To Call My Own

Chapter Three

"How could you do this to me?" I questioned, trying to contain the anger filling my viens.

Ever since I saw Piper with Jada at lunch, my mind has been on nothing else. All I could see was the two of them acting like nothing happened. Like four years ago never happened. Only it did. And it burnt.

"Calm down! I didn't do anything wrong." Piper defended, her voice too smooth for the situation at hand.

"But she did!" I cried back. "Don't you remember everything she did to me in grade eight?" I questioned, forcing down the desperation in my voice.

"Yes I do. But it doesn't mean she's not my friend anymore. Just because you wrote her off doesn't mean I did." She said, her tone remaining even as she spoke.

It felt like a knife stabbed me as she said that. She was supposed to be my best friend. How could she just forget everything that girl put me through? And then confidently call her a friend.

"I thought you were my best friend." I whispered, a tear dripping down my face and onto my flannel.

"I am. You clearly need some time to think. I'll call you tomorrow." She replied and then hung up. And my heart sank.

I just sat there. But oddly, something in me felt relieved. Don't get me wrong, her words and actions stung, but some comfort came from it. If she wasn't going to be a real friend, it was better to know now than latter.

Just then, I felt my phone buzz from beside me. Half of me thought it would be Piper texting to apologize and half of me thought it would be my mom asking me to run to the store. I was wrong on both.

To my surprise, the text was none other than West. Theatre West, to clarify. The number came up as unknown but he thankfully included his name.

Hey this is West from the theatre. Some friends and I are going bowling tonight if you want to join.

I read the message with a smile on my face. While I hadn't totally written Piper off, it was nice to have a distraction. When one door closes, another opens. And I could see that in action here. I shot my mom a quick text to verify that it was alright to go out. Once I had her approval I told West to count me in. I was ready to open a new chapter where Piper wasn't there to control me.

As I stood in front of the mirror, I began to criticize myself. This was an an ugly flannel and my brown hair did always fall plain and straight on my shoulders. I had a round face and my teeth weren't perfectly straight.

But my mind went back to something my mom told me about four years ago. When you stand there talking about how ugly or plain you are, find just as many beautiful things about yourself as negative things. My big green eyes were always something I liked about myself, that was one. I had naturally full lips and the light dusting of freckles made me look young. There, I did it. There were three things I liked about myself.

That simple exercise gave my a punch of confidence. For the first time in a while, I looked in the mirror and smiled. I wasn't happy with who I saw, but I was getting there.

Before leaving, I decided it may be a good idea to try to tackle some of the gigantic pile of home work assigned over the weekend. Math, more math a little English, World History and French. I sighed but rather than put it off like last weekend, I decided to jump right in.

Two hours slowly ticked by. And I found myself actually looking forward to going out tonight unlike last weekend with Will. I had a much better feeling about tonight. Everything was relaxed and low key, it was only going to hang put with some friends. Nothing more, there was no pressure to impress someone.