Sandra and her....pet

I have this best friend. Her name is Sandra Hankins. She is weird to say the least but I think she's the coolest person I know. We've been friends for about our whole high school life and she has this pet. Let's start at the beginning.

Sandra and I met in Mr. Laurence's science class freshmen year of high school. We were lab partners and I had just transferred from a few towns over. I didn't talk to anyone because I was shy and new to this school. Sandra is kind of popular. She sat with the cheerleaders and talked to the football players but she didn't play any sports. She is just that kind of person to talk to literally anyone. Even me.

One day, I noticed that she wasn't sitting with the normal people she usually sits with. She was sitting with the Chemistry club and they were laughing, making science jokes and they seemed like they were having a blast. I just sat there watching them. I felt kind of stupid but I wanted friends like that. I guess I was staring too long and Sandra looked over at me. I didn't know what to do and I just started to look down and pretend to eat my school lunch. She hollered just loud enough for me to hear but not so loud that people would notice. I used my peripheral vision to look at her and she was getting up coming my way. I started panicking, thinking what do I do? Do I get up and move? Before I could think about my next move, Sandra sat down beside me and I just froze. She told her name and she told me to come sit with her and the Chemistry club. I looked at her and nodded my head. I followed her to the table where I felt I like I belonged there. They were so friendly that day and I couldn't believe I had such a good friend.

Ever since then we had become inseparable. We went everywhere together. The malls, museums, you name it. We went to a pet store at the mall we always go to. We love animals so much and her oldest dog had to get put down so her mom told her she could have another animal as long as it wasn't any kind of reptile. We walked in and we started looking around. We looked at everything. Puppies, cats, ferrets, and birds. She couldn't find any animals that she wanted. She said she wanted something she hadn't had before. I asked her what she was looking for and she said she didn't know. We left the pet store and went back to my house. My mom was making chicken parmesan and that was Sandra's favorite. She was looking up different animals that would be good house pets. But she couldn't find anything. She almost gave up hope.

The next morning we went to school and it was a regular day until it happened. We were in PE; it was close to leaving time and we were with some of the gymnastics team talking about the crazy test we had in civics. We were all waiting for our rides. Sandra told everyone to be quiet because she heard a noise coming from one of the bushes beside the car riders line. There were a lot of cars and I told her that it might have been just a noise from a car or something like that. She told us no, that it was a noise of an animal. Low and behold, it was a chipmunk.

This tiny little creature had just been born or had been born only a few minutes before Sandra found them. Sandra ran to her bookbag and grabbed her scarf and put them in it. She was panicking because she didn't want to hurt it but she knew she needed to take it to safety. We went home and I booked it to her house to see what her parents said. They said she could get a pet right?

Running as fast as I can, I get to her house and I hear her dad saying that he didn't know if she should keep the chipmunk. She begged and pleated. She told her parents that she would learn as much as she can to be able to take care of it and she would go to the vet and pay with her own money, a check up for them. Her parents looked at me and I told them she's telling the truth. Ever since her dog died, she needed something to take care of. She would love this animal with everything she had. Sandra started to tear up from how much she wanted this animal. Her parents finally said ok and she got to keep them.

Taking to the vet was such an easy job. Other than paying for it. They said it was a girl and so Sandra said she was going to name her Annie. We stayed up until dawn most nights taking care of this little creature. Sandra was actually doing great at being basically a mom and a normal high school student. We never missed a step of school. We took turns taking care of her. My house a few nights and mostly at Sandra's house. She was pretty rambunctious but we loved it. I have never seen someone have such a love for an animal. She loves that girl with all her heart. Annie grew up to be a healthy little chipmunk and she still has her to this day. We have grown older and kind separated. She runs her own vet care clinic and I am doing my own thing. Finding Annie was the best thing we could have every done as kids. We still talk and have lunches together. I will see Annie and it's like I never left. She jumps on my shirt and snuggles in. I'm so glad I got to be a part of that.