Katy took a deep breath and walked into the school. It was the first day of middle school and she was awed by the largeness of everything. The building was three stories high, the hallways were long and wide, the lockers were twice the size of the lockers she was used to. And everywhere there were kids: talking, laughing, yelling. Katy was so surprised at all of this that she just stood there in wonder. Her old school in Connecticut seemed tiny compared to Longden Middle School. At four feet tall Katy Taylor was smaller than most 7th graders and she found it hard to see over all the students. After standing in the doorway for a few minutes Katy decided it was time to get to her first class: English. Looking at her schedule, she saw that it was on the third floor in room 202. Eager yet worried, she climbed the stairs and looked for the room. She wandered around for a while but couldn't find it anywhere, and was too shy to ask anyone for help. Suddenly someone tapped her on the shoulder and asked:
"Need help finding anything?" Katy jumped and looked behind her; a girl with gorgeous strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes stood smiling expectantly waiting for an answer.
"Yeah, is that obvious that I'm lost?"
“Well, kind of, I've been watching you and you've just been wandering around so I guessed that you were lost; so what do you need to find?"
"My English class is in room 202 and I can't find it anywhere." Katy said hopelessly.
"Really?!" The girl squealed, "That's my first class too. I'll show you where it is. By the way my name's Angela Williams. What's yours?"
"Katy Taylor and I probably wouldn't have gotten lost. . .but I missed the orientation because that was the day we moved in and there were no other times available for me to come see the school."
"Well," Angela said happily, "in a way I’m glad you did get lost, because I got to meet you. I'll introduce you to my other friends at lunchtime. Just meet me in front of the cafeteria at lunch".
They arrived at room 202 just as the bell rang and took seats next to each other. Because they had arrived a bit late they didn't have time to meet other people, but as they sat down Angela waved to a Hispanic girl.
"That's Patricia Bouquet. She's one of my friends and you'll meet her during lunch." Before Katy could respond their teacher walked in and cheerfully said,
"Hello everybody, I hope you are all having a good first day of school. My name is Ms. Palmer. I'm going to tell you a little bit about myself; I am 37 years old and I am terrified of cats." After the laughing died down the teacher shared some information about the upcoming semester, and then the kids introduced themselves. Katy remembered a few names but most of them just went in one ear and out the other. After the class was done Angela helped Katy find her next class then went off to a different class. The morning flew by and before Katy knew it, it was lunchtime.
As she was walking to the cafeteria, she looked around for Angela and there she was, standing by the door of the cafeteria waving frantically and calling out her name. Katy ran over to her and they made their way to the lunch line. The menu was lasagna that looked nothing like the real thing and smelled slightly burnt. Katy looked at it distastefully, but was thankful that she at least had something to eat. Angela showed her to a lunch table where three other girls were sitting. Katy recognized all of them from different classes she had with them. Angela introduced her to them, Jennifer Pritchard, Marcia O'Shea and Patricia Bouquet. Katy soon found out by their conversations that Jennifer was quiet and really friendly and loved art. Marcia was the talkative and daring one and she loved sports. Patricia was the fashion lover. And Angela loved everything and was good at everything, some of her hobbies included: softball, weaving, knitting, photography, and much more activities.
In a matter of weeks, they had become inseparable. Doing everything together and spending almost all of their weekends together. Katy, who at first was scared and quiet, was now a friendly and compassionate girl who was always helping people out and was loved by many people. Even so, her friends sometimes worried about her. She never ate any sweets and was always excusing herself for a few minutes to do something. At first, they all thought she was anorexic, but they at once dismissed the idea, because she always ate plenty of other things and was never thin. After a few weeks of worrying they all decided that she was probably on a diet, but didn't want to tell them about it.
A few months into the semester Katy's class was interrupted one morning by a knock on the door. Ms. Palmer got up to see who it was and to her surprise, the principal Ms. Gilliam was standing at the door with a girl.
"What a pleasant surprise it is to see you Principal Gilliam." Ms. Palmer said. The principal asked to talk to her outside and they closed the door and conferred for a while outside of the classroom. After a few minutes, the principal left and Ms. Palmer entered the room with a new girl.
