And FYI, I envied Loni and thought she was beautiful! She has long shiny hair and amazing green eyes. I never understood why she was so hard on herself because I didn’t see any of the flaws that she saw. Worst of all, no matter how many times I said her eyes or lips were pretty, nothing made it better. I think it made it worse, and that really sucked. When she started wearing punky clothes and red lipstick, I admired her. She was cool in a different way than the girls who lived near us. I loved seeing her so confident.
One night, after eating a gallon of cookie dough and watching Mean Girls (twice!), we confessed we’d been jealous of each other all along. She’d hinted at it for a while, but hearing her say it and actually discussing our feelings was a huge relief. And now when we start to wish we had each other’s assets, we talk about it and laugh it off. I may never have her perfect red lips, and she may never have my beach confidence, but we will always have each other.
