RAYNA Chapter 5: Fuzzy Socks and Hot Chocolate

The years go by as these two best friends grow up. At Airyn's Sweet Sixteen there is an unexpected surprise...

Middle school was the worst three years of my life. My mom said I needed glasses in sixth grade, and then in seventh grade I needed braces. Constantly, I was teased because of how I look. To me, middle school was the worst thing ever invented. People turn into self-centered jerks and pick on people. I also realized that people think they are better than other people just because of flawless skin or because they don’t wear glasses or have braces. Those people made me sick. Airyn didn’t care about how I looked, even if I did look super dorky and weird. She remained being best friends with me. The thing that worried me was that she was perfect: tons of friends, a cute freckled nose, cool clothes, straight As, and was absolutely beyond beautiful. The only inadequate thing in her life was me.

 In sixth grade, Airyn suddenly had a strong obsession for shoes. Every time I came over to her house, the mat by the door, where the Baker’s shoes live, was a big mountain of shoes. More than half the shoes were Airyn’s. She had five types of converse sneakers, ten pairs of flip-flops, six pairs of tennis shoes, and the other eight were sandals. She kept some shoes in her room, too. In her room were slippers and lots and lots of slip on shoes. She hardly wore them to school at all. They were mostly for throwing on her feet when she had to walk across the street to a neighbor or to go somewhere that she’s in a hurry to get to. I mostly had three pairs of shoes. My old tore-up sneakers, my nice tennis shoes for P.E., and my flip flops for summer and boots for winter and part of spring.

                In eighth grade, I asked Mom and Dad if I could get contacts. “Sorry, sweetie,” Mom apologized. “We can’t afford contacts right now.” They knew I was getting bullied in school and they’ve spoken to my principal many times about it. My principal, Mrs. Goldstrand, kept saying that she would do something about it. The only thing she has done is give the bullies detention. That just makes them more whipped up and it makes them want to kick you in the gut.

                Airyn helped me through my rough times and I always had her shoulder to cry on. She was like that to me through tenth grade. In tenth grade was where things went all wrong.

                Airyn’s birthday is in September and mine is in June. She always had her birthday before mine in the school year. If my birthday was an farther in the summer she’d be almost one year older than me.

 School had just started and she was hugging all of her friends. Jealousy rose upon me until she hugged me and squeezed me so hard I was struggling for oxygen. “Hey, sis!” she greeted me. “You know, I shouldn’t be squeezing you this hard. We had a sleepover practically every weekend of the summer!” Wow, she lied for me. I was the only one who knew she lied and I was also the only one that knew she was actually in Canada the whole summer. I giggled as all of her other friends followed her to her locker with envy. They envied me and her as best friends. Ha, I doubted that since the sixth grade. I was still a geeky girl with glasses in tenth grade. The only thing that had changed was the fact that I had gotten my braces removed during the summer and received a clear retainer.

                Anyway, the first week of school was the week that Airyn was already handing out invitations to her Sweet Sixteen party. All the invitations I watched her hand out were pink and white and had ribbons. She never gave me one almost up until the day of the party. She asked me to come over the day before her birthday so she could show me her invitation for me.

                Airyn was already at home when I came over. Her parents drove her home and I had to ride the hour-long bus ride home then the ten minute drive to her house from my house. When I walked in the door, streamers were hung everywhere, balloons floated around, and there were posters and signs with colorful smelly markers everywhere. The lights were just to a dim where I had to find my way to a chair and wait for Airyn to come down stairs.

                I waited on the living room couch for about five minutes and then the lights flipped on to a blinding level. In the center of the lights, which was on a little stage where the TV usually would have been, was Airyn. She was in a sparkly dress and her hair was gracefully hung in a ponytail. A microphone was centered between her hands and was held up to her mouth. Oh, this is going to suck, I thought. Airyn was always telling me how horrible of a singer she was.

She started to sing and her voice was saintly. The song I figured was called “Invitation” after two choruses of “Invitation, invitation. I invited you. Invitation, invitation. You’re best friend and I… love… you.” Crying with joy, I clapped to the last chorus and the second she finish the song I hopped on the stage and gave her a big hug.

 I noticed that the TV was moved to the corner of the room when we untangled our arms from the hug. But I wasn’t focused on the TV. I realized then that she had saved the best for the last.