"Class this is Amanda Yeager, she's new to the town and I hope you all will be able to get to know her." Ms. Palmer led Amanda to a desk that was two seats away from Katy's. Katy looked at her curiously, and then her face became pale.
"Are you okay Katy?" Angela said worryingly.
"I'm fine. I was just a little surprised".
Suddenly Amanda glanced up at them she took one looked at Katy's face. A look of recognition crossed her face, and then she smiled and said,"Teacher, Katy doesn't look so well. May I take her to see the nurse?"
Angela was surprised that Amanda knew Katy's name, but one look at Katy and she saw that Amanda was right. Katy looked even paler than before and she looked like she was going to be sick.
"That's nice of you Amanda." Ms. Palmer said. "Katy would you like to see the nurse?"
It looked like she was about to decline the offer but she looked up at Amanda and saw the expression on her face. It was the kind of expression that said, "If you don't say yes you'll be sorry." Katy nodded weakly and got up. She slowly walked to the door while leaning on Amanda and they left.
They returned 20 minutes later with Katy looking a little bit better and a smug look on Amanda's face. When she got to her desk, Katy sank down and put her head in her hands. Because the teacher was talking, Angela wasn't able to ask Katy any questions and once the class was done, Katy rushed off with a two-word answer to Angela's question. At lunch, Angela waited at their regular table for Katy and when she saw her, she ran over to talk to her, but before she could reach her Amanda appeared out of nowhere and whispered something in Katy's ear. Katy nodded and went up to Angela and told her,
"I'm going to sit with Amanda today; I think she's a little lonely."
"Well then why don't you bring her over to our table, I'm sure Patricia, Marcia and Jennifer would love to meet her." Angela said.
"No!" Katy shouted and then said in a quieter voice, "I mean I don't think Amanda would be comfortable she's kind of shy".
"That's okay. You were kind of shy when we first met you."
"Katy!" An impatient voice shouted, "are you coming or not?"
"I'll be there in a minute," Katy shouted back. "I got to go now. See you later.” and she rushed off to Amanda.
After that incident, Katy started spending less time with her friends and more time with Amanda. She seemed to be getting crosser and less fun. Angela, Jennifer, Patricia, and Marcia all got the feeling that something was going on. One day Jennifer was in the school library during the break and heard Amanda talking to Katy. Even though she knew it was wrong to eavesdrop, Jennifer felt she had to hear what they were talking about. As she listened, she couldn’t believe her ears.
Amanda: "I can't believe that you did that, getting an F on my homework is not acceptable! How could you be so stupid?"
Katy: "I'm sorry I really tried to do well but with all the homework that they give us it's hard to get mine and your homework done."
Amanda: "Well than do my homework first.”
Katy: "I can't or I'll get bad grades.”
Amanda: "So, that's a small price to pay for me keeping your secret. You'd better get me good grades on this project. It's important. Here it is, leave it in the usual place. And remember if you don't do well on this one, I'll tell everyone about your secret."
After the last remark, Amanda walked away leaving Katy on the verge of tears. Stunned Jennifer ran out of the library and over to the place where Angela and everyone sat. She told them all about what she had heard and Angela immediately took charge.
"Go over to Katy and tell her we want to talk to her at my house at 7:30." Angela told Jennifer. "The rest of you come over to my house at 7:15 and we'll ask Katy what's going on."
Everybody agreed to the plan and accordingly at the appointed time they all were sitting in Angela's room waiting for Katy's arrival.
"I just can't believe that Amanda would do that to Katy." Jennifer said in a shocked voice. "I mean how could anyone could be so-” Her sentence was cut off by the doorbell. Angela answered the door and led Katy up to her room. Katy sat down on the bed without saying a word. She looked like she had just lost her favorite pet. Instead of beating around the bush, Angela got right to the point.
"We want to know what's going on with you. Ever since you met Amanda, you've never had time for us and you've been acting a lot different. And Jennifer heard you talking to Amanda today. What's going on?"
