The Secret of Life (standard:non fiction, 0 words)
Author: MischiefMaker	Added: Jul 12 2001	Views/Reads: 3494/2307	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
The true story of a phenomenal friendship between two young girls.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

After that year, Kent and I didn't' talk much, but reconnected through a


mutual friend in seventh grade. Her name was Shannon Crawford. Kent, 

Shannon, and I became like The Three Musketeers. We were together all
the 

time, doing everything together. Then, in eighth grade, Shannon left
Richard 

Winn to go to school in Elgin. Kent and I parted ways, still as friends,
but ... not. 

In eighth grade, I worked at my mother's music store. In doing so,
Shanna, 

an acquaintance from school, became a very good friend. Her grandmother 

owned the flower shop across the street, and our afternoons were usually
spent 

hanging out at the music store. We became good friends. Then, we somehow


ended up becoming a "Clique" with two other girls who were good friends,
Talley 

and Heather. Our entire eighth grade year, Talley, Heather, Shanna, and
I were 

always together, the best of friends. 

Notice that Kent suddenly dropped from the picture? At this point in my 

life, I was an incredibly fickle person. Of course, I may very well be a
fickle 

person at my current point in life, but I not very conscious of the
fickleness of the 

human mind and work very hard to avoid it. Sorry, just had to intercede
with that 

little point of info, there. 

Anyway, in the middle of the summer before ninth grade, Kent and I 

reconnected as spirit sisters (best friends, for the new-age-slang
impaired). In 

September of our ninth grade year, we started a tradition that we still
hold today 

(okay, so, this year will be our third, but, hey! That's still a
tradition! Just not a 

long-standing tradition ... ) - Fall Out. Fall Out is a music festival
that one of our 

favorite radio stations puts on every year in September. Fall out '99
was our first 

ever 'concert' type thing. It was a blast. We trotted ourselves down to
the chaotic 

underworld of "THE PIT' (of course, I complained a lot before going!),
and ended 

up having the best time of our lives. Kent was almost maimed by a flying


Aquafina bottle, seeing as the drunks in the crowd get kind of rowdy and
insist 

upon seeing how high they can throw something before it falls back down
- this 

seems to greatly amuse them. My mother was forced to protect us, bravely
using 

her body as a shield, when a drunken brawl began in a section close to
us. When 

the band Bush was playing (my favorite band in the whole world), the
crowd got 

so vicious that Kent and I were separated from my parents, and Kent was
lost in 

the crowd. She had fallen, which is a very dangerous thing to do in a
mosh pit, 

and I was somehow carried away from that spot by the momentum of the
crowd. 

In a desperate attempt at self-preservation, I clawed my way out of the
pit, and 

by some miracle, passed Kent on my way out, and she was able to grab my 

elbow, and, literally, hold on for dear life. Of course, once out of the
life- 

threatening situation, Kent and I sat down. I was hysterically excited,
high on a 

supreme adrenaline rush the likes of which I'd never felt before. Kent,
on the 

other hand, burst into tears. A passing drunk help calm her down, so,
all's well 

that ends well, right? 

Despite our hysterics, our very first concert was a blast. We went to
last 

year's Fall Out, where Kent kissed a famous musician, and I met up with
two 

random guys from Gasden. Nick and Sammy. Year two was just as
successful. 

Kent and I have been able to maintain our friendship to this best
friend's 

level for over two years now. I love Kent as if she were my sister, and
vice versa. 

We have had some crazy adventures, but nothing will compare to the
adversity 

that we must face our junior year in high school. Last year, I left
Richard Winn to 

finish out high school at a public school in the next town over,
Blythewood. The 

school is very good, Ridge View High, and I really do love it over there
(probably 

because my longtime boyfriend is there, but ... I am smiling right
now!).When I 

left Richard Winn, Kent and I thought that this move would be a huge
disaster for 

us. However, it turned out to not be as bad as we had thought, and we
were able 

to breathe a giant sigh of relief at the thought that our troubles were
over. 

Not. 

As always happens, life will always find a way to spring something else 

horrible on you when you least need the diversion. Kent made the
commanding 

decision to leave Richard Winn, whose education system has steadily
diminished 

in the past two years, and finish out high school at Salem Academy, a
boarding 

school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. An entire state away. 

Now, as some of may disbelieve, I do have a point in writing this. I
spent 

a large chunk of my adolescence not appreciating the most wonderful
thing in the 

world when it was right under my nose - pure friendship. Kent had every
reason 

in the world to completely turn her back on me every time I "found a new
best 

friend". She never did. As a result, we both know that, if nothing else,
someone 

out there is glad that we wake up every morning, is incredibly thankful
for every 

breath we take. 

I'm writing this to say that I have found the secret of life. To secret
to being 

happy every day for all eternity. I know I will be, for I know, that, no
matter what, 

once upon a time, I was important to someone, and I made a difference in
that 

person's life. And no matter where Kent goes, or what happens to our
friendship, 

she will always live in my heart, and I in hers. 


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