                The next day was a Friday, the Friday of Airyn’s Sweet Sixteen, and it was still a school day. It was one of the worst days of my life. It all started out when she drove me to school in her dad’s old car. I was running late; my hair was tangled and I needed to brush it, I lost my other shoe and found it at the last minute, and I hardly had had enough time to stuff the pretty dress I was wearing to Airyn’s party in a plastic bag thing. She understood and talked to me about how we all have bad starts to the day but they’ll always get brighter. She was so wrong.

                During the day was okay with classes and everything but right after school let out I went to the bathroom to change into my dress and put makeup on before Airyn’s party. Right as I slipped the dress on- a pretty blue dress that came down to my knees, had two layers, a silk layer and a satin layer, and had sparkly ruffles everywhere- Leesa, the girl that was in my first grade class, walked in the bathroom to reply mascara. She was also invited to the party.

                “Rayna, is that you?” she mumbled right as I came out. “Oh hi. Nice dress.” She was also wearing a dress, a purple bejeweled one that looped around her neck and flowed to her shins.

                “Thanks.” Studying myself closely in the mirror, I let my hair out of my ponytail and brushed it. It was getting long and just about touched my bottom. I put it back up in a long braided ponytail and to insert a party look to my hair, I added sparkly barrettes.

                Leesa was still next to me when I was starting on my makeup. “What do you think of Airyn?” she suddenly asked me. She set down her blush and looked at herself in the mirror. I was guessing she was thinking, Wow, who is that?! Ha, ha, I’m so pretty.

                Mystified, I said, “What? Well, she’s popular. But she’s a good person and she doesn’t judge me. We’re like best friends, almost sisters. Are you a friend of hers?” Then inside I felt guilty for what I said because I may have said too much and made her fuming with envy.

                She made an angry face. “Yeah, I’m one of her closest friends. She said to me herself,” she stuttered through clenched teeth. Her fists tightened around her makeup.

                What she said made me furious, so I decided to have a little fun with it. “Well, I’m not even her friend anymore. We quit being friends since like sixth grade.” What I had said put a smile on her face but it dropped into a blank expression when I said, “We started becoming sisters, not blood related but close enough.” She shut her makeup bag closed and stormed off, slamming the bathroom door behind her. I smiled deviously and then went out to meet Airyn at her dad’s old car. I guess everyone wanted to be her best friend.

                As I gently pushed the door open to the parking lot, my whole body froze. The lot was vacant. The front parking lot was for the students and parents so all of the teacher’s cars were parked in the back parking lot. Where’s Airyn? She was supposed to drive me to her house for her party.

                The wind spun and flapped my hair and the coolness in the air gave me goose bumps. Pulling out my jacket and phone from my backpack, my finger numbly punched in Mom’s number. The phone rang for a while and when it went to voice message I automatically hung up. I slipped on my jacket, dialing her number again. The phone rang three times before she picked and said shrilly, “Hello?”

                “Is everything okay?” I gasped as soon as I heard her voice rasp. Forget about her she’s fine, I told myself over and over again. “Can you pick me up? Airyn was supposed to take me with her to my party but I guess I took too long or something.” There was no answer. “Hello?” Beep. She hung up. Then I decided to walk part of the way home since it was a long walk then I’d call her again and tell her my location and to come pick me up.

                Walking home was just my luck when the temperature came down and it started raining, freezing rain. My dress was soaked. It was caked with dirt from sitting on the ground waiting for someone. My head and hair was covered up pretty well because I had a sweatshirt in my backpack but my dress only partly covered my legs so perceptibly my legs felt as if they were near frostbite. So I walked all the way home, no answer from Mom when I called her,  legs freezing, teeth chattering in the astringent cold.

                She was curled up on the sofa with blankets, hot chocolate, and a reading book when I walked in the door. “Jeez, it shouldn’t be this cold in September,” I muttered. I shoved sweatshirt in the coat closet furiously.

Stomping downstairs to laundry room I could hear Mom say, “What’s wrong with her?” Ignoring her, I tore my dress off of me without ripping it, and threw it into the washing machine. Its fine, I thought. I’ll be at her party on time I’ll just leave early to get my dress and come back. It wasn’t that good of a plan but what else could I have thought of at a time like that.

