To the Girl From 6th Grade

It was a story. One chapter from the dozen that had been posted online. With a snap, their friendship was gone. Maria never understood why; there was no explanation provided. All her best friends walked away from her one by one without asking for her side of the story.

It was all plain to see in the chapter she wrote, but she just never understood why. It was one word, one word out of so many. And it was just a story. So, why did her best friend looked so hurt? And why did she feel no need to ask for forgiveness?

After all, it was just one word from a fictional story. There was no need to treat her that badly.

Maria was hurt. It was really painful for her to lose her friends and watch them whisper about her when she was just there. She could hear them so clearly, yet they acted like she never existed.

“Maria…” The whisper carried by the gentle wind reached her ears. But she ignored it. She wouldn’t show them that it hurt so badly.

She wondered if it was worth it, destroying their three years of friendship over a story. It was fake, made from the imagination. There was no point in getting hurt over it. If Irene just told her to change it, she would immediately do it. 

Calling her a pig was just part of the story. And just like in the story, the destruction of their friendship came to fruit. 

If Maria could just leap through time, she wouldn’t have posted that chapter. But she can’t. She just deleted the story for her sake. But Irene wanted a sorry even though Maria explained that she didn’t mean it like that.

So, she just has to live through 6th grade without a friend, without any of the teachers knowing. Besides, it was a fortunate event to happen; she preferred to be lonely anyway.

The annoying part about being in a small school was that every single student immediately knew that she was the reason why Irene was hurt. 

“Maria, just say sorry already. This is your fault.” Claire said. She was Irene’s friend, but not Maria’s. 

She glared at the girl. “I’m not going to lie that I’m sorry because I really am not. That was just a story. If she so wanted, I would have changed it.” The snarl was clear in her voice. 

“Stop being stubborn. I already know what happened. Irene was really hurt, you know. You shouldn’t have called her that.” Maria clenched her hands into fists. 

They weren’t listening at all. 

“You don’t even know my side of the story here. All of you just listened to Irene.” She stated each word in a calm voice. But her anger was clear. “Even right now, none of my words are reaching you.” 

Claire glared at her. “Just say your sorry and all this will be over.”

Maria scoffed and walked away from the brunette. “No way. And tell Irene that I’m not saying sorry because I really am not.” She walked down the hall and saw one of her best friends, Lee, leaning against the corner. 

She jumped at the sight of Maria glaring at her and immediately looked away from her gaze. Maria gritted her teeth, but just shook her head and stalked off to the classroom.

“None of you listen to me.” She whispered to herself. She bit her lips from saying it out loud. The hurt was piling up, but she paid no heed to it.

Her daily life went on like this. Irene’s friends would corner her and push her to say her sorry, but Maria never gave in to their demands. Realizing she was never going to say sorry, they stopped bothering her.

However, that didn’t stop from whispers to go around about her stubbornness and her lack of empathy.

“She doesn’t really care…”

“Look at her acting as if she did nothing wrong.” 

“I really thought she was a kind person. Turns out I was wrong.”

Those kinds of whispers reached Maria’s ears and it hurt her. How could they just easily say that when she was just right there? She felt the sting in her eyes and blinked a lot to stop the tears from becoming clear.

She wasn’t going to let them see her break down. After all, she was the bully and Irene was the victim.

“Have you seen the anime, Tokyo Ghoul?”

“Of course, I love the gore!”

“Ugh, I prefer Naruto.” 

Maria immediately flinched at the voices coming from in front of

her. But she didn’t look down- she didn’t want them to see her falter. Their voices immediately disappeared, probably seeing her. She looked at them and walked past them.

“I think we’re going too far with this, Irene…” That whisper made her stop walking. Her eyes widened in disbelief. And for a moment, she felt the burden off of her shoulders.

“Shush, Lee, it’s Maria’s fault. Irene was really hurt, you know.” Maria gritted her teeth and stomped away. 

It all came crashing down. And she was so mad. She wanted to scream, but she couldn’t. 

None of them asked for her side. None of them asked if she was okay. None of them thought that she was also a victim.

And so, her days continued on like that. The loneliness was killing her inside slowly. And acting was just getting harder and harder. They kept saying that she was the one at fault. 

They never knew, they never asked.

She defended herself so many times, but none listened. 

For she was the bully. 

Maybe killing herself was a great idea, after all. 

“Hey, Maria…?” Her thoughts were cut off by the familiar, gentle tone of her ex-best friend, Lee. Her eyes darted to meet the girl’s nervous gaze. She looked away and stayed silent, waiting for her to speak whatever she wanted to say.

Maybe beg like all the others to say her sorry. 

“Can you please tell me what happened?” The question caught her entirely off guard and she felt the twist in her chest.

“What?” Her voice came out as a whisper. Her eyes were wide in disbelief, staring into the gentle brown orbs.

“What happened with you and Irene? Why did you call her a pig?” She asked again. 

Maria felt something flutter in her chest and the sting in her eyes. Ah, this was it. She needed this. She shakily smiled. 

“Irene was asking for three chapters to be posted before the weekend ended. If I didn’t, she said she wouldn’t forgive me. I was in a hurry…and just wrote whatever came to my head. I just wanted to make her happy that I did what was promised. I didn’t know that she would be hurt. She didn’t even try to talk to me at all.” The weight was lifted off her back as she explained to Lee. 

Lee smiled at her. “I knew that you wouldn’t do something that would destroy our friendship.” 

“I even deleted the story for her, you know. I told her that I never meant it to be like that. But she didn’t listen.” Maria wiped off the tear that was about to trickle down her cheek. She then laughed. “I’m just the girl that doesn’t care about her friends…”

Thin, but warm arms were wrapped around her body before she knew it. She felt her heart twist in pain as the sadness finally took over her. 

“You’re not like that, Maria… I knew you weren’t someone like that. Let’s explain to everyone what happened, okay? They’ll understand that you never meant it.” The tears streamed down her cheeks. Hearing those words made the sadness and relief flow out of her in tears.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry for being so stubborn…” Maria cried, hugging Lee back. It was warm, despite her thin build. Feeling her right there just made her cry more.

“I’m sorry too… Next time, I will listen to your story as well. I never wanted our friendship to come to an end.” 

The two girls stayed like that, comforting each other with their gentle breathing and the warmth of their embrace. 

Lee became the friend Maria never knew she needed. And she was glad to call Lee her bestest friend out of all the girls in their circle.