There was silence for a minute but Katy finally answered,
"I guess you're all pretty mad at me but before I answer your question I just wanted to say that you probably won't want to be my friend after this and I wanted to say that it was really nice being friends with you."
"We'll always be your friends no matter what you've done." Marcia said.
Katy continued,
"I'm diabetic." she said slowly and sadly. Then she burst into tears. Her friends looked at her than at each other in amazement.
"Is that your big secret?” Patricia said. Katy nodded.
"Did you think that we would abandon you just because of that?” Jennifer said amazed.
Katy looked up, "You mean you still want to be friends with me?"
"Of course we do." Marcia shouted out, "We're best friends."
"Why didn't you tell us before?" Angela said quietly.
"Well it all started a year ago before my family moved." Katy said, "I was at summer camp and I met Amanda. She was a big bully and she read my diary and found out I was diabetic. She told me that she would tell everybody that if I didn't do whatever she told me to do. So, I became her servant for practically half the summer. After a while, I got tired of doing all her chores for her so I told her that I didn't care if she told everybody. So Amanda told everybody, even the people who didn't know me. Suddenly no one wanted to be my friend; apparently, Amanda made it seem worse then it really was. My best friend started ditching me for other people and no one at all talked to me. In fact, they started being mean; tripping me and making fun of me and making my life miserable. And it was all Amanda's fault. My parents knew I was miserable, but they didn't know how to solve the problem. One day my dad got a job offer in California, realizing that this was a good way to make a fresh start, we moved here. And when I saw Amanda that first day I thought I was going to die. She started blackmailing me again and I didn't want the same thing to happen over again so I decided to give in to her. . . . Well that's my story."
Angela respsonsed. "I don't care at all what you said about being diabetic or anything we're your friends and true friends stick with each other no matter what the other person has done and even though they have a disease or something like that a true friend would still love that person. We are your friends and it doesn't matter what Amanda says or what you’re other so-called friends said, we don't care and we'll stick by you. Even if the whole school deserts you we'll still stay by your side and be your friends." Everybody clapped at Angela's speech and they all agreed with her.
The next day Katy told Amanda that she didn't care if she told everybody and told her that she wouldn't do any more of her work. Amanda did publish it in the school newspaper but the reaction to the news was surprising. Instead of rejecting her, students were much nicer and caring then before. As for Amanda, she was rejected because of her reputation of being a bully and snitch. One day, they sat around their lunch table talking and laughing Katy realized that Angela was right; she really did have true friends.
"Need help finding anything?" Katy jumped and looked behind her; a girl with gorgeous strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes stood smiling expectantly waiting for an answer.
"Yeah, is that obvious that I'm lost?"
“Well, kind of, I've been watching you and you've just been wandering around so I guessed that you were lost; so what do you need to find?"
"My English class is in room 202 and I can't find it anywhere." Katy said hopelessly.
"Really?!" The girl squealed, "That's my first class too. I'll show you where it is. By the way my name's Angela Williams. What's yours?"
"Katy Taylor and I probably wouldn't have gotten lost. . .but I missed the orientation because that was the day we moved in and there were no other times available for me to come see the school."
"Well," Angela said happily, "in a way I’m glad you did get lost, because I got to meet you. I'll introduce you to my other friends at lunchtime. Just meet me in front of the cafeteria at lunch".
They arrived at room 202 just as the bell rang and took seats next to each other. Because they had arrived a bit late they didn't have time to meet other people, but as they sat down Angela waved to a Hispanic girl.
"That's Patricia Bouquet. She's one of my friends and you'll meet her during lunch." Before Katy could respond their teacher walked in and cheerfully said,
"Hello everybody, I hope you are all having a good first day of school. My name is Ms. Palmer. I'm going to tell you a little bit about myself; I am 37 years old and I am terrified of cats." After the laughing died down the teacher shared some information about the upcoming semester, and then the kids introduced themselves. Katy remembered a few names but most of them just went in one ear and out the other. After the class was done Angela helped Katy find her next class then went off to a different class. The morning flew by and before Katy knew it, it was lunchtime.
