This is a regular column featuring original poetry and fiction by and for teens, provided by Figment.com, an online community writing site for young people.
By Laura SmithMy clothes are color coordinated in my closet, thanks to my mom’s organizational influence. By being an encouraging role model, my swim coach taught me to never leave a task without giving it everything I have and that quitting is not a real word. But, their influence on me was still not as great as was my best friend Jordan; she left a footprint on my heart. I needed somebody who would stand by me through every up and down. Jordan, the best friend I ever had, did just that.
“Do you want a goldfish?" was all it took, and my third grade self already considered her a friend. It was destiny; some greater power had to have control over this situation because the friendship ahead of us, for the next seven years, was indescribable. Not long after we met, I was walking home and staying with her after school every day until my parents got home. Time flew by and you never saw us away from each other. Before we knew it we were completing each other’s sentences.
At that age, with any other girl you could not have a five minute conversation without them bringing up the most recent drama. Nope, not with Jordan; we could talk about our hopes, dreams, and fears all night without feeling judged. We clicked, and at that critical point in my life that is exactly what I needed, someone to relate to. She knew what every smile, laugh and cry really meant because she was me. Everything I was not, she was, and everything she was not, I was. I cannot say that about anybody else. It was not all rainbows and butterflies though; we had our disagreements. We would bicker and pull the silent treatment every now and then, but it never lasted longer than fifteen minutes. But even then, the fights were far and few between.
Then came our junior year, it may be surprising, since we had been inseparable for years, but we drifted apart. The separation was sad, but it was also reality. We smile at each other in the hall and have sleepovers every now and then, but it just is not the same, and we both know it. I thought Jordan and I would be friends forever, and maybe we will be. In a fairy tale ending, our friendship would reconnect to how magical it was in the third grade, but in reality what we had could never be duplicated. I mean lightening doesn’t strike twice in the same place, right?
Wherever we go in life, I will forever remember her because she worked her soul into my heart. I will never forget our hours of laughter, days of crying over boys, and all our crazy memories on vacations; for those are the times that influenced me so deeply. I was a caterpillar when I first met her. She helped me through my metamorphosis and is the only reason why I fly as a butterfly today.