
Blue was rather quiet today. She sat mostly outside and just contemplated things. Today was warm and not too humid with a slight breeze blowing. In her thoughts, she was reminiscing on friends she had and those that were no longer her friends. The one girl in particular that was dominating her thoughts, was her friend Laura. Laura was rather tall for a girl of their age. She was quirky, to say the least. Her ways and demeanor earned her many a nickname from her classmates at their school. Blue liked all that about Laura, she often thought it made Laura special. Laura took it all in stride and really did not show that all the nicknames and teasing from her classmates, bothered her. With her pretty brown eyes, she would say so much, you only had to know her to know what she was saying. Blue knew her that way. They had long been friends, and there was very little each other did not know. So today, Laura was on Blue’s mind.
Blue was bored today and let her thoughts carry her off into a journey of memories and things. Laura was top on the thinking block. See, days ago Laura was teased so bad, her parents were called to come to pick her up from school. She had been on the playground at school and had taken a fall. Blue knew exactly what happened, she saw it all. There were several boys who were just bullies. They liked to call Laura names, a lot. They had gone a little too far this day and pushed Laura down. She fell against a sidewalk and skinned her knee bad enough she had to go to the emergency room to get stitches. The boys all were called to the principal’s office and they had detention issued as well as having to apologize and write letters to Laura and her parents. Laura’s parents were sad that Laura was picked on so much, and they were rather outspoken about it, to the principal. It was not the first time they had fussed about their daughter getting picked on.
Seems that nothing really changed for Laura when she returned the next day to school. Blue felt so bad for her friend and wanted to send a warning to those boys who were responsible. So at recess Blue had confronted those boys, who were not allowed to be within a foot of Laura, during recess, and she lit into them. She told them it was wrong to mistreat someone just because they were different. She told them that no matter how weird or different a person is to them, that they should just let them be. Laura saw this all from a distance and a faint smile was across her face as she watched. Blue was angry and with good reason, there was no sense in all this way of behaving. The boys all just stood there and listened to all Blue was telling them. it was as if they were actually re-thinking their actions. Blue spent the rest of recess comforting her friend and told her that she would always defend her and be there for her. Laura hugged Blue and the two felt a little bit stronger. They knew together they would be a force to be reckoned with. After all Blue had the strong will and Laura had all the things necessary to make a person laugh. What more could a person ask for?
Blue was looking at how her friend must have felt being picked on and then getting pushed and hurt. She determined that she would never be that kind of person, the one that hurt another because of their differences. So for the rest of that school year, Blue made it her mission to friend the weird, the different, and the lonely kids in her grade. She sat with them at lunch and played with them at recess. She lent them books, paper, pencils, and whatever she could when they did not have anything. She and her friend Laura were inseparable and they stayed friends up until her friend’s family moved away. She often thought of that one friend, Laura that changed her perspective on how others feel and get treated. Even in Blue’s adult life that one friend always crosses her mind. She reflects on those wonderful childhood days when she and Laura were friends.
Blue finished up on her thoughts and ran into her house to look at pictures of her and Laura. “This day wasn’t so bad for her,” she thought. When you don’t feel alone when you have a purpose, a friendship like that, what more could you ask for?