My Best Friend Jenna

“Wrap it up! Dinner’s on the table!” Aggravated, I closed my laptop and headed downstairs. I couldn’t wait to get out of this town. Every week’s the same in this place, you know? I mean, yeah, quarantine kind switched things up. We didn’t get the “normal experience” you’re supposed to get at seventeen. No prom, no graduation, no senior week, but who really cares anyway? I outgrew this place a long time ago. I wouldn’t have gone to prom anyway.

Nobody here sees the bigger picture. There’s a whole world out there! Why my parents left New York City – the Big Apple, the City of DREAMS – and took me HERE, I’ll never understand. I would have fit in with the city crowd. That place is real. Not this everyone-wants-to-be-perfect town in the middle of nowhere. Nope, this place is exactly what you’d expect – boring, fake, and small minded. It wasn’t built for people like me.

Mom had cooked my favorite – veggie black bean burgers – for once. It’s always meat in this house. Chicken tenders, bacon burgers, steak tips, I’ve been cooking my own meals since I was twelve. The day I became a vegetarian was the first time I realized I didn’t fit in here. You don’t eat animals!  Nobody gets it. Nobody gets me.

My mom tries, she really does. She tries to talk about things and tries to relate, but she just can’t. She’s another one of those picture perfect mothers, who had her time away from this small town and for some unknown reason decided to come back. That’s another reason I can’t wait to get out of here. I can’t even fit in with my own family. But I don’t care. I’m getting out of this place next week.

Buzz buzz buzz buzz My cellphone vibrated across the table. Mom’s death stare stopped my hand mid air. No cellphones at the table. I could hear her voice in my head without the words leaving her lips.

“I need to check this mom, it’s important.”

“And what could be more important than my daughter’s last Sunday dinner before college, may I ask?” she sneered back.

“It’s probably Jenna, mom. We barely talked today.”

“Ah, Jenna” she said rolling her eyes. “I can’t wait until you make some real friends.”

Jenna is going to be my roommate at college, well hopefully. We’ve been friends online for a few months now, but she’s probably my best friend. My friends from school don’t get me.

My mom doesn’t like Jenna because she thinks meeting friends online is strange. She doesn’t get that the world is different now. Jenna knows how I feel. She comes from a few towns over and we completely relate.

Jenna and I have never actually met; she is always so busy. Her parents make her help out with the family business and she always has papers and homework to do. But we have the same style (I can tell from her Instagram), we are both vegetarians, and we have EXACTLY the same humor.

My mom doesn’t know that she’s going to the same college as me. I didn’t want her to know because she’s too concerned about me making “new friends” and “branching out”. But once Jenna found out I was going to be leaving the state it inspired her to leave too. I like being that person for Jenna, the person that pushes her to a greater potential.

Like I said, Jenna and I plan to be roommates. I requested her as my roommate, but the school didn’t match us. I don’t know why. Jenna said it’s probably because they wanted us to meet new people and that we can swap once we're settled in. We’re planning to meet up before we leave town so that we can officially meet before move in. Mom doesn’t know that yet either.

I finished my dinner, grabbed my phone and headed upstairs to my room.

“Thanks Mom!” I yelled down the stairs. I immediately unlocked my phone.

“EMILY” The message read. “MAJOR BOY DRAMA. NEED TO TALK.” My heart raced. I liked that Jenna trusted me for advice.

“Want to call?” I asked. Jenna didn’t really like talking on the phone because all her siblings were always running around. We usually just texted or chatted instead.

“Let’s meet up instead. It's too loud here. This is MAJOR.”

I clutched my phone. My stomach dropped – a good drop. Why am I nervous, this is my best friend?  I thought.

“Where do you want to meet?”

I suggested the ice cream place down the road, but Jenna knew the best ice cream in her town that was just a ways out. I guess it couldn’t hurt to try it out. She told me she was sneaking out and suggested I do the same. Sneaking out? I have a better plan. I hurried downstairs to my mom.

“Mom, I REALLY want to catch up with Riley before I go. He just asked to meet for ice cream. Can I please go? I haven't seen him in ages” I begged. Riley is my long time family friend. He doesn’t get me either, but my mom absolutely adores him. He’s the ideal son – perfect grades, perfect smile, star athlete, everything you’d expect. We haven’t hung out in years, but my mom still holds on to the hope that one day we’ll end up together. Not going to happen.

“Really honey?” She looked as though she just received the best news in the entire world. “I’m so glad you two will be staying in touch.” That was easy. I thought.

In the car my hands were sweating. What if she doesn’t like me in person? What if we’re better being online friends? What if she thinks I look better in my Instagram? What if…BEEEP The man in the car behind me flailed his hands out the window. “It’s a GREEN LIGHT – GO!” He screamed. I hit the gas and headed on.

I went down a few narrow roads and the night was fading darker, but I finally got to my destination – a tiny little spot on the side of the freeway. There were a few cars in the lot but not many people outside. I figured everyone must be inside to avoid this heat.

I opened my door, slightly reluctantly, but beaming with excitement to check out the menu and search for Jenna. As I swung the door open, looking for Jenna’s blonde curly hair, the only person I saw was a middle aged woman, in raggedy clothes.

I snuck past her and tried not to make eye contact as I chose a seat. “Here!” I texted Jenna. No response. I’ll give it a few minutes. I thought, impatiently tapping my nails on the wooden table.

Moments later, the middle aged woman started walking towards me. I avoided looking up, hoping she would walk right past. I forced a small smiled as she approached my table.

“I’m waiting for a friend.” I piped up. She smirked, bearing her rotten teeth under her malicious smile. My stomach dropped - not in a good way this time.

“Hi Emily.” She sneered. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”