Story #2

          "So when and where is her party going to be?” I asked my friends, Kelli and Leah, as we walked to PE. We had all been invited to the birthday party of our friend, Annie.
          "Actually,” said Kelli. “We are going to meet at my house Saturday, and then my mom is going to drive us to the mall.”
          "Why your house?” I asked, thinking that this was a little weird.
          “She said her house is under construction, so like, we can’t really hang out there.”
          “Oh, I see.” Kelli was one of the nicest girls I knew, and so lending her home to another girl was just another act of generosity on Kelli’s behalf.
          “Yeah,” Kelli continued. “Then my mom will take and pick us up from the mall.”
          “That reminds me,” said Leah. “What are you going to give her?”
          I thought about this for a second, and then replied, “I think I’ll probably make her something, earrings or whatever. I don’t want to spend a lot because I’m basically broke, and I don’t know her all that well anyways.”
          “Ahuh…” Leah said quietly. “Because you know, I think she’s planning for us to buy her things when we go shopping. I was texting her, and she said 'Yay, we can go shopping, and you guys can buy me presents!'”
          “Really?”
          “Yeah, but I don’t think I am going to. I mean, it’s not like we’re that good of friends or anything.”
          “Hm,” I said. “Well, I guess we’ll just wait and see what happens.”

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          It was Saturday morning, and I was riding in the car to Kelli’s house, for Annie’s birthday. My mom told me to call Annie to see where they were, but when I did, I got no answer. I had never been to Kelli’s house before, so when we got there, my mom waited in the car while I ran up to the front door to check the house. On the beautiful white, double-doors, there was yellow post-it that read:

Caitlin,
Left for Alamoana. Call us. 273-3345

          I jumped back into the car, and my mom took me to Alamoana. *BZZZ* My phone vibrated in my hands. “Hey Leah,” I answered. Leah was calling from American Eagle, and from the way she was talking, I could tell that things were a little off. She said that Annie was in the dressing room, and Kelli and she were waiting outside.
          “I think she expects us to buy her whatever she chooses.”
          “Oh, ok.” Great, I thought. “I’m coming now.”
          When I got to American Eagle, I found Annie with an armload of clothes facing off Leah and Kelli, like they were on opposite sides of a battle field, and the tension in the air seemed to smother any happy mood. Annie was wearing a strand of pearls (a birthday present), and there were bags under her eyes on her pale face. After some silence, Annie left to wait in line. While she was gone, Leah and Kelli filled me in. The other girls Annie had invited couldn’t come at the last minute. They apologized for leaving the house without me, but said that Annie had not wanted to wait. They also told me that Annie had gotten a ton of cash from her parents, and could easily afford whatever she wanted to buy.
          Annie rejoined us with a shopping bag on her arm, and icily brushed past us, mumbling, “Let’s go.” Reluctantly we followed.
          The next half hour didn’t get any better. Kelli tried to talk to Annie, but couldn’t get anything out of her, and Annie definitely wasn’t talking to Leah or me. Before we knew it, Annie was on her phone, told us her mom was picking her up, and rushed into Longs, losing us in the throngs of people. We couldn’t find her. For a while, we were shocked at what had just happened.
          Kelli and I called our moms to let them know what had just happened, and they were shocked as well. Kelli’s mom picked us up a little while later. The three of us spent the rest of the day trying on clothes, baking cookies, and watching movies at Kelli’s house, trying to forget what had happened.
          When I got home, I emailed Annie and asked her how she was. The next day, Kelli, Leah, and I received emails from Annie. In her email, she apologized for ditching us, and explained how her parents had been fighting a lot recently. Half of me believed her, but the other half wasn’t sure if she was just making up an excuse. Either way though, I learned that I don’t always know what is going on in someone else’s head or life. And even though it is easy to make judgments about others, these judgments aren’t always reliable or fair. The only way to understand someone else is to take a walk around in their shoes and look at things from their perspective. We are all different, and sometimes, things going on inside of us, cannot be seen from the outside.