15

=EXPOSITION/INCITING INCIDENT=

"C'mon Isabel. Let's go downstairs!" Jacky Marchtini, my best friend yelled to me from down stairs. Jacky was my best friend ever! We knew eachother since we were 2 weeks old! Our mom's met when they were working together. I was at her house, and we were having so much fun. Her house is a big brick house, with a stone walk way leading up to her golden yellow door. We played, drank warm hot chocolate, danced, and watched TV, and next we were heading downstairs. We were playing for a while when I heard the loud doorbell ring. Sadly I knew who it was. It was my mom, I had to go home. So I packed up all my stuff and said my thank you's. It felt like I was there for two minutes but I was actually there for two hours! The next day I went to school. It was the second to last day before a long winter break, and everyone was really eager and excited. Jacky and I walked to school together that morning. It was a beautiful day, even though it was a little chilly, the sun was out and there were no clouds in the sky. I could feel the brisk breeze, and smell the crisp air. At school when we were walking with other friends, Nicole and Gabbi, Jacky said to me "Isabel, why do you walk so slowly? Can you just TRY to keep up with us for once?!" All the other girls just laughed along like what she said was a joke. Gabbi and Nicole both had long brown hair and were an average hight. But, they always wore the prettiest clothes. (I have to admit.) "Ok..." I said back to her. But I don't even think that she heard me. Later that drawn out day, which by the way was in the "supposed to be cold" winter, but felt like it was as hot as summertime, we had a class together. We said down in our seats at math and the teacher announced that it was free time since she had some grades to go over. So I went over to talk to Jacky. "Jacky, why did you say that to me this morning?" I asked. "Say what?!" She asked back to me in a yelling tone. "Say that I walked so slowly." I answered back in a cool and calm voice. "Because it's true! You always walk so slowly! Like a turtle! I mean would it hurt you to walk a little faster?" Jacky replied clearly and loudly. "Jacky, why are you acting like this," I asked, "you've never been like this before." "You're the one who's acting weird!" She screamed. I could tell by the anger in her eyes, and the tone in her voice that she was very upset. That's when I just walked, away, I didn't want her to get any more upset at me. But I was mad at her, a little. Why would she talk to me like that? She has never done that before. And it didn't stop then. The whole rest of that long day she would just keep yelling at me and being rude. I woud just be walking down the hall and she would say something like, 'Why did you where that shirt it looks bad on you!' or 'Those shoes are the ugliest things I've seen in my life!' By the end of the day, I was so agitated and upset that steam could've come out my ears, and fire through my nose! I kept thinking to myself that the teacher would see her doing this and tell her to stop, but for some reason, no teacher ever did. I could feel the hot tears slowly rolling down my face as I walked away. I was also very hurt.

=RISING ACTION=

The next day at school, which was the last day before winter break and as cold as Alaska, Jacky and I didn't talk to each other the whole day. This is very rare because we were best friends. Each class was a terrible dream. She would give me mean looks and whenever I tried to ask her something and she would always ignore me. After the first class, I gave up trying to talk to her. So the rest of the day, I didn't. When the day was finally over, I reluctantly walked home by myself on that cold winters day. My whole body was shivering and I think my finger tips were frozen off because they were numb by the time that I actually got home. It was the first time that I had walked home by myself in a while. I got home and the sight of my cozy yellow house said that I was safe at home. "Mom, I'm home!" I yelled throughout the house to see if she was there. Although she didn't answer me right away, she did answer eventually. "I'm upstairs!" She answered back to me, "Why don't you come upstairs to tell me about your day, today!" "Okay," I said, "I'll be right there!" I put my backpack down, grabbed a snack, and headed up the tall, wooden stairway that led to upstairs. "So how was your day?" She asked me when I got to her. "It was good." "Just good?" She said in a tone that meant she knew something was up. "Well," I replied sheepishly, "do you remember yesterday when I told you about Jacky being mean to me?" "Yes..." she said "Today we didn't talk at all, and she gave me mean looks." I said with fury in my voice. I could feel my insides getting very steamy like I would explode just thinking about how bad that she was treating me. "Oh. Really? Did you try talking to her about it?" She asked. "Yeah I did. But every time I tried she would ignore me and pretend that I wasn't there." I stated. "Well it seems like you two have something to work out," mom declared, "but for now, try to focus on getting your homework done. I have to go get dinner ready." So, I sat in my room doing my homework as my mom told me. I wanted to get it all done so that I could have a free winter break. A little while later I could smell her delicious home- made meatballs that I loved! That's when I realized that for now I just had to forget about all my problems and focus on having a good winter break. On that Saturday morning, I woke up and felt good. I got dressed in my favorite sweater. I put on my strawberry fizz perfume, my comfortable brown sweatpants with a draw string, and my favorite brown boots. Next, I walked across the hall to my bathroom to brush my teeth and wash up. I splashed some cold, wet water onto my face to wake myself up a little bit, and then went out the door. My parents took my two brothers, Andrew and Zack, and I, out to a fun breakfast that early morning. But little did I know that about halfway through breakfast my parents told us that my dad was going away with the army to Iraq for a whole year! If it was somewhere close that he was going then I wouldn't have been as upset, but almost half-way around the world! That is pretty far! "What!!!!!???" I shouted out loud. A sick feeling started in my stomach, something that told me that my already bad day was about to get worse! And, unfortunately, I was right. I went home and had a total meltdown! It felt horrible! I don't know what had gotten into me, but I started yelling at my parents and brothers for no reason at all. 'Why am I doing this?' I would ask to myself. But, I just couldn’t help it! Unfortunately one thing’s for sure, it definitely did not make things better. My parents got mad and grounded me for all of winter break! So I went to my room to calm down and turned on some soft, but catchy music. I was so angry! This was because it just seems like my life was going to good, to bad, to worse! But that wasn't even all of my bad day! Later my phone rang. It was from my cousin Ashley Smith saying that Jacky's pet died! Even though she had been mean to me, I still felt bad for her. I knew how much she loved her dog, Bernie, and was very sad to see him go. All of winter break was miserable for me. I didn't get anything I wanted for Christmas, and was sick for New Years. And I couldn't hang out with anyone since I was grounded. I considered this winter break the worst! And believe it or not, I actually WANTED to go back to school.

