She looked at me with her light blue eyes. “Marisol….” That was all that came out of her little mouth before I gave her a big hug. She hugged me back tightly, but before she could glue herself to me I pulled back and looked at her again. Her eyes were red and puffy and I had suspected that mine were the same. I opened my mouth and asked the stupidest question, “Do you HAVE to go?” I already knew the answer but the tiny hope I had inside my heart was anxious to hear the ideal answer. Her tiny mouth opened and whispered, “Yes, I have to go Marisol. You know that!” she giggled for a millisecond then looked at me again sadly. Inside the classroom I could hear the morning anthem and then the pledge of allegiance. I slightly peeked inside the classroom and saw every eye on me. I drew back totally paranoid. I said to Lara, “B-but what will happen to our science group? Do you have to go? Who will sit in your seat? What about our social studies project? I don’t want you to go!” I looked again into her puffy-red eyes and her response was a hug. As I stood there in her embrace it felt like a decade. I finally pulled away from her for fear that our teacher would get mad at us for the long relapse. She looked at me sadly and I felt cold tears run like an avalanche down my face. I couldn’t help it, I was just so sad. My eyes wandered away from her tear stained face to the classroom door. Everyone was seated and everyone was trying to look outside the room. I gave Lara one last final hug and said goodbye without a peep. The next thing I knew I was taking the Stanford test through my tears and then I was off to lunch.

During lunch I felt sort of awkward without my little friend by my side. Something inside me felt lonely and I instantly regretted retreating from Lara’s hug. I should’ve held on until the world ended. I looked at the crowded lunch room. People were running around like scurrying mice. I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like if I was the one who had gone instead of Lara. My thoughts quickly came to a close as the snack line move up and before I knew it I was sitting down at our table eating my green slushy and pizza. My so called friend, Claudia, looked at me and said with her mouth full, “Don’t worry Lara might come back! You can still visit her at her new house! There’s no need to miss her!” I felt like slapping her. How could she say that? Lara wasn’t here at our school! I would miss her even if she wasn’t by my side! Claudia didn’t understand, then again no one did. I felt alone and lost as I headed towards my science room during lunch. We always hung out there, always, always with…Lara. Since she wasn’t here anymore I entered the room unsure where to go. I looked to my left then right trying to decide where Lara would sit if she was here. Before I could guess where to go something small but large hit me from behind. I turned around to see André, Lara’s boyfriend, smiling very widely at me with his accomplice Donovan right by his side. Donovan was my pretend brother at school so he always came to say hi, Andre on the other hand almost never talked to me unless Lara was with me. Suspicion over came me as Donovan and André started talking a mile a minute. I held my hand up to stop them and asked, “What do you want?” They stared at me and André said, “We just came to say hi!” He waved real big and Donovan had to stop him from flying away. Donovan said, “Its ok, Marisol, Its ok!” He apparently didn’t understand because it wasn’t ok! He came over to hug me and I stood there frozen. This was the first time Donovan had hugged me. I felt surprised and overwhelmed at the same time. I absorbed the hug and patted Donovan’s head. He pulled back and looked me in the eyes and smiled. Then Donovan said, “It’s going to be ok Marisol!” I smiled and pulled him back into a hug. Andre stood there watching us with interest. I turned to him and said, “What?!” he stared and just mumbled, “Nothing!” I turned around to witness where everyone else was. I lost my mind because Lara was no where in sight. I still couldn’t believe it. She was gone. And I was alone.

I held my breath for a second and decided to sit down. Donovan and André followed. As I sat down André asked, “Do you miss Lara?” I just looked at him disgusted and answered sharply, “What do you think my answer is?! YES I MISS HER!” I felt like yelling but then again I thought better of it since I was in a classroom and the yelling would only make my day worse. I buried my head in my arms but before I could cry again I felt someone messing with the hood of my jacket. I sharply raised my head and turned around to catch André messing with my hood. I asked him with my voice as cold as ice, “What do you think your doing? Stop touching my hood!” I jerked my hood away from him and he replied, “What?! I like touching it!” He reached for my hood again and this time I let him. He raised my hood and threw it on my head like a gangster would wear it. “Oooh! Marisol’s turned gangster!” He said in a gang style accent. I quickly shook the hood off and said, “Leave me alone.” He stopped smiling and said, “Come on Marisol cheer up!” Donovan joined in and threw me his own set of acknowledgments. I shrugged and just let them pester on with their ridiculous jokes and humor. I didn’t feel in the mood to talk to them when they asked me any sort of question. As they talked a mile a minute I decided to think about new friends. Since Lara was gone I had no one new to hang out with. My old friends were boring me to death and they didn’t seem as friendly without Lara there. I felt stupid because I didn’t know who to hang out with. For now I would just have to deal with Donovan as my buddy. I would figure something out later. Just then I felt a tall presence behind me and I decided to see who it was. Andrew, tall with a lot of curly brown hair, stood looming over me. He was the last person I would want to talk with right now. Ever since I found out he had a crush on me things have been…awkward. I almost never spoke to him, except when I had to, and that was rare enough! As I looked at him he gazed at André and Donovan and ignored me as if I wasn’t there. In my mind I said, “Forget you then!” and resumed my normal position. Just when I had my head laid down on my arms I felt a finger tapping my shoulder.

