• "Hi! I'm Maria!"

    I held out my hand at my new neighbor as she let go of her mothers skirt and shyly took it in her own. She smiled without teeth.

    "Mieke, why don't you go play with Maria while Mrs. Eisley and I talk."

    She looked up at her mother and then back to me, and I smiled at her, with teeth. I took her hand and tugged, "Come on, I have a swing set in my backyard!"

    Mieke nodded and we both hurried over to play.

    We sat in the car as mom drove us to the first day of middle school. Mieke and I had matching backpacks; we were both very nervous. When we went to class we got to sit by each other. The teacher was boring, droning on and on about some class syllabus. Mieke and I texted on our new cell phones. During lunch, we saw some kids from our old elementary school. We sat and ate lunch together. They joked how there was always M&M, always us, happy together. First period was the only class we had together though. It was strange being away from Mieke. We shared everything together, we might as well have been twins. I felt anxious without her, but I tried to be friendly and not let it show.

    We climbed up into her moms truck after school. "How was school girls?"

    Mieke always answered first. "It was really fun! I met some new girls who were really nice and pretty."

    "Good, good! How about you, Maria?"

    "It was good as well. I really like my new classes."

    "That's great girls. I told you Middle school was easy. You had nothing to be worried about."

    She was wrong.

    A couple weeks after school started, Mieke wasn't at the lunch table. I tried to contain my worry as I ate with all my other friends. I texted her three times, but she didn't reply until last period. Sorry, I was doing a project with Katrina.
    I was really hurt, but I let it go. Katrina was a crazy, controlling b***h; She probably didn't want Mieke texting when they were working together. We got into her mom's truck and drove home.


    I'd never really paid attention to fashion, or make up. I had a good complexion, and my only fault was my braces. I guess you could say my glasses were a problem, but I liked them, and I thought they looked cute on me anyways. Mieke had glasses.

    We were alike in so many ways. We both wore glasses, we liked to watch the same shows and listen to the same music. Every weekend, we switched over houses to spend the night. This weekend, Mieke was supposed to come over to my house. I called her on her cell.

    "Hey, still on for tomorrow?"

    "Oh." I heard her say awkwardly. She didn't forget, did she? "I can't."

    I laughed, "Why not?"

    Mieke shuffled the phone to her other ear, "Well, Katrina was going to come spend the night, so we could work on that project together."

    "I see... Well can I come over and help you guys then?"

    "No!" I gasped inwardly, shocked by her quick rejection, "I mean, I already asked my mom and she said that wouldn't be good. I was just really mad 'cause of that, I didn't mean to shout. Sorry." she finished

    "Okay then. My mom's calling me. Bye."

    I hung up quickly, and sobbed into my pillow. This wouldn't be the last night I cried myself to sleep.


    Mieke was avoiding me. Or more like, Katrina was taking Mieke away from me. I sat by myself at lunch, because my other friends were pissed that I was upset all the time. I sulked around school, I didn't see Mieke besides the morning, first period, and after school. She was cordial, but she wasn't the same. She got contacts. She got a new backpack. She began wearing makeup, like Katrina. I thought it made Mieke look bad, but when I told her she glared at me and ignored me until her mom picked us up. My Mieke was gone. I had always hated Katrina. She was a mean person.

    "Telescope eyes! Metal teeth!" she would squeal when she saw me, "Get away from me! I can't be seen with you, you freak!"

    Then she would giggle and run off with her friends. With my friend. Mieke didn't do anything to protect me. She used to though. She'd be by my side as I cried, and yelled at anyone who made fun of me. But I don't see why I got made fun of, I thought I was pretty. 'Maybe I am ugly...' I thought one day as I walked out of class. There was Katrina and her posse. Mieke was there. "Hey, Maria!" Katrina yelled at me, "Go take a shower, your hair is so gross!"

    Another girl chimed in, "Yeah, with that huge, ugly dress. She must be hiding she's fat!"

    "Or pregnant! I bet she'll do anything for a boy desperate enough to do something with her!"

    "Are you crying now? Go run away and write all about it in your little baby diary you loser!"

    And then I heard it.

    Mieke's laugh. She was laughing with them. She was laughing at me. I looked at her, horrified. When she saw me she stopped and looked at me, ashamed of herself. Katrina saw her and glared, "What's wrong Mieke? You want to go run off with her again? If you do, I'll make sure your life is a living hell."

    Mieke stayed.

    I called my mom, and said I had thrown up. She picked me up and I said I was crying because my stomach hurt.

    That night, I did throw up though. I threw up after dinner. I lost a lot of weight. I asked my mom for contacts. I gave away most of my clothes to charity. I bought some make up. I hid from everyone, even though I was trying to look good for them all. People commented on me, they said I looked pretty. I made out with a guy. I let him get to second base. He whispered that he loved me, but then he dumped me for Katrina,

    Crying that night, I called Mieke. "Hey..." I sobbed.

    "What do you want?" I heard snickers in the background.

    "I wanted to see if you would wanna come over and-"

    "Why would I wanna be seen with you?" she replied.

    When I didn't answer she went on, "You ugly, fake poser. Stop trying to act like me. You've followed me around for my whole life because you were so jealous. You're so pathetic, it's like you're in love with me. Get a life you lesbo." She hung up on me, but not before the girls in the background began to cackle.

    That night I took a shower. I plugged the bottom drain. I laid down in the bottom of the tub, crying, 'I'm just like you. I'm just like you. Why did you do this to me Mieke?' I still wore my clothes. The water came up to my chin, but I didn't move. Mieke and I had played in the tub before when we were little girls. It had been so much fun then.