In the second grade, my best friend's name was Bree. She was so funny and awesome and we alwasy hung out. We'd call each other after school each day and talk for hours. In the fifth grade, however, this all changed. I knew this girl Laurie from soccer camp, and Laurie transferred to my school. Bree and Laurie became instant friends. And then...Bree and I weren't anymore. She always hung out with and called Laurie.

And this would have been bad enough, had she not become a bully.

It first started with ignoring me, or saying snarky things about me behind my back that she thought I didn't hear. It quickly escalated to flat out disrespectful name calling. I cried a lot. Then, one day she actually threw mud at me. And then the pebbles off the school playground. And then she wrote down my deepest darkest secrets I had ever told her and passed them around the school. She even went so far as reporting ME to the counselor for bullying HER. There was nothing I could do. I had no friends now.

And then this new girl Cailey came to our school. She was from New Mexico and she was so awesome. She didn't take crap from people and quickly made friends. I, a now natural loner, was sitting by myself one day at lunch, and she just came and sat down by me and started talking to me like we were old friends. She took me under her wing and we became fast friends.

I am now a high school freshman. Bree is still very much popular despite her kniving tendencies. Laurie moved to New York. They're still friends. Cailey and I don't see each other very much, as we have very different groups of friends now. She came out as a lesbian last year. Pretty much all the school, including Bree, said some very mean things about that. But Cailey didn't care and didn't let it get her down.

I support her, and her girlfriend, or whomever she chooses to be with, and I always will, because she supported me when I really needed someone.


