“Today you will be starting a group project. You can pick one person who you want in your group and I will put two pairs together to make a group of four,” my science teacher, Mr.Clark announces to the class. Everyone starts to get out of their seats, but I just sit there wondering who I should pick. I don’t want to be that one person with no pair.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Ellie and Bella signaling to each other and realize, once again, that Ellie is not an option. She has been drifting away from me ever since we started middle school. And now, only three weeks into middle school, it’s like she doesn’t even know who I am or notice me. I don’t know what I did wrong. We used to be so close. We were BFFs, best friends forever, but I guess forever doesn’t mean very long. We could tell each other anything and were always there for eachother. Ever since Ellie ditched me, I haven’t really found any real friends. My classmate, Sarah, has been really nice and introduced me to her group, but we’re not really that close. I just kind of sit with her and her group and eat. It isn’t the same as what me and Ellie have, or used to have.
“I never said go…” says Mr.Clark, and everyone gets back to their seats.
“You will be making a poster and a short speech about a topic that will be assigned to you. Here are the topics.” Mr.Clark projects a paper with the topics onto the screen behind him. The topics included: volcanoes, earth’s layers, the supercontinents, earthquakes, and other stuff. I look through the list looking for something that will be not too easy but not too hard to do.
“Okay, now you may start picking your pairs”
I get out of my seat and wander around looking for someone to be partners with. I walk towards Sarah, but she is talking to Zia. They are probably partners, I think. She looks at me and I just smile back. I turn around and walk away to find someone else, but before I find someone, Sarah calls me over. “Do you want to be a pair?”
“Sure.” I’m so glad she asked, but I can’t make it sound obvious. What happened to Zia? I see her glare at Sarah. Why is she glaring at her? I watch Zia as she quickly finds a partner and takes a seat next to her.
The teacher starts putting pairs into groups and  assigning them a topic.
“Michael’s group and Justin’s group, you will be doing volcanoes… Jordan’s group and Ria’s group, you will do the supercontinents… Sarah’s group and Ellie’s group, you will do earth’s layers” Ellie?! Why Ellie’s group of all the other groups in my class?! 
Ellie and Bella walk over to us and I observe Ellie’s face, trying to read her expression.
“hi,” they say almost in unison.
“hi”
“I’ll get the poster paper,” says Sarah. “Ellie, you do the writing, because you have the best handwriting. Me and Bella will do the research, and you can do the drawing,” Sarah says looking at me.
“Okay.”
Ellie starts writing our names down on the paper. “Wait Kaitlyn, your last initial is B, right?” she asks me. As if she doesn't know?! We have known eachother since the first grade!
“Ya,” I replied, almost rolling my eyes. Why is she acting like she barely knows me? She thinks she’s so cool. She is so full of herself.
I take an ipad and look up a picture of earth with its layers labeled. I scroll through the pictures and when I find the one I want, I start drawing.
By the time the bell rings, I’m almost done coloring. I take my time to pack up my stuff, because I don’t have anybody waiting for me. I will just have to wander through the thirty minutes of lunch time just like I have been doing since Ellie ditched me. I guess I’ll sit with Sarah again.
As I walk through the hallway to where Sarah usually sits for lunch, I see Ellie walking towards me and waving. Why is she waving at me? Maybe she feels bad for me and decided to apologize. I wave back and smile, but she goes right past me to Sophia. I feel like a total loser. I turn back and look at her. She turns too, and for a moment I catch her eye, but she just turns and looks away, as if nothing happened. I know she saw me. What is her problem?!
School is over and my carpool lady just dropped me off in front of my house. I put my backpack down and zip open the front pocket where my keys are. I stick my hand in the pocket and get frustrated because I can’t seem to find the keys. I finally find them, open  the door, and drag my backpack inside. I usually start my homework right away, but today I am not in the mood for it. I fall onto the couch and reach for the remote.
After what seems to be like ten minutes, I feel my mom shaking me awake. I wake up with a jolt.
“You’ve been sleeping for an hour and you left the TV on!” she says. Oops.
