Her name was Lily, and we sat together in first grade.
She was a good listener, and my closest elementary school friend. We spent our days playing kickball on the playground, and I used to laugh along with everyone else when Lily tripped over her own feet.
In third grade her parents split up, and I'd like to say that I gossiped about it the least. I can't count the number of times she'd end up at my house, looking for an escape.
In fourth grade I became popular. I forced her to try out for the volleyball team with me, and we both made it.
But I had perfect, pearly-white teeth and Lily was on the fast track to needing braces. I was athletic, and Lily was just sort of there, on the team because she had one good tryout and benched for the rest of the year. An honorary member.
In fifth grade everyone started talking about boys. I had a crush on Daniel Bloomfield and I let everyone know. Lily never talked about guys. I may or may not have started that rumor about her and Jacob Hill, but to this day nobody knows where it began.
In sixth grade we were middle-schoolers. Lily finally had her braces, and everyone made fun of them. Why didn't she change the color of the bands? Didn't she know lime green wasn't her color at all?
She became more withdrawn, and never wanted to do anything with me. I got annoyed, all but ditching her for my popular friends. We gossiped, sometimes about Lily and sometimes about others.
Then one day in May, she came up to me at lunch. One guy at my table rolled his eyes, gave her a disgusted look, and told her we didn't talk to scum like her. I remember how red her face turned, especially when she looked at me.
In October of our seventh-grade year, Lily cornered me in the hallway one day and told me she had a crush on me. I didn't know what to say, and my confusion came across as disgust.
She started wearing black after that. People called her all sorts of things, and she was always being called to the guidance office. Apparently her mom had died that January.
Probably one too many pills.
One day Lily didn't show up to school, and rumor had it that now her dad had legged it to Mexico.
Lily came back, and the rumors were confirmed.
People talked. I talked. We all gossiped. A lot.
Then Lily failed seventh-grade English.
Eighth-grade year, everyone let her know how retarded that was, no one fails English unless they're not fluent.
The old names returned along with some new, and that February, Lily stopped coming to school for good.
They said she drowned.
My name is Callie, and I betrayed my ex-friend in the worst way.
Her name was Lily, and she found an escape the only way she knew how.