=CLIMAX=

Finally it was time to go back to school. I figured that Jacky would start acting like her normal self and start treating me a little nicer. I was already up and dressed and was about to go have breakfast. I had big golden Belgian waffles that tasted delicious. I love the taste of the fluffy waffles, golden brown syrup drizzled on top, and a little bit of powdered sugar, too. I devoured them in a second and headed upstairs to go wash up. My bathroom was redone and had a new paint smell. The walls were painted a creamy, coffee color that matched the shower curtains. The sink was still its same color of white. My mom had tried to put air fresheners to try to freshen up the smell of the new paint but it didn't work so well. I splashed some water on my face to refresh myself then got out my pink and lime green electric toothbrush from the cabinet. I always love washing up in the morning because it makes me feel good. After I finished up, I got the phone to call Jacky. "Hello?" Jacky answered. "Hey Jacky, it's Isabel, I was just wondering if we were walking to school today." I replied. "Oh, um... I don't think that I can because... because I um... I have something to do this morning." She snapped back. "Oh, well I guess we could do it another time then." I said with a sigh, "Bye," and with that I hung up. I didn't know what to think. I thought that for sure she would say 'of course!' but she didn't. Well I guess I could see her at school. I asked my mom if she could drive me to school, and she did. I arrived to school in our gold minivan and hopped out of the front seat. I walked into the big brick school, which was almost as big as the Empire State Building, walked through the two glass front doors, and went upstairs to my locker, which was right next to Jacky's. My locker was decorated with magnets, stickers, pictures, and more. I got my pink Communication Arts book out of my locker and I saw Jacky do the same. I have to admit; I was a little nervous to talk to Jacky, so I chickened out and decided to wait until lunch to talk to her. I was surprised to see Jacky weary the brown and white striped Hollister sweater that I got her for her birthday, along with the brown sweatpants I got for her for Christmas. I walked into Comm. Arts class and sat down in my seat. I got through that class period and three others very quickly, quicker than a rabbit! Every period, of course, Jacky was in. But I didn’t talk to her then because I was waiting to talk to her later. In ever class my nerves got to a higher level. At one point, in the last class before lunch, my nerves were so bad that I think I might've started shaking a little! Next I was headed to get ready for lunch. I grabbed my pink and black lunchbox and went to find Jacky. I found her sitting in our normal seat in the back of the cafeteria so I sat down in the empty seat next to her. "Hey," I said to her. “Hi,” she answered plainly. "Well I wanted to talk to you about something." I said nervously. "Me too," Jacky claimed. "Really? You can say it first." I stated sweetly. "I just wanted to apologize for being kind of rude to you before break. I was just really upset because I had other family problems and I didn't want anyone in my life at that moment. I guess I kind of got out of hand." She recalled with a sorry look on her face. "That's what I was going to ask you about," I said," and I forgive you. I understand what you're going through and the same thing is kind of happening to me too." I said with a smile. "My dad is going away for a whole year." "Really?! I am so sorry! I had no idea?!" She exclaimed in awe. "It's okay. Friends?" I questioned. "Friends!" She cheerfully replied. This made me feel MUCH better! Wow talking to her was not that hard. Believe it or not, it was as easy as pie! “Wow, it’s a good thing we are friends again because I was about to get ketchup all over my new pink shirt that I’m wearing. I thought that if you were still upset that you might laugh at me, but now you could laugh with me!” I said sarcastically! “Ha, ha, ha, ha!” Ashley and Jacky laughed in unison. "I knew you two could never be in a dispute and not make up!" Ashley determined. We all started laughing up a storm. It was probably one of the happiest moments in my life. I was so glad to be friends again, it felt good. "So, do you guys want to come over today?" I asked Ashley and Jacky. "I'd love to!" They said in unison. I took a great sigh of relief. It was like a big weight that got lifted off my chest just knowing that Jacky wasn't actually trying to be mean to me. We all walked to our next class together, and I had a great end of the day. In class we chatted the whole time because we had free time with the substitute. We laughed and did what girls love to do: talk! It was a great moment for all of us to be friends again, especially me and Jacky.