Grabbing my ripped jeans, I headed for the stairs. I ran up the stairs, my heart pumping so fast it was ready to explode. “Mom, will you drive me to Airyn’s house?” I blurted out.

She stared at me like I was crazy. “Why’s your face all red?” she asked. Then I gave her a “Are you seriously saying that to me right now?” face and she said, “Get in the car.” She brusquely grabbed her keys without blinking and ran to the car, with my feet on her heels.

“Are you guys fighting?” asked Mom as she began driving. I slapped her on the head and she drove faster. “This is no way to- OW!” I tugged on the seat belt nervously, considering I was twenty minutes late. Best friends do not show up twenty minutes late. They arrive early and set up and then leave late and clean up. Glancing at my watch, I started biting my lip. A chilly breeze rolled around my shoulders as I opened the window.

“Hurry, Airyn is going to kill me!” I muttered, half to myself half to Mom. When I saw her house come into view, Mom unbuckled me violently and tossed me out of the car. To make it a little more dramatic I pretended to tumble into the muddy grass and ruin my clothes.

Mom shut the door, rolled down the window and shouted, “You’re grounded for three weeks for making me late to my book club meeting!” She cursed under her breath as she rolled the window back up and drove away. I didn’t even know she had book club meeting. I didn’t even know she was in a book club. I groaned, looking down at my… bare legs… sitting in the frozen ground. They were shaking from the bitter cold. Examining the rest of my body, I realized I was only wearing my matching shirt that I wore under my dress. My jeans were in my hands but I had no time to put them on in front of Airyn’s whole neighborhood. I decided that my shirt wasn’t wet enough or dirty enough to get washed so I kept it on. The only other thing I was wearing was my underwear. Wow, you can’t imagine how I felt about myself right there. I thought I was the biggest idiot in the world. This is not a moment that someone can say “Oh, it happens to everyone” to me. This was way worse. Especially since I shivering so hard my teeth chattered.

Covered up with only my long auburn hair, my ripped jeans, and my hands, I hobbled in the back screen door where no one was and hid under a table that was covered with an expensive blue covering and gifts on top. Crap, I forgot my present at home, I thought. I prayed and prayed no one saw me. I started to relax after seeing feet traveling to and from the table, looking at all the tags on the gifts and guessing what they are.  They didn’t say anything about me that I could hear. After hearing people complain about their lives and talk about Airyn, I could hear Leesa’s voice bring up my name.

“That nerdy girl Rayna is her best friend but I think I’m just a whole lot closer to her than that freak.” The sound of her voice sounded like a nasty witch about to offer me a poisonous apple. What she said got me so furious I bumped my head on the table and exclaimed, “Ow!” I could tell people heard me because the room got quiet and people were whispering. Finally after a minute of snickers and whispers, I could hear a pair of high heels clonking against the linoleum floor. The sounds got louder and a hand reached underneath and pulled up the blue covering. It was Airyn. She looked so amazing. Her hair looked professionally curled and piled into a bun on top of her head. Some curls escaped and waved against her cheeks. Her dress was a strapless turquoise dress with a thin silk bow that wrapped around her waist. The dress was layered in sparkly ruffles that eventually touched the floor in a smooth surface. She wore silver high heels that wove around her feet in a beautiful braid.

“Rayna? What are you doing under here? And why aren’t you wearing the dress we picked out together at the mall?” Her voice was raspy and cracked. Tears poured from her eyes and she ran to what I guessed was her room. The blue covering fell as she ran and I felt reassured.

After Airyn, ran a girl named Lizzy, who also a friend of hers, is trying to scramble up to the top spot and be her BEST friend. Everyone looked at where they had gone; some of the heads glanced over at the table I was under and I could hear Leesa’s voice say something about uncovering me again.  Before she could lift up the covering I ran out of the table the other way and it turns out there were people there, too. I kept running anyway and locked myself in the bathroom.

Leesa’s voice talking to other voices ended up with laughing. “Rayna was in her underwear! Some best friend she is coming to her Sweet Sixteen like that!”

