Becca

Two friends return to school after spending the summer apart and things have changed between them.

She walked in with confidence, a new person. This wasn’t  Rebecca, it was some new girl. Becca. Something had happened over the summer that had changed her. I didn’t know what happened but this wasn’t my best friend anymore. Her hair was red, bright fiery red that was darker at the base but maybe that was just the lighting. Becca wore a dark green tunic that had a woody brown belt around the waist and black jeans.

My Rebecca never would have worn that, she was a tee-shirt and jeans kind of girl. One with a lazy, happy smile, kind eyes, one who was tired because she was always up late working on some big project. Usually homework that she had put off, or a painting. A doodle that had just exploded into an entirely new world that she had to finish so that she could show it to me. That was my best friend.

But that had to be my best friend, that had to be my Rebecca. Not this new uptight monster surrounded by new people that I didn’t know. She had Rebecca’s eyes, those stormy gray, intelligent loving eyes. What’s more she had my necklace on, they day she left for camp I gave her a white cat with the chinese symbol for best on it, I had the partener to it, a black cat with the chinese symbol for friend.

That day stood out so clear to me, there had been something she wanted to tell me but she couldn’t because she had to catch the bus. She promised to tell me when she got back, it was something, she said, that had to be done in person. I had looked forward to seeing her, but I couldn’t see her. This wasn’t Rebecca. It was Becca. I didn’t know how to talk to Becca. Did I approach Becca the same way that I would Rebecca? Surrounded by people she walked past me, we locked eyes for less than a second. She had seen me.

Our homeroom was the same. She didn’t see me there. Becca wasn’t my friend. Rebecca was. I sat silent going through roll call telling myself that she just hadn’t seen me, I was short. That was entirely possible and only I had seen her she hadn’t seen me. Rebecca was still there. Becca wasn’t here, it was all in my head I was just making things up.

“Hey!” A hand landed on my shoulder, “What are you doing stupid? The bell rang?”

Rebecca? I thought looking up with excitement. No it was Becca. “Hey.” I moaned.

“Ha, what were you up all last night?”

I looked at her, those eyes were the same. Could it still be Rebecca? “Nah I’m just not ready for another year of hell via Mrs. Copperstone.”

“Dang you got her again?” She laughed and patted me on the back. “Good luck with that. I’ll attend your funeral.”

I looked at her chest, the cat stood proudly with a grin. “What’s with the new look?”

She twirled and paused to say hi to a few people who made friendly jokes at her. “Do you like it? Jill and I got close at camp. She took me shopping.”

Her gray eyes searched my face as it often did when she was looking for the truth out of me.  “Rebecca,” I smiled, “I must say you’ve never looked more like a high school student than you do right now.”

She punched my arm lightly, “Oh shut up. This looks just as nice as my old stuff.”

“Becca!” Someone called, “Come on she’s just about shut the doors!”

“Oh dang. I’ll catch ya later.” She waved and speed walked into her class.

My heart sank. Becca. Rebecca was still there, I was just talking to her, but there was something different about her. Something uncomforting. I couldn’t put my thumb on it, who was this Becca. Why did everyone but me know her, was I this Becca’s best friend. Or was I to be forgotten like a playground slide, something that was outgrown? I couldn’t focus the entire class all until lunch my mind was on that green tunic, that she would have never even looked at last year. Those black pants, those boots. Since when did she wear boots. Her face wasn’t even the same, it was cleaner yet dirtier because of the foundation worn. Eyelashes longer and blacker, eyes bigger due to the eye liner. Rebecca hated make-up, it made her break out and she thought that she didn’t need to hide her real face. This Becca enjoyed it, her chin held out with a new confidence that Rebecca didn’t have.

I made my way down to the lunch room, sack lunch in hand, school lunches were the poison of childhood. Just looking at the food could burn your eyes, I didn’t want to think about what it would do to your insides, yet somehow students managed to stomach it all year long. I scanned the room, our friends from last year were sitting at a separate table from Becca, it was next to hers. Surrounded by new people, faces I’d probably heard before, names I might have heard. I headed over to her, she was smiling, making people laugh. Rebecca was good at that, apparently so was Becca.

I stood behind Becca for a little while, no one who saw me said anything. I opened my mouth to say something, tell the person next to her to move. I just shut it and walked to my friends from last year. “Hey man!” It was Joey. One of my close friends, not my best friends.

“Hey.” I said with a mouthful of chips. I had determined to be miserable this lunch. Joey wasn’t about to let that happen. Sunny stories of summer and silly dares and antics at the lunch table. I left the room with a sunny disposition, and was glad for breaking my goal. I noticed Becca ahead of me, her hair swishing from the seat. I wanted to scare her, like I used to do last year.