=FALLING ACTION=

“Wow! Was that a rollercoaster ride what?!” I asked sarcastically at my house. My mom said that I could have some friends over since my grounding had ended. “Yeah, all those ups and downs and loops were crazy!” Jacky also stated sarcastically. I loved being friends with them again. It brought back the good times. “Oh, and I forgot to tell you something,” Jacky said, “My parents let me get another golden retriever since Bernie passed away! I mean he’s no Bernie, but he comes pretty close! We named him Peyton because he’s from Indianapolis.” We were sitting in my purple room. It has green and white poca-dots on the walls and I have mirrored closet doors, too. On my dresser I have tons of things like my collections of perfumes, hair ties, clips, and more. We were sitting on my bed with my furry pink comforter, purple and green pillows, and stuffed animals, too many to count! “Really? Oh my gosh! You have to send me a picture of…” Boom! Bang! Bash! “What was that?” I asked. “Look! It was all your perfumes! They fell off your dresser!” Ashley pointed to where I had my collection of perfumes; they were all on the ground, with a dart! “Where did that come from?” I asked. But then I knew, I looked out my bedroom door into the hallway, and standing there was my brother with a dart gun! “Andrew!” I screamed, and then he darted off. “I’m so sorry you guys, my brother can be SO annoying sometimes!” “Ha, ha! It’s ok,” Jacky reassured me, “we have brothers, too!” We all started laughing! “Hey Isabel, come downstairs! And bring Ashley and Jacky, too!” I heard my mom yell to me from downstairs. I did what she said. Jacky, Ashley, and I walked down the tall staircase to the kitchen where I saw my mom and dad standing by the wooden kitchen table. “We have something to tell you!” My mom said at last. “We have great news! Since your father is head in command at the military, he had a choice to either do more work at home, or as you heard, go away with the army for a long time.” “And I decided… to stay home!” My dad finished! “Really?!” I asked in amazement! “That’s terrific! Oh my gosh! I am so happy!” I ran up to my dad and gave him a huge hug! That was a surprise! I can’t believe that he gets to stay home! Now that I am not in a fight with Jacky anymore, it seems like our problems have totally gone away! I was as happy as a pig in the mud, as my dad would say to try to be funny! “To celebrate, why don’t Jacky and Ashley stay for dinner?” My mom said. “I’d love to!” Jacky and Ashley both said. My friends and I all went upstairs in our rooms until we smelled the delicious scent of spaghetti and meatballs, so we all raced downstairs because we knew that meant the food was ready. My family, friends, and I sat down in the wooden, cushioned chairs, took a whiff of the food, and dug in! The meatballs were so good that they melted in my mouth! I tasted the spaghetti and fell in love with it! It was still hot from the stove and was de-licious! It was the best day ever!

=RESOLUTION=

The next days were like they always used to be. Jacky and I talk while we walk to school together. We talk in every class, and we sit next to each other at lunch. It was great for it to be ‘normal’ again. The sight of it made me feel so good. “Hey Jacky…” “Yeah?” she answered. “Let’s make a promise to never ever get into a fight again!” I said happily. “It’s a deal!” She said back. So right then and there we shook hands and promised never to get into a fight again. That deal was probably as good as gold in that moment, as we talked and ate food that smelled delicious while being best friends. I felt so good that we had made that deal! It showed that we were always true friends until the end. After that, we had sleepovers, hung out, and had the best times of our lives. There is one thing that I learned that day and that is: friends stick through with you until the end no matter what happens.