This was taken in 8th grade, Rebecca and I were singing along to Afternoon Delight in our Physical Science class.

This was taken in 8th grade, Rebecca and I were singing along to "Afternoon Delight" in our Physical Science class.

I mentioned a friend named Rebecca in my last post and I feel like I need to write more about her, she is just so amazing. We first met when she transferred to my middle school in seventh grade. We had a couple classes together and she started sitting with my circle of friends at lunch. I thought she was both hilarious and extremely intelligent, two qualities I really admire. I always assumed that because of her cheery demeanor, there was nothing really going on in her life. I wished I could be her, she seemed to have it all, and it seemed to come easily. I now know this is not the case, and never has been, but she kept up a good front back then. We were never very close, she came to a few of my parties and sleepovers, but we didn’t hang out otherwise.

By freshman year we both were pulling away from our group of friends, and I think we both felt like outsiders, at least a little bit. I wasn’t around much, most of mt time was spent at home, sick, but when I was at school we would eat lunch together. Then I left, and we only spoke on Facebook. We made plans to hang out but they never came to fruition. In March of this year, we got together and had a catch up session. A lot had changed in our lives, most of which I can’t really divulge on this blog, but I’ll just tell you that not all of our changes were good. We talked for a couple of hours, then promised to get together again soon.

We didn’t hang out until June, when we went swimming in our above the ground pool. Then, it was my birthday and I invited her to join my family, my friend Lindsay and my ex-boyfriend (whom I’m still friends with) for dinner on my birthday. We started hanging out more. This summer, Lindsay, Rebecca and I started a tradition of staying up all night, until 6 AM came around (the end of curfew), and then we would go to Waffle House. Then, Rebecca and I would take a tiny nap before Rebecca would go to work and I’d fall asleep for the rest of the day. We also ended up going on random adventures.

One night we went to visit a friend. I was sitting in the passenger seat while she drove, rummaging through my purse for something with the light on since it was night. She suddenly started freaking out, we were trying to pass a semi, she was in the no-zone (a term we both love to joke about). “OH MY GOD!” I turned the light out, and attempted to calm her, only to have her exclaim, “LIZZY, TURN THE LIGHT BACK ON! I JUST WANT YOU TO BE COMFORTABLE!”

That statement and the way it was screamed was so ridiculous I burst out laughing, while she tried to explain that if we were to die, she wanted me to be as comfortable as possible, which meant having illumination in the car. I was able to talk her through a mini-panic attack and we were able to pass the stubborn semi.

We stopped at a gas station and had a truck-bed full of rednecks stare and ogle us. Then, as we sat in her car just drinking water and talking for a few minutes, a car pulled around with an older man inside. Our windows were rolled down but we had music on, so when he began to talk, I couldn’t really hear everything he said. It sounded like, “How much?” I asked him what he said, and all I heard was “Garble garble garbledy goo, computer, garble garble grumble, meet me in the back?”

“Uh. Um. Yeah!” I responded. I looked at Rebecca and lowered my voice as he drove to the back of the gas station, “I think we should leave now…” We hang out together at least once a week, which gives me a lot of material to write about.

I’ve learned to really love this girl. She is one of the most genuine, kind-hearted people I’ve ever known and is a strong, tough chick who means a lot more to me than she could know. It’s good to have friends like her, and I’m glad I do.