I looked around the gym for a partner. My Phys Ed teacher had just told us to find someone to run the 200m sprint with because they were timing us and they only had two stopwatches. I watched all the best friends partner up immediately. Unlike them, I had no friends. As I longed for my own best friend, a girl in my class Amanda came towards me.
“Hey, Laura!” she called, “Let’s be partners!”
“Yeah, sure…” I somewhat agreed.
See, Amanda kind of intimidates me. People say that she’s amazing at every single sport she plays and when I run with her I’m going to look super slow. I've also heard that she’s really mean and rude. I can agree with that because sometimes I swear she’s giving me dirty looks. I absolutely didn't want to be partners with her, but I didn't want to get on her bad side.
Once we were outside on the track waiting for our turn, Amanda actually started talking to me. This was a surprise because I thought she just wanted to be partners because there was no one else to be partners with not because she wanted to.
“So Laura, do you like track?” she asked.
“I think its okay, I guess. Um… but I-I only really like the sprints, like um like the 100 a-and the 200 meter, but I don’t think I-I’m really that good,” I stuttered.
“Are you kidding me?!” she exclaimed, “You were awesome during the 100m. How fast were you again?”
“15.08 seconds” I replied.
“That’s 2 mille seconds faster than Mike and Mike is fast,” she pointed out, “You were really good.”
For a second I thought she was going to add some nasty remark about how I run or something, but I then realized that she was being genuinely nice. I smiled and said thanks.
Since we were next in line it was our turn to run. We got down in the starting position and waited for the signal. Our P.E. teacher blew the whistle and we were off. I honestly thought that I was going to lose bad, but when we were running Amanda wasn't in front of me. She was beside me! We were literally the same speed!
When we finished, the bell rang telling us that the school day was over. Thank goodness this day is over! I thought. As I walked back inside Amanda caught my arm.
“You have a gift in running,” she remarked, “Good job!”
At that point I was so confused that I just blurted out “Why are you being so nice? You’re supposed to be the bully, the mean girl, the intimidator, not nice! Everybody says that you’re mean!”
“Who do you talk to?” she joked, but then got more serious and explained “I’m nice because I want to be your friend. I've seen you alone at recess and lunch and I felt bad. There’s no reason that you should have no friends, so I decided to be the nice one instead of the mean one. Besides don’t listen to what everybody says because it’s not always true. See you tomorrow… friend.” She smiled and walked away.
That day was the best day I had at that school. Everything else that happened before that moment didn't matter anymore. When I walked home from school on that wonderful afternoon, everyone I passed must have thought I was crazy because I walked home with a huge smile on my face thinking I finally made a new friend.