𝑎 𝑏𝑎𝑑 𝑔𝑖𝑟𝑙 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑠.

20

our life.

what the fuck?

"quiet friend, who has come so far, feel how your breathing makes more space around you. let this darkness be a bell tower and you the bell. as you ring, what batters you becomes your strength. move back and forth into the change. what is it like, such intensity of pain? if the drink is bitter, turn yourself into wine. in this uncontainable night, be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses. the meaning discovered there. and if the world has ceased to hear you, say to the silent earth: i flow. to the rushing water, speak: i am." lexi recited.

the play started off with one of the main characters, jade, after her dad died. olivia noticed that the set looked almost exactly like rue's bedroom, and judging by the look on rue's face, she had heard the poem lexi recited before.

olivia grabbed rue's hand to try and comfort her. rue looked down and smiled, but then turned her head to look at jules. liv saw this, and she picked up her hand away from rue, crossed one leg over the other, and continued watching the play.

i knew jade had been doing drugs, but it wasn't until that day, at her dad's memorial, that i realized they were a greater comfort than i ever could be.

olivia liked how lexi narrated the play, almost as if she was narrating the character's lives. it was a new perspective on things and helped her keep up with what was happening.

maybe that's a silly observation, but i was only 13. it was the summer before i started ninth grade...back when we thought we'd all be friends forever.

you could barely see the stage crew working in the back to keep things in place and switch the set around. it had been set up like school picture day in grade school.

there were six of us.

there was me, grace.

my sister, hallie.

her best friend, marta.

marta's best friend, luna.

my best friend, jade.

and the queen b of it all, olive.

olivia's jaw dropped at the dollar store version of her sitting there on stage. her and rue made eye contact, both of them visibly surprised.

"this bitch wrote a fucking play about us." liv said.

and this is life. not everyone's life...

"but our life!" lexi smiled into the big letter "o" one of the stage crew members were holding up on stage.

no one applauded or did anything at first. then, a few people clapped their hands quietly. the girl holding up the letter "r" dropped it, but you couldn't tell if it was on purpose or not.

"oh, that's fucking cool." jayson yelled, making a few people laugh. olivia sunk into her chair. lexi hurried off stage, and they started off for the next scene.

it was in what looked like lexi and cassie's bedroom, lexi standing center stage.

"okay, this might kinda be a weird and embrassing thing to admit, but i think the most defining moment of my adolescence was when my sister went through puberty." she said.