Bruised

Isabelle and I have been best friends since, well, forever! We have so much in common. We're both in girl scouts, have a sweet tooth, love animals, have a little brother, and so on. Like I said. We have lots of things in common.

"Andrea! Isabelle's mom texted me and asked if you'd like to go to their house."

"Of course! Tell her I'll be right over!"

I run upstairs, grab my fanny pack, slip my socks on, and then run downstairs to go over to Isabelle's house.

"Hey, Issy!"

"Andrea! It's so good to see you!"

"I missed you yesterday at church! Where were you? I didn't see you."

"Finn had a soccer game, and I had to go. My dad's in Denmark this week, so we only have one parent and one car. It's a hard week for my mom, having to take care of 3 kids."

"Yeah. That SOUNDS hard."

"Yeah. She's always getting mad at June for having so many accidents in her diaper, mad at Finn for not cleaning up his toys, and mad at me for not keeping an eye on Finn and June. She asks a lot out of us."

"I bet she does. That's nice that you guys try to help her, though."

"Do YOU have to do chores at home?"

"Nope. My mom hires cleaners to come and clean the house for us. Mom has a lot of work to do, so she can't do much. I'm usually left to make my own food, do my own laundry, get myself places, and all that sort of stuff."

"Wow. You know how to do your own laundry?"

"Yup. Mom taught me when I was 7 years old."

"So, you've known how to do laundry for 6 or 7 years?"

"Yeah, I guess. It's really not that long though. My Mom learned when she was 5!"

"That's crazy! Your grandparents must be tough!"

"Yes, they are. They're very tough."

"MY grandparents aren't tough at all. Well, my dad's parents are a BIT tough on me, but that's 'cause they know I can handle it. I love them so much..."

"Cool. Anyway, what do you wanna do?"

"I was thinking that we could build a fort and watch a movie."

"How about we go over to my house? I have the movie theater."

"Would your mom mind?"

"No. She'd be fine with it. She'll just be working. And anyway, her office is on the 1st floor. The movie theater is on the 4th floor. She wouldn't be able to hear us if we made a racket."

"Alrighty then! Let me tell my mom that we're going over to your house. MOM!"

"What?!"

"I'm going over to Andrea's house, ok?"

"Ok. Bye."

"Bye. Come on, let's go!"

"MOM!"

"Yes, Andrea sweetie?"

"We're gonna hang here a bit and watch a movie in the theater, ok?"

"Ok! No problem!"

"Let's go!"

We run upstairs to the movie theater.

"1st row, 2nd row, or 3rd row?"

"I don't know. You choose!"

"I'll say... 1st row! We can put the snacks on it and make the fort on the ground in front of the screen!"

"Great idea! I'll go get the bean bags from your room!"

"Ok! Smart! I'll go grab the snacks from downstairs. Meet you back up here?"

"Sure! 3, 2, 1, GO!"

I run downstairs and head into the pantry. I grab a box of sour patch kids, a box of Whoppers, a bag of Cape Cod chips, and two sodas, one for me, and one for Issy.

I then race back to the movie theater, to see that I beat Issy.

"Um, Andrea?!"

"Coming!" I run upstairs, praying that Issy didn't break any of my Lego sets. "What is it?"

"I don't see them!"

"Oh right! They're in the playroom!"

"Which playroom?"

"The one in the basement. Remember? We brought them down there on our last sleepover!"

"Oh yeah! I remember that!"

"Yup. Come on! Just, be quiet! I think my Mom is on a call."

"Ok."

Once the fort is made, we sit back and enjoy the movie. We picked Wonderpark. It's one of our all-time favorites.

"Andrea, wake up. You have school!"

"Coming Mom!" I jump out of bed, quickly change into my outfit, and then run downstairs for breakfast.

"Come have your pancake. It's getting cold."

"Sorry!" I shovel down the pancake and then run out of the door to catch the bus.

On the bus, I sit next to Issy. "Over here, Andrea! Sit here!"

"Haha! Ok, ok! I'm coming!" I plop my bag down at my feet and look at Issy. She's smiling at me.

"So, how was your morning?"

"Good. Lila texted me."

"Ooh! What did she say?!"

"She said hi with a kissy emoji!" Ok, so I'm lesbian. Lila is my girlfriend. I know, I'm only in 7th grade...

"That's awesome! You guys go great together! You really do!"

"How about you and Allison? How's that relationship going? Do you have her number?"

"Yeah, I've got her number, but we don't text much. We're not really close yet, and we haven't really announced that we're dating yet."

"That's ok. You guys will get there. Soon, hopefully. Allison DOES seem like a shy person, though."

"That's true."

"Come on. We're here."

Once in homeroom, Issy takes her usual seat next to me. We chat about the movie last night until Ms. R comes in holding her attendance sheet.

"Ok, class, settle down. Role call! Fiona?" "Here!" "Jake?" "Here!" She continues the role call.

Once that's done, Issy and I chat until the next class.

The day goes by fast, and then before I know it, it's recess!

"Come on, Andrea! It's recess!"

"Recess already!? Great!"

We run outside and sit on our usual rock. We talk about life. How life is going, stuff like that.

"Hey, Andrea and Issy."

"What do you want, Liana?"

"I want you guys to move. WE wanna sit on this rock. So, move it."

"No, thanks. We're gonna stay right here, thank you very much. Those rocks look nice over there. Huh, they look exactly like you, Liana."

"Hmph..." She stomps away and beckons her gang to follow her.

"Wow! Nice going, Issy!"

"Heh. Just saving our butts, like always."

"Haha! That's true..."

"So, how's your mom doing? Still the same? Doesn't take care of you?"

"What did you just say?!"

"That, your mom doesn't really CARE for you?"

"TAKE THAT BACK!"

"No! It's true!"

"NO, IT'S NOT! JUST- SHUT UP!" And then it happens. I punch her. RIGHT IN THE STOMACH. Oh no... What have I done...

She punches me back. In my right eye...

I kick her ankle so she falls to the ground. She swipes at my stomach and misses, unable to get off the ground.

"HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT ABOUT MY MOM!" I'm crying now. How could she say that?! That's a HORRIBLE thing to say!

She pulls herself up, gets stable on her feet, and punches me in the mouth. Right. In. The. Mouth.

I SCREAM and fall to the ground, clutching my mouth. I look down at the ground and see my front tooth, an adult tooth, fall to the ground. I scream again, tears POURING down my face like waterworks. I keep screaming. Louder and louder, hoping a teacher would run over and help me. I was in SO MUCH PAIN! My wish comes true!

"Andrea! What-"

"It was, Isabelle, Ms. K. I saw her punch Andrea in the mouth! I saw it!"

"Isabelle-Andrea, come with me. Let's get you to the nurse's office. While Ms. K picks me up in her arms and carries me into the nurse's office, I grab my tooth off of the ground and keep on crying.

"Come on. Let's get you in the car." My mom drove to the school as soon as she heard. "I gotta call your dentist, and tell her that we're coming." She helps me into the car and buckles me in.

I just cry and cry the whole way there.

"We'll do some stuff for her. It seems like this tooth here went up into her gums. The other one fell out, but this one went up. We're gonna have to do a lot of surgeries to pull that tooth down. It's gonna take a few years. I'm so sorry, Andrea."

I cry and cry, and cry even more, unable to form words. I didn't know if I'd ever be able to heal completely, but I did know something:

I will never, EVER be friends with Isabelle, again...