Trying to choke back the tears, I pounded on the door and yelled, “Leesa, you’re such a jerk! I have jeans!” That didn’t help. More laughing and giggles filled the room. Half an hour later, no one noticed me anymore and they partied on. Eventually, I ended up sitting in the bathtub with Airyn’s robe on and I didn’t care if she got mad at me for it. I didn’t want to suffer anymore humiliation.

Then I heard a knock. “Open up. I know you’re in there.” The voice was Airyn’s. Her voice was still cracked and it sounded as if she was still crying.

“Get a key!” I muttered.

“Rayna, seriously open this door. It’s my house,” she threatened, pounding on the door.

I sighed and then shouted, “I’m too lazy,” but got up anyway and unlocked the door. “What do you want?” I asked angrily, looking at her tearstained face. Her hair was coming out her bun and her mascara was dripping down her face.

She gestured me to the toilet seat. “Can we talk?” she asked softly.

“Is it cool if I sit on a toilet with your robe on?” I asked, nonchalantly.

“Just sit.” She sat on the edge of the bath tub, bending her dress and getting it full of soapy water and bubbles. Her little sisters, Michella and Grace probably took a bath because she and Grace were going to a birthday party down the street after school and the parents of that little girl were pretty rich and fancy. I bet Mr. and Mrs. Baker wanted their little twin daughters looking nice going to the party.

There was a long silence. “Are you mad at me for coming to your party in only my underwear and shirt?” I whispered. I kept my head down and my eyes staring at my pale, bare feet. “You didn’t drive me back to your house so I had to walk home in the sopping wet and rain and my dress was dirty and wet so I had to wash it. And I was so caught up in all the drama and in getting over to your house… I forgot to put clothes on.” 

She never spoke. Her eyes followed my hand motions as I talked. “Come on. You can’t be mad at me! We’re sisters!” I stood up and jumped around. “Come on!” Taking her hand, I yanked her up off the bathtub and she just flopped onto the floor the second I pulled her up.  Her pretty dress spilled around her in waves of blue satin.

My smile fell. “Fine, don’t talk to me,” I whispered, halfheartedly and walked out. I didn’t hear footsteps behind me as I stormed out, so I guessed Airyn was still moping in the bathroom. So maybe it wasn’t the nicest idea to leave your discontented best friend sitting around in a bathroom alone. But what else could I do I was angry at her for being so ignorant.

I went outside and walked home alone. I didn’t even want Mom to come and pick me up. Walking home was freezing in only a robe and a shirt on but it gave me time to think about things and what I had to do and what I actually did to make her this angry. This is unfair, I thought, biting my lip. I didn’t do anything. So maybe I came to her birthday party… undressed. Big deal! I was her best friend. We didn’t care how each other looked no matter where we went. That’s basically why she was pretty and popular and I was nerdy and had glasses in middle school and we were still friends.

About three quarters of the way home I decided I had major frostbite in my toes and went up to one of the houses and asked to borrow their shoes. Most people just slammed the door on me because it was almost seven and they were eating dinner with their families. There was one nice family with three kids. They said they ate dinner at 5:30 when I asked them and they gave me nice and cozy warm moccasins and Halloween socks. It wasn’t quite Halloween yet but hey, they were really warm and fuzzy socks.

When the warm aroma of hot chocolate and cookies filled my nose the second I got in the house, my eyes shuttered close and my blue lips formed into a smile. Mom’s hot chocolate and cookies were the best. She either knew I was coming home freezing or she just made it because of how cold it was out. Sipping my hot chocolate, I told Mom what had happened. Cooking a warm bowl of soup for me for dinner, she listened and talked it out. The soup was warm happiness in my stomach and the fresh-baked cookies melted in my mouth.

The sweet taste of chocolate still lingered in my mouth as I went upstairs to take a shower. Leisurely undressing myself and climbing into the shower, I let the burning hot water wrap around me and fall to my feet. I didn’t care if it burned my skin and made it red. It released most of my stress. Except I still had to figure out why Airyn was so miserable when I left her. The thought of her sitting there on the floor literally tore my heart in two. My muscles tightened in my chest and my throat was dry and scratchy as I tried to choke back the tears. It was no use. I cried until the water wasn’t hot anymore. But I was glad Mom didn’t hear my cry over the plunging of the water through the tubes and out onto me. This cry I wanted to keep to myself.