• “I wonder why school passes by really slow...” I looked over to my neighbor’s seat.
    She was still scribbling away at her test, like many others. It was science class, and I sighed with boredom.

    I glanced at the clock, “2 more minutes til’ the next class…” As I shifted my eyes around the classroom, I noticed a boy across my desk was staring directly at me. His eyes were dark brown, his skin also dark and tan. The hairs on his head were layered in an odd way, giving him a foolish look.
    The T-shirt he wore was lime green. He didn’t look familiar to me, because I never really pay attention to the other students at school unless it’s necessary. He looked rather amused, as though as holding in some sort of laugh. I was about to say something to him, but why bother? School was a place for education for me, there’s no official rule saying I had to make friends. I shrugged, then I put my books in my leathery book bag.

    I started thinking about the things that happened in the past three
    weeks. I recall one day at home, my mom came to me telling me she
    wanted “change”. At first, I thought she meant she wished to date (my father had passed away from a heart stroke, before I was born). But she just said that she’d like to move to another city, start anew! I didn’t mind at all, so I responded saying: “You are the adult, and I am the child, do however you like.” So here I was in San Francisco-- California, all the way from New Jersey. I had nothing to miss in New Jersey, no friends, not anything. I guess that’s why it was really easy for me to let go of the city.

    “Ding!,” the bell rang.
    Seats shuffled around as students placed their test on the teacher’s desk, and headed towards the classroom’s door. I hoisted my book bag over my right shoulder and followed the other students. Suddenly, I heard someone call my name aloud: “Sophie Luna?”
    I turned around slowly to see who had just called me out.
    It was the boy earlier who sat across my desk. I grimaced. I really didn’t feel like talking to anyone right now. My next class was all the way on the other side of the campus, and I did not want to be tardy.

    “Hmm, I don’t think I know you,” I muttered as I turned to leave.
    “Hey, wait!” he said blocking me from the door.
    “Ugh,” I said in a surprisingly low, quiet voice. I cleared my throat. “Anything you need?” I asked, using a fake polite tone.

    “Uh, wanna be friends?” he said with a smile.
    “Friends? Right”, I thought.

    “I don’t know. Sorry, but I’m sort of in a hurry”, I replied.
    “Aw c’mon, you don’t remember me?” he questioned.
    I thought about it. Was I supposed to remember this guy?
    “Nope, sorry to say I don’t.”

    “Wow, you must be really absent-minded. I’m in all your classes,” he stated.
    I wasn’t surprised I didn’t know that, as I wondered, I really didn’t pay attention to people at school much.

    “Oh”, was all I muttered.
    Hmm, if he was in all my classes, why was he wasting time talking to me when he could’ve planned to just talk on the way to the next class?
    “Anyways,” he continued, “I always see you alone around the school, so I thought it’d be very generous of me to be your friend”. He flashed a smile.
    “No, thank you”, I replied a bit quickly.

    “Ahem”, said a voice, it was the Mr. Algred the science teacher,
    “Sophie Luna, Tyler Hurtlie, please hurry on to class.”

    I made a mental note, so his name was Tyler Hurtlie.

    “Yes, Mr. Algred”, we said in unison. I walked out the door, and took an automatic right, cutting through the grass. Sure enough, Tyler was following me.
    “So,” he started talking. I quickened my pace.
    “Friends right?” he asked.
    I snorted. “I barely know you.”
    “It’s called making new friends, of course”, he chuckled.

    “Well, I’m not really interested anyways”, I said pursing my lips. “Why?” he asked, scratching his head. “Hey, you know you seem really anti-social? Some people are scared to approach you.”

    “Honestly, I could care less if people were scared of me. Not that they should be anyways, that’s so silly. I’m just a normal 14-year old girl”, I replied nonchalantly. People should really mind their own business, instead of sticking their noses into everything they could find. A perfect example of what Tyler was doing.

