Charlie- Brown

“C’mon, do you want to be late?” Charlie nagged me. He tugged my arm as I rolled my eyes.  I ran down the hallway laughing at the teachers who tried to stop us. We were the kings of East-Side Middle School and nobody was ever going to change that.

            “First… period starts… in 5… minutes,” I croaked stopping in between words to catch my breath. Charlie nodded as he cackled on about all the teachers giving us dirty looks as we ran past them. He unlocked his locker as the light hit his freckles, leaving them sparkling on his nose.

            Charlie and I have been friends for as long as I can remember. Sometimes he can get a little aggravating but he's always there for me, and always makes me laugh when I’m down. Our friendship is as close and, connected as a marker and its cap. Even our friends call us Charlie Brown because we are always so close, and even today, I can’t imagine not having him as my best friend.

I opened the door to English balancing my books on my hand making sure that they didn’t fall. “Before you enter, please hand in your homework,” Ms. Gold hissed, putting her glasses on the tip of her nose so she could glare at Charlie, even though I don’t think she could see him that well. After all, she is the oldest and strictest teacher in the school.

            Charlie put his chin high into the air feeling proud of himself just like he always does. “Well Ms. Old I don’t think it’s very fair that the homework is due now. I mean you barely gave us anytime to do it. Right, Brown?” he said giving her his best innocent look then turning to me for reinforcement.

“Right,” I went along plastering a fake smile on my face.

            “I gave it to yesterday,” she growled growing angry with us. She slammed her books against her desk as she threw her glasses off her head. “That’s enough time,” she finished.

            Charlie looked towards me raising one eyebrow. “Last night suuuuch a long time ago,” he sarcastically exclaimed to me, throwing his hands across his chest. A couple of giggles came from the back of the room, most likely because they were enjoying the scene that Charlie was making.

“Ms. Old should have-“ I started, trying to help Charlie.

            “That’s enough,” Ms. Gold interrupted, her cheeks red with anger. She smacked a ruler against the chalkboard. “ Detention for both of you,” she sneered. I rolled my eyes once again, as I slouched in my chair wishing Charlie would stop dragging me into problems.

I sat in detention the next day, my nostrils flared out and my cheeks were tomato red from anger as I stared at the back of Charlie’s big head. I tapped my foot and made a mental note of all the things I would say to Charlie as soon as we got out of this prison: will you please shut up sometimes or, next time you do something stupid like this I won’t stand by you. Of course, I would never say any of these things because Charlie is the leader of our friendship. What he says I do. I was the follower of the partnership. And truthfully it just worked that way.

I looked up as I saw Charlie’s hurt eyes burning into me.  A crackling noise filled my ears and Charlie passed me his homework. I snatched it out of his hands disgusted that after everything he's done he has the nerve to try to make me do his homework. I turned it over only to find a big “SORRY “ spread across the page in black Sharpie. “ I know you’re mad at me, and don’t worry I wasn’t going to actually complete the homework anyway,” he whispered softly.

“No talking,” the teacher declared as Charlie slowly slid farther into he's chair. I erased my previous mental list and made a new one titled “Why Charlie is the Best Friend Ever”. Even though Charlie gets in trouble a lot, sometimes bringing me down with him, the best part about that is he’ll get in trouble just for me. I looked up, and smiled knowing that this Charlie-Brown friendship was going to last forever.