“Oh, sorry, I was really tired, and I don’t even remember falling asleep.”
“You need to be more alert. Okay?”
“Ya. Okay,” I say rubbing my eyes.
She looks down at her watch. “You have soccer practice in thirty minutes, so get ready. Be quiet because I will be on a call for work. Lexi’s mom is going to drop you off to practice today, all right?”
“Ya,” I sigh.
After soccer practice, I go straight for the warm shower. The whole time I shower, I think about Ellie. Why was she acting like she barely knew me? She thinks she’s so cool. And now she’s friends with Bella. We used to hate Bella in fifth grade. She was so bratty and full of herself. And guess who’s the new Bella? Ellie’s becoming more and more bratty and full of herself day by day. Uggh. She’s changed. She has changed a lot. She was never like this. I don’t know what has gotten into her. 
I also think about Sarah. I mean she isn’t a bad friend; she’s just not the one I’m looking for. She probably just feels sorry for me. Why else would she try to be nice to me? She already has a whole group of friends.
I get out of the shower and dry myself off. I put on my pjs and head downstairs. Dinner is already on the table before I get there. I take a seat. My parents have already started eating.  I serve myself some chicken and rice. I pick up the fork and stab it into the chicken on my plate.
“How was your day, honey?”
“Great,” I say with a touch of sarcasm.
My parents exchange a look and I just ignore it and roll my eyes.
“Kaitlyn, how was your day?”
“It was fine,” I say, my voice raising.
“Kaitlyn?” says mom, trying to warn me, but the anger and frustration in myself gets the better of me.
“Ugggh. What do you want from me?! I answered you like ten times already!” Maybe I am exaggerating a little, but I don’t care. “Stop asking me the same exact question over and over again.”
“Go to your room, now,” says my dad sternly.
Well, there’s no arguing with him. I get up and stomp upstairs, making the most noise I can. I go into my room and slam the door shut. Why don’t they get it?! I’m just having a bad day so leave me alone!  Frustrated, I scream into my pillow. Why does everyone have to be so irritating?!
After a while, I hear a knock on the door. “Hey, honey, are you okay? Can I come in?” I don’t answer, but my mom comes in anyways. She switches the light on and I realize how dark it had been.
“Is everything okay?,” she asks and I still don’t say anything. “Any problem? Is everything all right?” She waits a little before saying, “ Do you want to talk to Ellie? She always cheers you up. Should I call her?”
“No, mom.” I finally break and tears pour down my cheeks. All this time, I have been holding everything in. “She is the problem.” My mom comes over and sits on the corner of my bed.
“Really? You two never fight, I mean, at least  it's never really big. What happened?”
“We didn’t really fight. It's just that ever since we came to middle school, she’s been like ignoring me. And, and she’s got a bunch of new friends and is hanging out with them instead of with me, and she just sort of drifted away from me. I want everything to be the same as it used to; I don’t want to lose her. We promised to be BFFs, but I guess not.”
I cry some more and my mom hugs me. “It’s okay, honey. Just let it out. You’ll just have to get through it. Stuff like this just happens. It’s part of life and growing up. It's okay.”
She hugs me tighter and I automatically feel better. I feel lighter with all this off my back and so relieved to get it out. She kisses me on my head. “There are always new people and new friends. You just need to be open to them. Forget about Ellie, if you don’t you will never be able find another friend.”
After hearing that, the first thing that comes to my mind is Sarah. I am so dumb. How could I not see that Sarah wanted to be friends with me. Mom’s right. I have been too caught up with Ellie. Sarah turned Zia down just so she could be with me and that is why Zia was glaring at her.
I hug my mom even tighter. “Now, cheer up. Would you like some hot chocolate? Chocolate always helps.”
“Oh, yes. Definitely. That would be great.”
When my mom comes back with the hot chocolate, I ask her if I can invite Sarah over so we can bake cupcakes or something.
“So you do have a friend,” she says.
“I guess so.” Even though I just lost my BFF, I feel tingly inside with the happiness of finding a new one. I sip my hot chocolate and smile to myself.