Radley

Prologue

When Amanda was in preschool something unusual happened: she got a friend. Actually it happend because of a school assignment in which students had to write with a pen pal for a month. Quite accidentally, Amanda pulled the Emily's name. Well, it wasn't very accidentally  because both their last names start with a C. Amanda did not had friends in her class or at her school. She was the girl who sat on a pavement in breaks so she could watch the other children, she also never got invited to a birthday party. The girl with the long, brown hair that was always in a braid, a bit chubby, with a bracket and glasses with glass like jam jars. Emily couldn't see all of that. She did not know how Amanda looked like but she only read her letters, and Amanda read hers. To Amanda's surprise, she found her very nice and kind and the month went over in a year and more to come. At the end of preschool she was done with her class. Even the bullies stopped bullying her because she was too boring. There was nothing interesting to gossip. Sometimes she was just a turtle, an animal with a shield walking slow laps and eating. Because she did that a lot, eating. The only friend she had lived at the other side of the world. Making contact was quite difficult because the letters received often over a week later. Fortunately, they were allowed to borrow the phones from their parents. They talked in early mornings and late evenings, but never too long because of the time difference of seven hours. Amanda lived in London and Emily in Los Angeles. Then she finally got to go to high school. After a few days she had one friend named Loïs. At school they were good friends but they never saw each other outside school. She didn't trusted her with secrets ether, unlike Emily who knows everything about her. Amanda got her first phone as a gift from her morther. It was a Samsung with WhatsApp and a selfie camera. Emily already had a phone. The contact was closer when they could send each other pictures. She still remembers the day she sent a  sent from a simple drawing from two almost the same girls.  One was a bit chubby, with a long braid, a bracket and a pair of glasses, this was obviously Amanda. The other was thinner, she had no glasses and straight teeth and her hair had a wavy shoulder length. The image satisfying so she promised Emily to work on it. And she did. She made an appointment at the hairdresser and the optician. Emily was right that her hair would curl if it was shorter, it used to be too heavy for curls. Half a year later she lost weight till she looked like an hourglass figure with a belly and small fat rolls on the side, this was a big difference from what they first was. She wasn't incredibly skinny but she was happy about it. Amanda had taken lenses and she was done with her bracket. She also learned about makeup. Normally she wears a simple eyeliner and mascara but she can also handle foundation and eye shadow. Suddenly she got so many more friends, and she got her first boyfriend. This was all because of Emily. She supported her and helped her through. Emily was still her best friend and they still talked to each other daily.
'I'm proud of you, Amanda,' she said on the phone.

When Emily started writing to Amanda she didn't know that it would become such a good friendship. Right away she found her nice, funny and pathetic. She had already been through a lot and was most of the time alone. Emily felt sorry for her because she did not had any friend. In the beginning, Emily wrote Amanda only because she felt sorry for her but later she could really find herself in the subjects. She trusted her too and they are became such strong friends. There is Emily forever grateful for. Their personalities are very similar to each other but they look nothing like each other. Emily has blonde, straight hair and a much lighter skin. She used to have a bracket, but she never had glasses. Her lips are thin in contrast to   Amanda's. Emily had a lot of friends at her at school in Los Angeles. She also loved photography. No idea why actually. On vacation or to a concert she always took her camera along, she made so many photos and was always  looking for the best shot. Her parents always said that she had talent and that is why she got professional camera for her thirteenth birthday.  Emily started to keep doing more and with photographing in nature and especially the animals in nature. She asked for Amanda's opinion all the time. If a photo was not so good, she told her that. Emily thought that was fine because she wanted a little criticism, even if it is negative because she could only get better from there. Amanda urged her to take part in a contest by a famous photographer. Emily never had done that without her. The photographer found her picture so special that she won and he took her to a real photo shoot. With models and clothes and make up. He let her even take a few pictures. Amanda supported her in everything she did and she was also completely honest with everything, positive or negative. After Emily won the contest, Amanda said: 'you deserve it, Emily.'

I hope you liked it. This was only an introduction by the way but there is much more to come. Well, as you can probably read, English is not my first language but I'm working on it. I've got to translate everything from my own language so it may take a little longer, but not much longer, I promise. You can comment something if you like, tips or tops or if you see a major mistake in my Englis just tell me.