After school, Carson and I had Volleyball practice. And man, was I happy to get away from Julie. That girl tried to follow me all day! Carson, the smart girl she is, ended up getting the whole thing out of me. How Julie was that loner, and then became ‘prettiest girl ever’, then how my jealousy got in the way. She hounded me all day about it, and I was going to find out why.
“So you excited for Volleyball practice?” I asked Carson, as we started walking to the gym. (This is a very far walk, so there will be enough time for talking).
“Eh, it’s just on my to-do list, nothing special.” Carson looked up and smiled at me, then looked back at the ground.
“Are you okay? Something seems wrong…” I glared out her with my eyes. My secret stare, I call it.
“D-d-don’t look at me with that creepy stare, Gabby, I did nothing wrong.” I started laughing.
“You see, my good friend, I never asked if you did anything wrong…” I joked. Carson opened her smile, and released the tension with laughter then just before she was going to tell me, Julie walked up to Carson and greeted her with a ‘Hi, buddy.’ I gasped, and grabbed Carson’s arm.
“What is wrong with you?!” I whispered, as I pulled her to the side. I put on a fake smile and looked at Julie, “Just one minute.”
“I invited her to our Volleyball practice. She said she always wanted to see one. It’s not my fault, I couldn’t say no!” Carson pleaded.
“What do you mean you couldn’t say no? I told you, that girl is evil! Stay away from her; she is not that ‘nice new girl’!”
“Gabby, you are overreacting; she is a really nice girl!” Carson defensively said.
“No, no, I pray every night that we would never meet her again… Oh my gosh, it’s not working…” I looked at the floor, panicking. For Carson it’s quite a laugh when I start panicking, and looking ‘like a crazy person’.
“Gabrielle, relax. Everything will be fine,” Carson reassured me. I was so worried that I was going to lose my best friend. Julie will take Carson away from me, that’s all she’s good at, is taking things away from me! I looked at Carson wavering whether she will be smart enough to realize Julie’s evil plans…
“Oh, goodness, I don’t want you guys to be late, let’s hurry!” Julie sweetly said, glancing at her watch. Psh, like she cared.

Passing the volleyball back and forth over the net was a stress-reliever for me. It released all my tension, and made me feel good.
“You’re really good Gabrielle! You have changed quite a bit ever since the last time we saw each other!” Julie said. Carson looked at me and smiled. I looked back at her, still very uncertain. This is troubling me, has Julie changed? Is she different?
“Heads up!” Carson spiked the ball over my head, and as my reflexes quickly reacted, I ducked. Gosh, what a close one. I don’t want a big red splotch on my forehead.
“Wow, great spike Carson! You’re really good!” Julie boasted.
“Aw, thanks Julie. It’s all in the hand,” Carson winked and joked.
The Coach then came in with volleyball in her hand. She looked at Carson and asked, “Who’s she?” She pointed at Julie.
“Oh, don’t worry Coach Spitzer, I invited her just to watch,” Carson explained. I prayed silently hoping Coach Spitzer would kick her out and call her a ‘lazy bum’ for sitting down and watching.
“Well alright, Reed, just make sure she don’t get hit the face… I ain’t gonna be responsible for it.” As Carson obediently nodded, Coach Spitzer walked and started calling off drills in preparation for our next game. Coach Spitzer stopped calling off drills and came up behind Carson and asked her, “What’s the girl’s name?”
Carson looked back at Julie and said, “Julie Powell.”
Coach Spitzer started walking towards Julie and said, “I ain’t gonna have no girl sit around, come on Powell get a ball and you can practice with us.” Julie plopped up readily.
“I’d love to. Now, who’s going to be my partner, Coach?” Julie asked.
Coach Spitzer was baffled about Julie’s good attitude and readiness. “Reed’s open, partner with her.”
“Uh, I-, I wa-“ I couldn’t get a single word out. I was going to partner up with Carson, but Carson just shrugged and went with Julie. I then looked around and saw Terra just standing there. Her big glasses and geeky smile made me nervous.
“I guess you’re my partner, Terra.”

Throughout the whole practice, I tried to get around Julie and Carson. I was anxious to know their conversation. But Julie seemed to catch me every time and she’d pretend to hit the ball on the opposite side of the court, and then move over there. Julie was good… Yeah Julie was very good.

After school my Mom picked me up, and Julie carpooled with Carson. I went home and out of boredom started stalking Julie’s online profile. She was still popular, with 1,054 friends, and every boy posting on her wall that she was either cute, or sweet. I was contemplating whether Julie’s reaction to me was just Julie, and that she really did change and turned in a ‘sweet girl’. All night I tried to figure her out and got nothing. I ended falling asleep on my keyboard and woke up with a 10 page document of ‘zzzz’s and ‘mkkmkm’s.

Thank goodness today was a Saturday. I needed a break to just hang out with my best friend. I ended up calling Carson 10 times in 2 hours. Maybe she was busy? All day I had spent the day at home eating either chocolate or munching on popcorn. I tried to busy myself with movies, and I knew I was really bored because I started doing my homework. Finally after calling Carson repeatedly until it was 7:36 P.M., I figured she must’ve been having an emergency or something, because that’s not usual… At all.

