face her and have to deal with her and her crap. After school, she came up to my locker and tried to work things out.
“Look, I’m sorry for what you think happened. But you’re like my third sister and nothing is going to ever change that. Can we please just forget about this? I don’t want anything coming in the way of our friendship.” she begged. I nodded and we hugged. She took it as everything was back to normal, but in my eyes it was that we were simply going to be on civil terms.
The next few weeks were full of basic conversation before and after school. That's it. You know how it is when you're trying to be mad at someone, but it’s nearly impossible? That's how I felt. I was torn between my best friend and some guy. Granted he is only a boy and there will be plenty more of them, but she still lied and acted very slutty. The more I gave myself time to think about the situation, and the more pressure from my friends to stop being friends with Mary; I started to give her the cold shoulder. It became too obvious so she finally addressed me. Again.
"Look, ever since St Patrick's day you've been acting really weird towards me. I said I was sorry and don't know what else you want from me."
Little fights like this kept happening and still do now. We do our best to avoid the conversation of Harry, St Patrick's Day or anything besides school really. I've finally come to realize how much of a crappy friend she is and it's sad how much she has changed. I finally realized it wasn't just a stage she was in, but that she actually turned out to be a b****. It's sad actually, because I was the only real friend she ever had and she threw it away. By now I had told my mom what really happened and she was on my side. We still give her rides to and from school since, after all, we are family friends, but the second this school year is over I plan on being done with her. As for Harry, I saw him out with my friends last weekend. Awkward couldn't even begin to describe it. We avoided each other all night until he finally decided to say something.
"Are you mad at me?" He finally blurted out. I wasn't sure how to respond.
"Just at the situation, not you in particular."I explained. He smiled with understanding how I felt. We were going to be civil, but only when she wasn't around. She has no idea of this conversation, and I have no intention of telling her.
But for now, every day I have to continue to see the two of them in the hallway together. It's like me and him were never anything, or that I even mean anything to her anymore. Right now, I'm still confused and don't know how to fully resolve this conflict-only time will tell.