I wrote this for a writing assessment I had to perform in school. This is the revised version, but the same basic story. Enjoy!
~Kathleen
As a kid, I was pretty much a loner, but that all changed when I started 6th Grade.......
The first day I was at middle school, I made a resolution to myself that I was going to make at least one new friend. I was friendly and outgoing all day, searching for my soulmate. By the time 8th hour came, I had all but given up until I saw HER. She walked in room 109 with an armload of books that was about to knock her over! I set my own books on the table and ran to help her out. "Thanks!", she said as she smiled and dropped her stack next to mine. While we were waiting for the bell to ring, we talked a bit more. I found out her name was Jamie, she came from Bethel Elementary, and she played flute in our school Band. We got so involved in our discussion that we didn’t even notice when the bell rang, which put us on the teacher’s "bad list" right away. While the teacher was droning on and on about the classroom rules and the projects we were going to do, we exchanged several eye-rolls and "Oh no!!!" glances. It was like we knew exactly what each other was thinking! At the end of class, Jamie turned to me and said, "Hey, can I have your phone number? Maybe you could spend the night at my house Friday?!"
And that, my friends, was how it all started! That one simple question was the beginning of my wonderful friendship with Jamie! Our entire 6th grade year we were MAJORLY goofy! We referred to each other as "funky chicken" all the time and some of our most memorable quotes were: "Tattoos make you look like a geek!!!" (Kathleen), "I live a mile and a half away from home." (Jamie), and "You’re a dense airhead!" (Kathleen). But even though we look back on it now and think "Oh God, we were soooooo immature!", we had a lot of fun at the time. Our overnights were spent giggling and making hot cocoa at 2 AM, our homework-free evenings on the phone, and our summer being bored together! We had a ball.
The beginning of 7th grade was about the same until December, when I introduced Jamie to my obsession with the wonderful world of Community Theater. She and I auditioned for 12th Night at Wyandotte players and both got cast as Court Musicians. Now, Jamie had just THOUGHT I was weird before, but she had never seen me around all my theater friends! I introduced her to a whole different group of people, including several homosexuals and just plain freaks. At first, I think she was a little scared, but she got over it and we had a really great time with everybody. I think the most important thing about that show was that it gave us an outlet for all that excess energy and we started talking more seriously and got really close. Since then, we’ve done a few more shows together, and I view my greatest accomplishment as getting her hooked on Broadway musical soundtracks like Jekyll and Hyde, Miss Saigon, Ragtime, and Rent.
Although Jamie has always remained my best friend, I think this year has been our best together. I don’t mean that everything’s been perfect, because believe me, it hasn’t! But this has been the year we’ve learned the most about ourselves and about each other. We’ve had our first significant argument (which only lasted 3 days, but it was a horrible 3 days!), first loves, first heartbreaks, and probably a million important, heartfelt discussions. But in no way have we lost all our spunk and crazy energy!! We just express it differently now by doing things like barking at people, scaring people into thinking we’re lesbians, and singing "La Vie Bohem" in the middle of mall’s at the top of our lungs! =) We still have a lot to get through, and we’re both changing a lot, but I think the greatest thing is that we’re doing it together and we know that no matter how much we differ, there will always be room for our "funky chicken" friendship.
About Kathleen
About Jamie
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