As she was walking to the cafeteria, she looked around for Angela and there she was, standing by the door of the cafeteria waving frantically and calling out her name. Katy ran over to her and they made their way to the lunch line. The menu was lasagna that looked nothing like the real thing and smelled slightly burnt. Katy looked at it distastefully, but was thankful that she at least had something to eat. Angela showed her to a lunch table where three other girls were sitting. Katy recognized all of them from different classes she had with them. Angela introduced her to them, Jennifer Pritchard, Marcia O'Shea and Patricia Bouquet. Katy soon found out by their conversations that Jennifer was quiet and really friendly and loved art. Marcia was the talkative and daring one and she loved sports. Patricia was the fashion lover. And Angela loved everything and was good at everything, some of her hobbies included: softball, weaving, knitting, photography, and much more activities.
In a matter of weeks, they had become inseparable. Doing everything together and spending almost all of their weekends together. Katy, who at first was scared and quiet, was now a friendly and compassionate girl who was always helping people out and was loved by many people. Even so, her friends sometimes worried about her. She never ate any sweets and was always excusing herself for a few minutes to do something. At first, they all thought she was anorexic, but they at once dismissed the idea, because she always ate plenty of other things and was never thin. After a few weeks of worrying they all decided that she was probably on a diet, but didn't want to tell them about it.
A few months into the semester Katy's class was interrupted one morning by a knock on the door. Ms. Palmer got up to see who it was and to her surprise, the principal Ms. Gilliam was standing at the door with a girl.
"What a pleasant surprise it is to see you Principal Gilliam." Ms. Palmer said. The principal asked to talk to her outside and they closed the door and conferred for a while outside of the classroom. After a few minutes, the principal left and Ms. Palmer entered the room with a new girl.
"Class this is Amanda Yeager, she's new to the town and I hope you all will be able to get to know her." Ms. Palmer led Amanda to a desk that was two seats away from Katy's. Katy looked at her curiously, and then her face became pale.
"Are you okay Katy?" Angela said worryingly.
"I'm fine. I was just a little surprised".
Suddenly Amanda glanced up at them she took one looked at Katy's face. A look of recognition crossed her face, and then she smiled and said,"Teacher, Katy doesn't look so well. May I take her to see the nurse?"
Angela was surprised that Amanda knew Katy's name, but one look at Katy and she saw that Amanda was right. Katy looked even paler than before and she looked like she was going to be sick.
"That's nice of you Amanda." Ms. Palmer said. "Katy would you like to see the nurse?"
It looked like she was about to decline the offer but she looked up at Amanda and saw the expression on her face. It was the kind of expression that said, "If you don't say yes you'll be sorry." Katy nodded weakly and got up. She slowly walked to the door while leaning on Amanda and they left.
They returned 20 minutes later with Katy looking a little bit better and a smug look on Amanda's face. When she got to her desk, Katy sank down and put her head in her hands. Because the teacher was talking, Angela wasn't able to ask Katy any questions and once the class was done, Katy rushed off with a two-word answer to Angela's question. At lunch, Angela waited at their regular table for Katy and when she saw her, she ran over to talk to her, but before she could reach her Amanda appeared out of nowhere and whispered something in Katy's ear. Katy nodded and went up to Angela and told her,
"I'm going to sit with Amanda today; I think she's a little lonely."
"Well then why don't you bring her over to our table, I'm sure Patricia, Marcia and Jennifer would love to meet her." Angela said.
"No!" Katy shouted and then said in a quieter voice, "I mean I don't think Amanda would be comfortable she's kind of shy".
"That's okay. You were kind of shy when we first met you."
"Katy!" An impatient voice shouted, "are you coming or not?"
"I'll be there in a minute," Katy shouted back. "I got to go now. See you later.” and she rushed off to Amanda.
After that incident, Katy started spending less time with her friends and more time with Amanda. She seemed to be getting crosser and less fun. Angela, Jennifer, Patricia, and Marcia all got the feeling that something was going on. One day Jennifer was in the school library during the break and heard Amanda talking to Katy. Even though she knew it was wrong to eavesdrop, Jennifer felt she had to hear what they were talking about. As she listened, she couldn’t believe her ears.