I looked up one more time and saw Yenifer and Saray standing in front of me. They both waved and said hi. Yenifer said, “Mommy do you miss your daughter Lara? I miss her a lot!” Apparently since Donovan was my pretend brother I was Lara, Yenifer, and Saray’s pretend mother. I replied with a sad smile, “We all miss her so, so much! I wish she was here right now!” I made a sad face and Yenifer came over and hugged me and said, “It’s ok Mommy! I miss her a lot too!” Yes! Finally someone understood how I felt! I looked at Yenifer and Saray again and saw the true friends Lara had left behind. Suddenly I saw why Lara had hung out with them in the first place. They were true, true friends and they would never leave your side! My sympathy left when Fatima came. She was another one of Lara and my friends. She looked at me and said, “Awe, are you sad because Lara left? It’s ok we all miss her too!” I smiled at her and then turned my smile upside down. I said, “Yeah I miss her a lot. I never wanted her to go in the first place!” tears welled up in my eyes as I said, “She left today and I didn’t even get to spend the rest of my time with her!” the tears rolled down my face like a fast lightning bolt shooting out of the sky. I felt embarrassed crying in front of my friends so I buried my head in my arms again. This seemed to becoming a habit! I felt Yenifer hugging me and heard her soft and squeaky voice say, “It’s ok Mommy! I miss her a lot too! Ha-ha I also cried when you were crying! We all really want her back!” I mumbled back at her, “Yeah, we all… want her back.” My sad moment came to a close as I felt another set of small hands on my shoulders. They weren’t Yenifer, and they weren’t Saray’s! Paranoid I lifted my head for the millionth time and saw André standing there with a big goofy smile on his face. I smiled back and asked, “What do you think your doing?” He looked at me confused and that was when I saw Donovan exactly behind me meddling with my hood. That was when I knew who the exact guilty party was.

Donovan smiled at me then patted my head and said in a real loving voice, “It’s ok Mary, its ok! Cry all you want right now but its ok!” I smiled at him and stood up to hug him. We stayed glued to each other for a millisecond before I pulled away. I smiled and laughed at him. He was a good brother. I wished he was my real brother though. That way I could actually call him my brother. As I was about to tell him what a good brother he was the bell rang for 2nd period. Since science was my 2nd period and since I was already here I didn’t flinch like everyone else did. In the morning we had gone to our 2nd period classes, which were also our homerooms, to take the Stanford test. Now we were here again! As everyone scrambled to get to their class, I stood there watching everybody. Once the person who was sitting in my seat had scattered I took my backpack and sat in my assigned seat waiting for class to start. Case came into the room shortly after Claudia had. They also sat at my table. Case usually sat beside me and Claudia usually in front of him and Vanessa off to the side because Lara always sat in front of me. Since Lara was gone Vanessa took her place. Case took out his bags of Hot Cheetos, Takis, and other chips he had. He offered me some and said, “Will these make you feel better?” He shook the bag of Takis in my face but I just shook my head, no. as he ate his Takis he kept making funny faces to try to make me smile. He only succeeded twice. Without Lara here to make me laugh I felt very, very sad. I guess Mrs. Skelton could see it in my face because while she was talking she would look over to me and smile. I smiled back. And then before I knew it the bell rang for 3rd period, and I was off.

As the day drifted on from 2nd period to 3rd period and then finally to 4th I became to wonder how this year could last without Lara by my side. A day at J. P. Elder Middle School without Lara was a dreadful day indeed. School was ok when she was absent for only a day but for eternity it would be a nightmare! During the day I usually stayed by my friend’s sides. But very rarely I would drift to the side and think about thinking. Weird I know right? Well that’s life I guess. Isn’t it? You have to move on and leave behind what you have lost right? Well I’m lost right know so I don’t now about you but I would rather have my best friend by me then have her gone forever! Hey these are my thoughts ok? No need to criticize! Anyways now Lara is no longer at J. P. Elder and we all dreadfully miss her! I hope you read this Lara. We all miss you! Remember no one can replace you!