Sunday finally came around and I was happy because I was going to see Carson at Church. Just me and her, no Julie. I walked into the big Sanctuary and spotted Carson in our meet-up spots, I waited for about an hour... Usually she is the one waiting for me. As I waved to her and started heading her way, a faint and familiar British girl called her name, “Carson! I’m over here, thank you for waiting for me; I got us both a pack of mint gum.” I stopped walking and glared at Carson. Carson already knew what I was thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, I hate you’.
“Ready to go?” My Mom came up behind me and also said, “There’s Carson, why don’t you go get her?” I looked at her and shook my head; I then spent the Church service alone with my Mom.

During Church, Carson flooded my phone with text messages and I just looked at her across the seats, and looked back. After Church, my Mom and I got up and left, as Carson chased after us.
“Hey, Gabby, wait up!” I kept walking and told my Mom not to worry and keep walking. She looked at me and shook her head. She advised me that it was not the right thing to do. I rolled my eyes at my Mom’s wise advice.
“Hello Carson, how are you?” My Mom smiled widely, and waved. She looked down at Julie and asked, “Now who is this?” She held out her hand to shake Julie’s hand.
“I’m Julie Powell, very nice to meet you, Ms..?”
“Ms. Ray, very nice to meet you Julie!” My Mom smiled again, and nodded. While my Mom and Julie started talking Carson pulled me aside and started questioning me about why I was mad.
“What’s wrong Gab? I don’t understand?” Carson looked at me, concerned.
“That’s what’s wrong Carson, that.” I pointed at Julie casually, so Julie or my Mom wouldn’t notice anything wrong. “And what happened yesterday? Did someone die or something?”
“No? I was just hanging out with Julie. We went go-kart racing then went to mini-golf!” Carson explained. My ticking-bomb finally went off.
“You hung out with her! I called you all day! I thought something was wrong!” I exclaimed. I looked outside around us to make sure no one heard the tone of my angry voice.
“Nothing was wrong, and I’m sorry, I left my phone at home… Then I slept-over at her house. I was extremely tired, I just fell on the bed, haha, it was-“
“I don’t care about your time with miss perfect Julie Powell,” I said as I cut her off, “She’s bad, Carson. Trust me; she will take you away from me! That’s her biggest goal in life, is to ruin my life! You’re not looking into my point of view. You are-“
“I don’t have to look into your point of view… I know she’s fine. She’s a great girl. And I’m what?”
“Y-you’re brainwashed! You’re being totally naive of this situation. You know what she did to me… She’ll do it to you too, or maybe even use you.”
“You’re completely wacko, I’m so done,” Carson angrily said.
“When she stabs you in the back, don’t come crying to me,” I sternly said. I walked away from her and grabbed my Mom and we went to the car. The whole car ride home my Mom tried to find out what was wrong; I just couldn’t tell her I was so upset. Sarcastically, I wished myself good luck on Monday.

First period was totally horrible. All class Carson and I were just staring each other down back and forth. We both felt bad and both didn’t want this to happen, yet none of us would swallow our pride to say sorry. After class, it was so awkward, and the tension was killing me. As I made my way to her, we both ran into each other. Obviously, we were both going to confront each other.
“I’m sorry.” We both sympathetically said at the same time.
“I’m really sorry,” Carson said. She looked at me with sorrowful eyes.
“Walk with me, let’s talk… Wait, you don’t want to leave Jul-“ I paused.
“Forget about her, it’s not about her anymore. I’ll walk and talk with you,” Carson said, and smiled.
“As we started walking out Julie was left in the room with a couple of girls. As we passed by the door, we walked slowly, hoping we would miss a couple minutes of Mr. Edhardt’s class and all the spit that came out of mouth every time he talked.
“Who ever said that Tiffany?” Julie gasped.
“You’re with her every second of the day!” Tiffany said.
“I’m not her friend, I don’t even like her. Every day I spent with her is like agony. She’s annoying too.”
Julie and her friend happened to catch our eyes, and apparently Carson’s eyes too. She stopped and looks at Julie.
“I only take Carson away because of Gabby. She knows who I am, and what I’m going to do. Sorry Tiff, I didn’t mean to totally neglect you. My job is almost done here,” Julie laughed and winked.
Carson’s tempered self stomped into the classroom and started yelling at Julie, “How dare you, Gabby was right, you are a little she-devil!” Julie paused at her step. She looked at me and gasped.
“What do you mean Carson? What’s wrong?” Julie seems to be still in the little act… Surprising.
“Cut the act you British disaster. Don’t ever talk to me again, Julie.” Carson turned around and started walking away, just then Julie stopped her and started talking harshly.
“Like I ever want to. By the way Gabby I will always win, I will always take things away from you, I will always be better than you.” Julie started hesitating.
I walked up to her face and smiled and said, “That’s not what Riley said when he kissed me.” Julie screamed and pounded her foot, and looked at me with such a glare. Revenge is sweet. Carson and I walked out of the classroom arm in arm; we both promised each other we’d never do this again. We walked out like just the way we started. Best friends.