    “Normal 14-year old girl, yeah, I don’t think so”, he snorted. “Most 14-year old girls I know like to laugh a whole lot, and go shopping 24/7. You don’t look like you enjoy laughing or shopping, or actually anything for that matter. You’re like an alien…”
    “What a fabulous thing to say to someone, when you’re trying to be their friend!” I retorted.

    He laughed at my sarcasm. We started to walk more slowly. The classroom was visible now, probably only a few seconds to reach the door if we ran. Luckily, I, I mean we, weren’t late for class. I relaxed a bit, but felt a twitch of annoyance when Tyler patted my head and said, “You don’t mind if I sit next to you today, do you? Thanks.”
    “Why yes, I mind”, I said gritted through my teeth. Why couldn’t this guy just leave me alone in? And I thought I was going to have a peaceful year at this school.

    He sighed, “Some girls would be blessed to have me sit by them.”
    “No one’s stopping you,” I said in a purposely ecstatic tone.
    He glared and me, and then laughed. “You’re interesting to talk to; I might let you be my best friend.”
    I held my hands up in the air, and replied saying, “I told you I pass already, Tyler.”
    “Alien”, he called me.
    I shrugged, “I am what I am.”
    He grinned fondly. It seemed like he truly wanted to be my friend and I wondered why, we were now in front of the classroom’s door.
    “Please hurry, and come in,” Mrs. Goother said with irritation.
    “After you,” he stated mockingly. I rolled my eyes and walked in with Tyler following behind me.

    * * *


    Four months have passed since I first met Tyler. I can’t believe that after four months, we were the best of friends! It would’ve sounded very, very unimaginable for me four months ago, well, it did. Indeed, things were changing in such a short amount of time. My mom was driving me to school. As I sat in the passenger seat of my mother’s car, I started to reminisce on some of the pleasant memories Tyler and I had. Ah yes, the library incident…

    Tyler and I were suffering from boredom one afternoon after school, so I suggested that we visited the library. He was up for anything, so it was no problem convincing him. We strolled to the public library, only taking about 10-15 minutes. As we went in, it was exceptionally silent (of course, this was a library after all). Heading near the “Science Fiction” section, I noticed one of the few librarians at the check-out counter stared warily at Tyler and me. She looked youthful in her 20’s, but also looked old in the short, classy haircut she had and the thick-framed glasses she was wearing. She wore a dull, grey cashmere knitting sweater, with a simple black pencil skirt. I presumed, she thought we weren’t to any good. I giggled lightly without sound.

    I grabbed a random book out of one of the dozens of shelves, and skimmed through the pages. I wasn’t sure why we were here. It was boring here too.
    Tyler went to the other side of the shelf to browse at the collection of books. After a minute of the silence, I heard Tyler call me in a hushed voice, “Sophie, come here and look at this…” I walked willingly to where he was.

    “What is it Tyler?” I whispered. He grinned as he held a book on his arm, having a bookmark in the page he left it. Suddenly, he popped the book open where the bookmark was. Seeing the glimpse of the brown bug (that’s been massively murdered by shrieking housewives) gave me goose bumps. A cockroach was lying in the book.

    Before I knew it, I screamed. I turned to run away, but instead I ran into the book shelf I did not see. I ran into the shelf pretty hard, so as a result, it went tumbling down. But behind a book shelf, is another book shelf, and behind that book shelf is one more book shelf, and well, you get the idea. So one by one they went tumbling down, just like dominoes.

    I stood there, utterly shocked. Everyone in the library (I’m sure it was everybody) was staring at the shelves falling. When finally, after what seemed like hours, there was huge plop, and the noises ceased. My legs were numb. What did Tyler just make me do?! I tilted my head to the short, classy-haired librarian, whose face was chalked white. I was enormously embarrassed. I then managed to turn my body to Tyler. His eyes were wide, and his lips were pressed into a line. Was he as panicked as I was?

