I hate her. I hate her popularity, I hate the way she steals my crush and acts like nothing happened. I hate that she's been getting all the boys since kindergarten. I hate that her smile can hide a thousand tears. But here's one thing: I miss being her best friend.
I have always hated her.
Well, not always. That won't be fair if I put it that way. But a part of me had always been jealous of her.
Laurel was amazing, in every way. She may not have been the prettiest girl on earth, but she was definitely the one with the most likable personality. Funny, nice, bubbly, and friendly. Always morally-correct. She had it all, from friends she could hang out with to boys who were hopelessly in love with her. And to top it off, she had perfect grades, although she never made out her way to work hard.
She was so popular that some boys in class would whistle at her and throw wet tissues at her. I don't know what their problem is, though. Probably just wanted her to notice them. Most girls (namely me) would have cried and gone to the teacher for help, but not her. She just picked up the tissue with intense calmness and threw it back.
And that proves another point%u2014she's unique, way different from the rest. If there was a test about creativity, she would not only get straight As but win the Emmy. Literally. She wrote an infinite amount of poems that rhymed and stories that were vastly entertaining and original. If she acted in a play (which she would never do), she wouldn't need a script because she could make her own lines.
And who knows, if she put her heart into it, she could totally become a legitimate actress because of her art with words. She never stumbled on words, stuttered, stammered, or even uttered one "um". It seemed almost legendary to me, but to her, it was as easy as a piece of cake.
Another thing that made her stand out was the fact that she never swore or made a negative comment about anybody. She was positive and cheery and always hoped for the best. While everyone else was discussing the latest hot celebrity, she picked up a book and read silently in the corner, completely unbothered by outer noise. It was impossible to me, how one could resist such temptation. But she made it impossible possible with just a click of her fingers.
And that shows how perfect she is%u2014almost inhuman, in a way, how she never cared about what others thought of her. Some people said mean things about her behind her back%u2014how she pretended a goody-goody but secretly dated all the boys in our grade. Boys were attracted to her (whether she liked it or not) and girls were secretly jealous.
Let me just cut in and retaliate that she never, ever tried to flirt with any boys. She was born being a magnet. Because of her personality, boys found themselves falling in love with her. Hard. She didn't even have to lift a finger to have all the boys under her grasp.
One boy, though, was especially drawn to her. He wrote poems about her on his Instagram account. He walked behind her after school like a creep. He gave her lovely little gifts like flowers and chocolate. He would wander past our classroom only to catch a glimpse of her through the window. And since I sat the first row near the window, I got to witness the scandalous event. Never would I have been so infuriated by this behavior if I didn't have a crush on him in the first place.
Yes. I had a crush on the popular girl's admirer. This might sound like a cliche story to you, but it won't be once you realize that girl was my former best friend.
Let me tell you how popular she was. She was so popular and likable that I had fallen under her charm at first. Since we shared a common interest in reading, we bonded over our favorite characters. She was so fantastic as a person that we became inseparable. People began to see us as best friends. And for once, I felt special, as if I, like her, was different from the rest.
But sometimes, at very dark times of my life, jealousy would creep up into my heart. Times when she aces a test and I flunk it. Times when people like her and dislike me. Times when my crush has a crush on her.
And that's exactly what I'll be talking about.
