bel

"I'm a girl!!" I exclaimed defensively. I don't think she bought it until a few days later when I came in sans my blazer, with my regular dress and frilly socks with pearls dangling from the sides. She laughed her mistake off. I just rolled my eyes and wondered why I wasn't allowed long hair like the rest of the girls. I wanted to flounce around with pigtails so badly, but my mother denied me this until I was 15 and totally out of my wanting-to-prance-around-with-pigtails stage and well into my angsty teenage stage.

Anyway, soon after she realized her terrible mistake, we became thick 'n' thin friends for most of our primary school years. Most days, we snuck down to the bookshop to buy flag erasers, had lunch together and walked to our respective guardians at home time together. She even made me a blue checkered bookmark for my Heidi novel. I was a very excitable child when it came to receiving gifts. I still am.

We switched classes some four to five years later and drifted apart as time and flaky adolescent personalities would have it. Our friendship was rekindled when we got thrown into the same class once more during our Sixth Form years. She lied to us once and came in with a large (fake) diamond ring, proclaiming that the man had proposed to her on one of his surprise visits. None of us took her seriously when she told us this time that she was getting married for real. It took a while.