"Hey Brooke!", she said. "Oh, hey!", I said "Guess what? Today......I got my test scores back, and I got a 98%!" "Wow! That's great! I'm so proud of you!" "Thanks"

......This is what our conversations used to sound like...but...I guess things have changed...It all started in 2nd grade. That's when we met. It feels like it was just yesterday when I first saw her beautiful face...Our teacher had paired everyone up and she was my partner. Her name was Joanna. We talked and we played together at recess. That's when we became really great friends!... I just loved to spend time with her! We had sleepovers together, went to each other's birthday parties, and even went with each other on vacations!...It was awesome....but...she will never remember all the good times we had together...

After Elementary school, we still hung out. We both got our own phones so we were able to text each other! We even went to the same middle school! We hung out just like usual. Joanna and I had all of our classes together, so that was pretty cool. We were always partners with each other and we ate lunch together. I really miss those days...but, I know I will never get them back...She will never know though...

I walked home alone that day just so I could have some thinking time and I told Joanna that I would text her when I got home...As I was walking home, I thought about a lot of things...not just Joanna...I thought about my family problems and my grades...I had 1 "A", 1 "B", 3 "C's", and 1 "F" ...And with my family problems...well, my mom was almost always at work...the only time she is home is right when I wake up. I tell her I love her and I tell her to have a good day at work. Then she hugs me, kisses my head and tells me to study hard...I never study...and during the weekends...I never saw my mom because I slept in on the weekends...and my dad...well...He would make me his "slave". He would make me clean the house for him and he would take the credit for it. He would make me cook him dinner and I would have to walk to the store to buy him things no matter what the weather was like. He would always get drunk when mom wasn't around and he almost tried to get me drunk because he said he wanted to kill my brain cells so I could never raise my grades...I don't know why but...this is a touchy subject anyway...

One day, me and Joanna were walking to school together, we were laughing, talking, smiling and having a great time. Then..., she told me about this boy she met at our school. Joanna said his name was Oliver. The way that Joanna had described him was so...unique...and...a little strange. She said that Oliver and her had been texting quite often. I had been wondering why she hadn't been texting me lately but I guess I knew...

Now we were in the 8th grade, and Joanna had been hanging out with Oliver a lot lately...We barely see each other outside of school now.