Best Friends Means Best Friends For Forever

I was sitting in my Government class, being bored out of my mind. Mr.Martin was talking about how a bill becomes a law and I'll I could think about was so tired I was and how nice it would be to put my head down. As he talked, I let my mind wander. I looked down at the binder on my desk with a ton of pictures of me and my best friend, Katie. There was a piece of paper that said "Kt -n- Jessi" that I had made a long time ago. I wondered where she was, because she didn't show up that morning, and we had plans later that were starting right when my mom picked us up. She was probably just tardy, because her moms car has been acting all screwy, so she decided to write her a note. 1

Katie,                 2

Hey. You weren't out side this morning! I was talking to Brittany and she said that if you keep being tardy you might get suspended, so do you want me and my mom to come pick you up in the mornings? I'm sure she won't care. Anyways. Well, I haven't seen Brad yet today, but I can't wait till lunch when I get to talk to him! Hes so awesome. Thank you so much for talking to him! You are the best friend ever. I really don't know what I would do without you. I'll always be here, and I know you'll always be here for me too. I can't wait till tonight! We are gonna have so much fun! Do you want to stay the night? That way you can be on time tomorrow? ha ha. 3

Oh yeah, and I just wanted to say thank you for the other night... I was so upset and you were the only one that could even talk to about it. If you wouldn't have been there, I don't know what I might have done. Just always remember that you mean everything to me. I'll never let anything come between our friendship... It just means way to much to me. And I am repaying you for being the worlds greatest friend tonight! Can't wait!4

♥ Jessi5

I folded it and put it in my pocket. I checked my watch... 30 more minutes. Goodness... will it ever end!? Right about the time I was considering asking for a pass, the intercom beeped in. 6

"Mr.Martin?" the secretary chimed.  7

"Yes!" He replied. 8

"Do you have Jessica Hodges? Her mother is here to pick her up." 9

"I sure do. Shes on her way! See you tomorrow, Jessi, and don't forget to study chapters 17 and 18 tonight!"10

"Alright," I said, as I put all my stuff in my bag and hurried out. I made a pit stop at my locker depositing my book and binder. Study? Tonight? You must be crazy! Katie and I had plans and there was no way I was going have time, but I knew it all anyways. On the way up front I started thinking why I was leaving, my mom knew she had to pick me and Katie up later. On the way, I stuck my note for her in her locker after scribbling "Mom picked me up. Don't know why. Call cell at lunch." on the side and then worked it through the slit. When I got to the office, my mom was standing right outside the door.11

"Hey, whats up? Are we still going to pick... Oh my god, whats wrong?" I gasped when I saw she had been crying.12

"Come with me, we have to talk." she said trying to sound like it was all okay. 13

"What is it?" I questioned as we got outside.14

"Wait till we get home, okay?"15

"No, Momma, Katie and I have plans later!" I whined. "Just tell me and then I can at least let her know whats going on and if we can still pick her up!"16

"Sweetheart, maybe you should sit down." She motioned to the bench. I stayed put. 17

"Mom, there is only one thing that 'Maybe you should sit' means, and that's... Just tell me whats wrong!!" I said started to shake and feeling like I was going to cry if she didn't tell me soon. Tears spilled from her eyes and I could see her breath in the cold air as she said gasped for words. "WHAT IS IT?!!" I yelled, slightly hysterical. 18

"Katie is dead! She died! She was in a car accident on the way to school. Her car went over the barrier on highway 88. They say it was because of the ice on the road. Jessi, I'm so sorry. She's gone."19

I went numb. I could no longer feel the cold, or even my own body. I was suspended in midair, like my soul was levitating, not even taking this in as the words hung between us in a deadly silence. 20

Katie is dead. Katie is dead. Katie is dead...21

It echoed in my brain over and over, and I couldn't move. I didn't even know I was screaming until my mom put a hand over my mouth. I felt like someone had just dumped ten gallons of ice water on me in this 15 degree weather. My keens gave out and I hit the pavement. I laid there, hugging the sidewalk as images of her flashed through my mind. Katie at the lake. Katie singing in my room. Katie laughing. Katie at school. Katie... I started screaming again as the tears rolled out of my eyes and on the ground. I screamed as if I was in the car with her, flying over the barrier with no more hope left. I screamed like I was being killed from the inside out... As if the scariest most horrible monster had risen in my chest and started ripping at me form there, starting with my heart. I screamed until I coughed up blood,and my voice would no longer work. But then, even though there was no more sound left in me, I was screaming twice as loud inside. Someone rolled me over and sat me up. I couldn't see their face or even hear what they were saying. It was cold. Oh, so very cold. I almost stopped breathing. I could barely make out that the principal and my mother talking above me. My mother was crying and telling her what happened. Someone picked me up and put me in the passenger side of a car, and turned the heat on. I hated it. I couldn't stay here. I had to leave, to run, to forgot what I was just told and find her because she was NOT gone. I saw the assistant principal get out of the car with it started. While they were focused on each other, I slid over to the drivers seat, put in reverse and floored it. I was half was to the street before the could ever register what I had just done. 22

As of that moment, all emotions were off. I was on autopilot, barley even aware that I passed two stop signs and a red light. A black SUV almost hit me but I was unfazed. My mind knew where to take me. Within 10 minutes I was there, despite the usually 25 minute drive it takes to get there. The barrier on Highway 88. There was a tow truck and a cop car there. I slammed on the brakes and jumped out. The Barrier was put there so that people wouldn't get to close to the edge of the road and slip off the side of the ridge. I could see tire marks where Monica tried to stop. Then I saw the car. The tow truck had just pulled it out, and it looked like a smashed tin can. There was blood, but no one in it. "SHE WAS MISTAKEN!" My head screamed. See, I knew it... It was okay, she was probably in the hospital right now wondering why I wasn't there yet. I had to get there, and quick. Right as I turned around, I saw my mothers car, two police cars, and another speed up beside me. They knew exactly where I went. I paused and knew I could never get away. I tried to yell my mom it was okay, that, see, no one was in the car! That meant that were out and that they were alive! I had to see her right away. She just shook her head no. The cop slowly walked up to me and said, "The ambulance already took the bodies. I'm sorry." I started to fall but he was ready. He caught me and lowered me to the ground. His uniform felt like a starched teddy bear. I pulled away and put my head on the dirt were the tire marks were. All I could say was, "Why?" After about ten minutes of asking myself this, a voice rose from within and screamed "I NEED YOU HERE! DON'T LEAVE ME! OH GOD... DON'T TAKE HER!" I heard my mother sobbing, but it meant nothing. I should have been the one in that car. Not her. Not Katie...23