#610

The afternoon rays from the gorgeous May sun had brightened the day, not warm to send us inside, but not too wet outside to keep from lying on the ground. Off in the distance a singular bird sang himself a love song to his broken heart. There was just the four of us, four of my best girls, and I could tell it would be a great evening. After the best inside joke of the night had been mentioned, another girl’s phone buzzed. She glanced at it, and started laughing outrageously. "What?" We all asked, "Who is it?" another girl mentioned. With hands still shaking from roaring laughter she held up her phone, buried her face in the ground, and showed us the name. We all chimed in with her hysteria. All of us, but one. After the last of us had stopped, and we'd all sighed like everyone does after a good laugh, we started to talk about her. Girls’ ferocity comes not with flying punches, but with stinging words. One would say one thing, and another would come back with something even crueler. Little by little we would one-up each other until it seemed we could have nothing more to say about her. But girls never know when to stop, and the comments and rumors continually were flying. We probably would never have stopped, had it not been for one brave friend. "Guys," she started out as a whisper, "I know you don't like her at all, I know she may have done some things to you in the past, but I do. I think she's a great girl, and if you would all take the time to know her, even a little, I imagine you would think so to, so can we talk about something else, please?” For a moment we were stunned, I could think of nothing to respond to that, until one girl said "Yeah good idea, what do you want to talk about?” Slowly we all agreed to this new idea, and carried on as all girls do with the latest drama with boys or teachers. I wonder how much this girl knows she had influenced me as she stood up for someone who wasn't even around. I, who thought myself kind to others and prided myself on standing up for people, had just been showed up. I don't remember any other thing that happened that night, all I can remember was how her strong words changed my outlook on people, probably, until forever.