1Dedicated to Laura and my friends who have found this amusing.
-C
AN: This was supposed to be a personal narrative written for English class. The narrative had to be a time when you broke a rule for the right reasons. The truth is, some of this was made up and exaggerated, but the story was based on real people and Laura and Sam did have a similar situation going on. Now I will not give away any more. And mind, this was for English class. That is why the writing is extremely restricted.
To meddle or not to meddle, that was the question. Generally, the rule stated that people should mind their own business, and other people can take care of theirs. However, sometimes friends needed a hand for the problem at large, like the incident with Laura and me.
I sat eying my friend Laura across the wooden table in the library, and every so often I glanced diagonally at Sam, who chattered animatedly to his friends at another table. A few weeks had passed since their so-called-more-than-friendship-but-not-quite-a-relationship had ended, and from the way Laura slumped over on the chair drawing doodles on her math homework half-heartedly, I knew something had to be done. She often reminded me that she herself should sort out her problems, and nothing I could do would help her. The frustrated feeling made me clench my fists and want to squeeze a stress ball.
"So, Laura…" I trailed off, uncertain of what to say. She raised her eyes miserably. "Um," I blurted, "Do you want to do something this weekend? At my house?"
She sighed, eyes downcast again. "Sure." She raised her head and caught a glance of Sam laughing and slapping one of his friends on the back. She bit her lip and straightened up, her voice forcefully cheerful and her face plastered with a fake smile. "At what time and day shall I arrive m'dear?"
I jerked my head up to the clock and threw my books in my backpack just as the bell rang. I ran out of the room calling apologetically behind me, "I'll talk to you later!"
"I thought things were going so well… we were good friends, I liked him, he liked me, and… it just… he… stopped liking me." Laura choked out a sob. Her confession not only set off a fountain of tears, but lodged a sac of stifled air in the back of my throat.
Laura wasn't depressed before the whole preteen romance that most people had to go through. She proudly acclaimed herself a die-hard Star Trek and Harry Potter fan, ranted about how clothing brands determined popularity among students, shamelessly cried over dead fictional characters, and spontaneously burst into laughter at the miniscule of things.
The Laura sitting in front of me right now left no traces of the fun, excited Laura. Now, she could only be described as depressed. Her cheeks flushed red and her blue eyes were bloodshot. She wiped the tears away from her face, but they kept filling up again as if waves surged out from her eyes. She had tied her brown hair in a disorderedly fashioned ponytail, like she didn't even bother brushing it. Her words always ended with a sad sigh, and I had not heard her laugh in days. I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and scream, "Stop being so depressed! Sam's a jerk and you know it!"
She always defended him of course, even after he started to completely ignore her because of his fear of what their relationship could become. Surely, that hurt.
Inside my brain a miniature version of me stomped angrily every time I thought of Laura and Sam's "relationship." The aggravation from having to deal with Laura's despair started an irrational resentment toward Sam. Seeing him with his friends, indifferent to Laura's situation, only fueled the fire.
The next afternoon, while I waited for the late bus, a certain brown-haired male entered my peripheral vision. I spied Sam and walked to an area behind him, so he couldn't see me unless he turned around.
He smiled at his friend and appeared to be discussing a topic of important interest. My insides clenched with irritation. That boy didn't give the slightest hint that the whole circumstance with Laura had upset him.
Abruptly, Laura sprinted into the atrium with her clarinet and book bag, her array cluttered completely. Her arms were packed with her coat and some textbooks and her hair flew in wild directions again. When she saw me, she comically waved and smiled, then set off in a dash toward me.
Due to his ill timing, Sam backed right into her as she tried to run past him. They collided in a bang and she flew forward, sprawling on the floor with her litter of books, coat, and clarinet as they landed with another resounding crash. People gave her room to land, but no one offered to help her as they continued on with their conversations. She blushed and stuttered awkwardly as I strode across the floor and gave her a hand. She turned around and mumbled an apology before picking up her books and walking away with hunched shoulders.
As I watched her leave, I spun around to face Sam. His expression at her disappearing back noted disapproval. He rolled his eyes and chuckled with his friend about the whole incident. He didn't even say sorry. How could Laura have liked him?
The fury deafened my ears now. A war raged inside my mind. Was I to follow Laura and comfort her, or was I to let my anger out at Sam for not only making her fall (granted, it was an accident), but also ignoring her… and laughing at her? Laura had always told me to stay out of her personal affairs, but this was unbearable. I could not stand to watch my friend being ridiculed by her crush, who supposedly had to have had feelings for her at some point in his life.
I marched up to him and when he turned with his eyebrows raised at me, I mustered up as much courage and force as I possibly could. I tightened my fists, released them, and the next moment I knew, my palm had connected with its target and a resonating smack filtered through the air. From the way the nerves in my palm tingled like a burn and he winced and touched his face, I knew the slap had stung.
Due to some flaw in humanity, when someone tripped and fell flat on her face, people disregarded it. When someone had been slapped, the entire atrium hushed. I lifted my chin defiantly at his wide eyes and stomped away to a Laura that gaped at me in disbelief and admiration.
Over the course of the next week or so, Laura began to return to her happy nerd lifestyle. She didn't cry at the mention of Sam's name anymore, and her fiery personality made its appearance again. Sam pretended that nothing had occurred, as was his usual way of dealing with things.
Though my action was impulsive and the utmost wrong, I brought a friend back to life again. I acted rashly and didn't think about the consequences, but I was also loyal to the extreme. My friends were a part of my everyday life, and I protected them fiercely. What Sam and Laura had didn't involve me in any way, but I had honestly thought at the time that I did the right thing by sticking up for her. Was I impulsive? Yes. Did I meddle in other people's business? Yes. Could things have been solved in a different way? Absolutely. However, was I wrong in standing up for a close friend? I think not.