Amanda: "I can't believe that you did that, getting an F on my homework is not acceptable! How could you be so stupid?"
Katy: "I'm sorry I really tried to do well but with all the homework that they give us it's hard to get mine and your homework done."
Amanda: "Well than do my homework first.”
Katy: "I can't or I'll get bad grades.”
Amanda: "So, that's a small price to pay for me keeping your secret. You'd better get me good grades on this project. It's important. Here it is, leave it in the usual place. And remember if you don't do well on this one, I'll tell everyone about your secret."
After the last remark, Amanda walked away leaving Katy on the verge of tears. Stunned Jennifer ran out of the library and over to the place where Angela and everyone sat. She told them all about what she had heard and Angela immediately took charge.
"Go over to Katy and tell her we want to talk to her at my house at 7:30." Angela told Jennifer. "The rest of you come over to my house at 7:15 and we'll ask Katy what's going on."
Everybody agreed to the plan and accordingly at the appointed time they all were sitting in Angela's room waiting for Katy's arrival.
"I just can't believe that Amanda would do that to Katy." Jennifer said in a shocked voice. "I mean how could anyone could be so-” Her sentence was cut off by the doorbell. Angela answered the door and led Katy up to her room. Katy sat down on the bed without saying a word. She looked like she had just lost her favorite pet. Instead of beating around the bush, Angela got right to the point.
"We want to know what's going on with you. Ever since you met Amanda, you've never had time for us and you've been acting a lot different. And Jennifer heard you talking to Amanda today. What's going on?"
There was silence for a minute but Katy finally answered,
"I guess you're all pretty mad at me but before I answer your question I just wanted to say that you probably won't want to be my friend after this and I wanted to say that it was really nice being friends with you."
"We'll always be your friends no matter what you've done." Marcia said.
Katy continued,
"I'm diabetic." she said slowly and sadly. Then she burst into tears. Her friends looked at her than at each other in amazement.
"Is that your big secret?” Patricia said. Katy nodded.
"Did you think that we would abandon you just because of that?” Jennifer said amazed.
Katy looked up, "You mean you still want to be friends with me?"
"Of course we do." Marcia shouted out, "We're best friends."
"Why didn't you tell us before?" Angela said quietly.
"Well it all started a year ago before my family moved." Katy said, "I was at summer camp and I met Amanda. She was a big bully and she read my diary and found out I was diabetic. She told me that she would tell everybody that if I didn't do whatever she told me to do. So, I became her servant for practically half the summer. After a while, I got tired of doing all her chores for her so I told her that I didn't care if she told everybody. So Amanda told everybody, even the people who didn't know me. Suddenly no one wanted to be my friend; apparently, Amanda made it seem worse then it really was. My best friend started ditching me for other people and no one at all talked to me. In fact, they started being mean; tripping me and making fun of me and making my life miserable. And it was all Amanda's fault. My parents knew I was miserable, but they didn't know how to solve the problem. One day my dad got a job offer in California, realizing that this was a good way to make a fresh start, we moved here. And when I saw Amanda that first day I thought I was going to die. She started blackmailing me again and I didn't want the same thing to happen over again so I decided to give in to her. . . . Well that's my story."
Angela respsonsed. "I don't care at all what you said about being diabetic or anything we're your friends and true friends stick with each other no matter what the other person has done and even though they have a disease or something like that a true friend would still love that person. We are your friends and it doesn't matter what Amanda says or what you’re other so-called friends said, we don't care and we'll stick by you. Even if the whole school deserts you we'll still stay by your side and be your friends." Everybody clapped at Angela's speech and they all agreed with her.
The next day Katy told Amanda that she didn't care if she told everybody and told her that she wouldn't do any more of her work. Amanda did publish it in the school newspaper but the reaction to the news was surprising. Instead of rejecting her, students were much nicer and caring then before. As for Amanda, she was rejected because of her reputation of being a bully and snitch. One day, they sat around their lunch table talking and laughing Katy realized that Angela was right; she really did have true friends.
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