    Tyler cleared his throat, and looked at me. Unexpectedly, he then yelled, “Sophie! Run for your life!!” and then he took off to the exit. I was once again, shocked. But I followed quickly, moving my numb legs as fast as I could make them go. I didn’t look back at the mess we just made; I just focused on the exit.

    I was out of the library, but I kept on running and running on the sidewalk
    until the library was not visible anymore. Finally, I caught sight of Tyler. He was sitting down on the benches you sat on to wait for a bus ride.
    I reached to the bench and sat down next to him, catching my breath. He didn’t speak. After around 10 minutes I relaxed. I stared at him and questioned him, “What was that Tyler?!”

    He gazed at the cars in the street, and turned to face me slowly. His face turned red, and his mouth was in a huge, goofy grin. He burst out chortling. He just laughed and laughed himself off. His laugh was utterly carefree and full of humor that I had to join in and laugh also. Tyler’s eyes were full of tears, and that just made me crack up even more! I don’t know how long we laughed, but certainly long enough whereas people walking by would just stare at us oddly. When we were done laughing our butts off, we said goodbye to each other and walked back to our homes. We acted as though nothing happened that day.

    Of course, there were many more memories Tyler and I made. Plenty and plenty of memories made… I sighed with joy. I was incredibly grateful that Tyler decided to make me his friend. Another thing I was grateful to have was the fact that he was in all of my 6 periods. I admit, at first, I didn’t really acknowledge the fact that he was everywhere I went. I grimaced. Tyler’s been rubbing it in my face lately, how it was a wonderful idea of his to consider being friends with a stranger. “I told you so!” he had said the other day in a Russian accent. I stifled a laugh.

    “What’s so funny?” my mother asked with curiosity.
    “Nothing, nothing,” I chuckled.
    “Sophie, Tyler’s been a great influence on you,” she said smugly, “I would be pleased to meet him sometime”. “Sure, sure, sure”, I said without any interest. She chuckled, “Alright, we’re at your school now.”
    “Okay, I’ll see you after school,” I pecked her on the cheek and got out of the car.

    I walked to my first class; when I got out of the car, my mom stated it was
    7:44 (school started at 8:00), so I was early. Usually Tyler was already here waiting for me, but he wasn’t here yet. “Hmm, probably running late”, I thought, “No worries”.

    Two girls were walking together near me. With the way they were leaning towards the sides of each other, they were obviously gossiping. They looked at me cautiously for a few seconds. As they passed by me, I made out a little of what one of the girls said, “Yeah, I totally heard about that. The incident happened last night right? Ugh, I feel sorry for the girl though. Weren’t they like close friends?”
    I wondered what the girl was talking about. It couldn’t be about me right?
    I shook that idea off. It was probably nothing. Though, where was Tyler?

    I decided I’d stand for 10 minutes, just waiting for Tyler, not thinking about anything negative.

    10 minutes passed, and the warning bell rung. I took a deep breath, went into the classroom, and sat at my seat. First period went by slowly, as I waited and waited for Tyler to arrive to class tardy. Maybe he was just absent, and got a cold or something. I could drop by his house after school, Mom would understand. Finally the bell rung, it was time for 2nd period. I was eager for the day to be over now.

    As I exited the classroom to go to history class, some students watched me with a strange expression on their face. It made me feel awkward, so I ran to the history class, praying something horrible didn’t happen.

    Mrs. Goother was taking role when the office made a call to the room.
    I tapped my pencil impatiently as I stared at the empty seat next to me. "Oh... I understand... Thank you for informing me....” Mrs. Goother muttered and heaved a low, tired sigh. She hung the phone back on the wall.

