Scarred and Loved

Scarlett     It was a hot summer day in the backyard of my house. Really happy to be with my best friend Samuel, having a good time. He was new in my neighborhood and with no other boys to play with nearby, I offered him my friendship. We were really close and I considered him my family.     “We’ll always be friends, right?” I asked him as we were playing in my tree house. It was our own secret place where no one else could go in, but us.        We loved spending time there after school, just like any other kid. Samuel and I had the best of friendships. We went to school together, we shared some classes and we had lunch together all the time.      Today was Saturday, and with no schoolwork to do, we had plenty of time to spend in that tree house.       “Of course we’ll always be friends. I promise” he answered with a smile while lifting his pinky to hook it to mine. I hoped our promise would always stay true. ****        A few years have gone by and we were both in high school. Things have changed a lot between us. We were not as close as we were when we were kids.       I became the smart girl who was classified by the popular kids as a "nerd" and belonged to the mathletes that would go to academic competitions. We were the best school in those events and there was always a trophy coming back to our school.      I was top of my class, always getting good grades and I was proud of it, but I remember to always stay humble.        “Are you excited about this year’s competition, Scarlett?” Zoey, my classmate asked as we walked out of Science class and headed towards my locker.        “You know it. I can’t wait to win again this year” I answered with a big smile on my face. That showed how excited I was about the competition.       We arrived at my locker and I saw Samuel walk by us with a blonde girl in his arms. Her name was Heather. She was the most popular girl in school. Everyone called her the Queen Bee. A bit of a bully if you ask me, but with her slim body, hazel eyes and thin pink lips, she was admired by a lot of boys. Typical of them.        She was always getting attention from everyone in school, and that would always feed her ego even more.      Samuel was the star quarterback of the football team, with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a white t-shirt with some faded jeans and black converse. And of course he was also wearing the school football jacket, with the number ten on the back. I remember him liking that number a lot, but never knew the reason why and I decided never to ask.      Girls would drool at the sight of him. To be honest, he turned out to be really handsome, but as his former friend I never saw him as more than that, or did I?       “I can’t believe you used to be friends with him when you were kids” Zoey mentioned “I mean he is very popular and a jock, and you are, well...”       She couldn’t finish when I interrupted her “a nerd”. She looked at me and her mouth formed a thin line.       “I didn’t mean it like that, I am so sorry” she apologized, guilt showing on her face, thinking that hurt my feelings.       “That’s fine, I know who I am. He is the one who has changed a lot. Don’t get me wrong, he’s still a kind and selfless person, but he has completely ignored me, and the promise he made years ago” I murmured the last part sadly.       My heart was hurting. That kid who would always play with me after school and that kid with whom I would do homework with, is not my friend anymore. I always wondered, why did our beautiful friendship end? ****      The last bell of the day rang and I was waiting outside. I had hopes of seeing Samuel and maybe asking him for a ride home, that way we would have some time to catch up on everything that goes on with our lives.      I really missed him, our conversations and our silly jokes.       As soon as I saw him come out the door, I waved at him excitedly. He looked at me with a small smile on his face, but as soon as he noticed his girlfriend looking at him with a frown on her, he changed it back to a serious expression.        Samuel walked to his car, kissed his girl goodbye and got in. That is when I decided to approach him.       “Hi, can I get a ride home? Mom is working a late shift and won’t be able to pick me up.” I asked, crossing my fingers behind my back and hoping he said yes.       “Sorry. I can’t. I am not going straight home. My friend Jackson is waiting for me to study together,” He said, putting his seatbelt on.        “Oh, that’s ok, I’ll just walk home. Thank you and have a good one” I said, disappointed. For some reason I was hoping he would change his mind.        I could hear him sigh before I started to walk. He started driving the car slowly, pulling over as soon as he reached my side.       “Hop in, I’ll take you home before going to Jackson’s.”       A big smile appeared on my face and I got in the car quickly. He couldn’t help but smile a little himself.         “So, how have you been? It’s been a while since we talked” I said, trying to start a conversation. I wanted to hear him talk. Missing him was too much.      “I’ve been fine, just busy with exams and football practice,” he shrugged his shoulders. I could see he was a little tired.        “Oh, if you need help with your schoolwork, you can always come to my house and we can study together,” I said. It’s been a while since we spent some time together.       “That’s fine, that’s why Jackson and I are studying at his house, you don’t have to worry about it” he replied.        I couldn’t help but be disappointed. It was my only chance to have my friend back, but it didn’t work. What would I need to do to be back to how we used to be?        Why all of a sudden he stopped spending time with me? And why wouldn’t he want help from me just like he used to before?        We arrived at my house and as soon as I got out of the car, he waved goodbye and drove off, not giving me a chance to say another word. I will eventually find the reason he was ignoring me and when that happened, I would make sure my best friend would be the same kid I loved playing with for hours.