I did that with Rebecca. Rebecca wouldn’t ignore me. This was Becca. Becca wasn’t my best friend even if she wore my necklace. I walked past her, I didn’t look back. I hoped she had seen me, and that she would feel how I felt when she just walked past me.

The day passed me, with me having slightly given up on the day. Preparing myself for tomorrow.  The final bell rang and chatter of teens filled the halls. I found Becca waiting for me where we usually walked home together. “Hey.” I said and didn’t pause I just kept going.

“Alright mr. Speed, you got food or something at your house?”

“No.”

She paused and let me walk in silence for a little while. We got away from the school away from the Becca that was there. Was Becca here walking next to me? I didn’t know. We made the first turn that led to her house. “I drew something for you when I was away at camp. I think I made a new sleep record.” She laughed.

I smiled at her, forgetting my thoughts for a second. “Really how long did you go?”

“Almost a week, but I think I might have caught a few naps somewhere in between.”

“Hm, I think we can count it anyways.” I laughed, “Well where is it? I want to see it.”

“It’s in my room.”

“Jeez way to be a jerk.”

“Just building suspense.”

“Only being a jerk.” I laughed. A leaf had floated down and landed in her hair. I reached up and pulled it out. “There was a leaf.”

She grabbed it, “I shall name him squishy.”

“And he will be my squishy.” We said together.

“Man I missed you at camp, there were some major brain fried people there.”

“Yea I remember you telling me about that scum bag, what was his name? Eric?”

She sighed, “Yea, I had fun at first. Yknow, everything was so new. The lake was cool the campfires were unheard of and terrifying, everyone was nice and tried to be friends with everyone.”

I smiled, “It sounds like a ton of fun. Maybe next year I should do it, I mean at least when all that drama happens we can be the only cool ones there.” I smiled.

She giggled, “Yea.” We were quiet again and turned into her house. “Moms not here.”

“Dang, I missed her so much. I was busy with work most of the summer so I couldn’t visit her much.”

“Really?”

“Yea.” There wasn’t much that she could tell me about summer camp, we had texted the entire time. I knew everything that had happened.

“I started again in camp. I got so confused, scared and sad.” I looked at her. No. Rebecca, Rebecca was stronger than that. I knew something must had happened something world shaking to bring her back to that. I just hugged her for the longest time. “I stopped. I managed to figure it all out.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I slowly grabbed her arm and looked at the marks. I wanted to cry. I couldn’t speak for a second, what could I say.

“I couldn’t.”

“What couldn’t you talk to me about? I will always be here for you.Rebecca, you’ll always be my best friend. No matter what.” I held her tight, determined  not to let her slip away from her. I let her go eventually and looked her in the eyes, she smiled at me. Usually she would be crying but she was grinning so brightly at me, her face so full of joy that I could do nothing but beam a grin right back at her. We sat there grinning fools laughing heading up the stairs to her room.

It was still Rebecca's room, paints everywhere, drawing tools I didn’t know the name of a bed a TV and computer and a window looking out into the woods and highway. There was a tarp over her canvas the way it always was when she wanted to show me something. “Here is my newest painting for you.” She said still smiling as she pulled away the tarp.

I grinned and grabbed her and pulled her close. I kissed her forehead, suddenly what she wanted to tell me at the beginning of summer, camp, summer, her clothes, that first day of school, it was all OK. I was stupid, Rebecca was Rebecca. They could call her anything they wanted. Those beautiful gray eyes would still be her gray eyes, and my necklace would always hang around her neck. I laughed, “You thought you couldn’t tell me this?”

“I didn’t know what you would say.”

I looked at the painting, all of it cross outs blurred to be part of the final project. I kissed her, “I don’t care what anyone says about this. Wrong or right, you’re my best friend and I’ll always be here for you.”

She leaned on my shoulder and we looked at it laughing, “We’re really high schoolers now. Dating, it’s really kind of cliched.”

“Could anyone had done it better?” Our cats touched clinking merrily. Rebecca was my girlfriend and I was hers. She was my best friend and she would always be there for me.

Author's Note

Tear it apart. Only way that I can get better :) Do you think the ending was to obscure? Did you understand what happened. Do you think that the ending was rushed? Or unclear? Did you get the meaning of the story?

Reviews

[Broken Hearted Faux]

^^ I think it's a cute story. Nice write. And the ending was a good surprise. It was perfect. Keep at it ^^

[Imara]

Thank you! ^_^