    "Why'd they call?" A random voice from the back of the room peeped. "I bet it's for you," A girl next to the window snickered, "Go to the office, Jimmy! Your mom's waiting with your Hello Kitty lunch box." Before Jimmy could respond with a smart remark, the teacher hushed them to be silent. The quietness of the room increased, and no later than half a minute, it was pin-point still. “Ahem,” Mrs. Goother cleared her throat, “There’s been an accident with one of the students…”
    My body froze. Mrs. Garcia looked directly at me. “Tyler Hurtlie has been in an accident, he was walking late at night for an errand when... a driver…” she trailed off. She paused to look at me. Pity filled her eyes, while wetness filled mine. I heard a few gasps in the background.
    “Sophie,” she whispered, “Your mother has excused you from school to see Tyler in the hospital. She knows how much Tyler means to you. She’s waiting in the parking lot right now.”
    “Yes,” I managed to choke out.
    I stuffed everything sprawled out on my desk and shoved it my bag. The class watched every move I made, but I didn’t care. I was in a hurry to get out.
    “Thank you, Mrs. Goother,” I murmured as I ran out the door all the way to the parking lot.

    I saw my mom’s car parked at the curb of the school. I ran and nearly tripped. “Mom!” I gasped as I got in the car.

    “Hi, honey,” she whispered. She wiped a tear from my cheek and started driving.
    “H-how did this all happen?” I asked quietly.
    She sighed. “Tyler’s parents called me right after I dropped you off from school. They told me that Tyler is being hospitalized, and obviously couldn’t make it to school. Last night, Tyler was buying some milk at the liquor store.
    As he was walking home, a drunk driver came by… and well-
    She looked at my pained face. “He was in the wrong place and the wrong time, Sophie.”

    I couldn’t breathe for a moment, but tried to calm myself down.
    “Please let Tyler be fine…” I kept on telling myself in my mind. “Please let Tyler be fine…” “Do you know how much damage there is?”

    My mom had a very broken expression on her face. “I’m not sure, Sophie…”

    More tears fell down my cheek, I sniffed. I wanted to see Tyler badly, but I was extremely scared what the outcome would be. I had a big chance of losing my best friend, my first best friend I’ve ever had. Why him? Why Tyler? He didn’t do anything. I felt sudden fury for the drunken driver who hit Tyler.

    I took a deep breath. Anger was not what I was supposed to be feeling right now.
    “Please let Tyler be fine…” I continued repeating in my head.

    My mom’s cell phone rang, and she immediately picked it up. “Hello? Oh! How is he doing? She sighed. “Yes, I brought Sophie. Uh-huh, we’re almost there. Okay, bye.” Sure enough, a few seconds later we were in the parking lot in front of the hospital.
    My mother parked her car, and we got out, walking to the entrance. My heart was beating frantically. I was on the verge of hyperventilating!

    “Sophie, it’s going to be fine,” she gave me a tight hug.
    I couldn’t talk with my groggy voice, so I just nodded.

    Mrs. Hurtlie greeted us as soon as we stepped inside the hospital. Her face was moist, and her hand held several tissues. She gave me a hug and said, “Come on, follow me.”
    She led us through a hallway and a few doors. She stopped in front of a small room. She took a breath and said, “This is Tyler’s room.” I swallowed hard.

    She opened the door, and we walked in. At first I didn’t see Tyler anywhere, but then I saw someone lying on one of the beds. It didn’t look like Tyler because that someone was bandaged from head to toe.

    Mr. Hurtlie was sitting in a chair, besides Tyler. Mrs. Hurtlie started to tear up, she sniffled, “He’s broken a lot of bones… and the doctor’s say he’s… well... in a coma.”
    I heard my mom gasp in horror. Mr. Hurtlie got up from the chair and went to stand next to his wife and comfort her. But I barely heard her; I was in my own world. I know it didn’t really make a difference, but Tyler wasn’t at least dead. I didn’t officially lose my friend, not yet. I walked up to Tyler’s side.

    I sniffled and whispered to him, “Tyler, thank you so much for being my friend. I think I’ve changed a lot because of you, and I’m thankful. You play an important role in my life. I swear, I will be here when you wake up Tyler Hurtlie. I won’t give up on you, as your best
    friend, always. Friend’s til’ the end.”