Sean’s Friends, Part II

By Joseph Crisalli

After school that day, Sean ran to catch up with his friends. "Hey guys!" he shouted. But his friends kept walking. Mario pushed Iggy in his wheelchair.

"Maybe they don't hear me," Sean thought to himself and ran even faster. Finally, he caught up with them and walked next to Tamara.

"That spelling test was hard, wasn't it?" Sean asked.

But Tamara didn't answer.

"I said, that spelling test was hard!" Sean repeated.

"Andrea do you here something?" Tamara asked Andrea.

"Sounds like a little bug to me," Andrea answered.

"Hey, what's going on?" Sean asked.

Still no one answered.

Sean's friends walked faster and got ahead of him. Sean just watched as they walked away.

“What happened?” Sean said to himself. “What did I do?”

From behind him, Sean heard Chuy call his name, “Hey Sean! Can I walk with you?”

Sean waited for Chuy to catch up. All the while, he watched his other friends walking away in the distance.

“What’s wrong? Where are they going?” Chuy asked.

“I don’t know. When I went to talk to them, they ignored me—like I wasn’t there.” Sean answered sadly.

“Oh, maybe they’re just playing a joke on you. Friends do that sometimes,” Chuy said, trying to cheer Sean up.

“Not my friends. At least, I didn’t think so.” Sean muttered as they walked home.

That night, Sean couldn’t sleep. He kept thinking about Tamara, Nesta, Mario, Andrea, and Iggy. Why had they ignored him? What had he done? He decided that the next day at school he would try to make things right.

The next morning, on the school bus, Sean sat down in his usual place next to Mario.

“Hey Mario, I don’t know why you guys are mad at me, but I’m sorry for whatever I did.” Sean said.

“Oh, it’s stupid. We’re not…” Mario began to say, but form the seat behind them, Andrea and Tamara interrupted him.

“Mario, are you talking to yourself?” Tamara asked.

“Yeah, cuz I don’t see anyone with you?” Andrea added with a giggle.

“Come on you guys!” Mario said. “This is silly. Sean didn’t…”

“Sean, who’s Sean?” Andrea asked, and then giggled again.

“Oh yeah, we used to have a friend named Sean, but he started hanging out with some new kid instead of us. And, now we don’t have a friend named Sean anymore.” Tamara said.

“Oh! Is that what all this is about? Just because I sat with Chuy at lunch?! He draws really cool pictures. I invited him to join us, but he was too shy.”

“So, you chose him over us?” Tamara said.

“No, I didn’t! Besides, I didn’t think you were talking to me.” Sean said angrily.

“We’re not! And, we won’t ever again!” Tamara answered.

“Let’s stop this,” Mario said.

“No!” Andrea pouted.

As they spoke, the bus stopped and Chuy got on. He smiled at the group. That was a big step for Chuy, he didn’t usually ever look anyone in the eye. Spending a little time with Sean had made him feel more confident.

When Tamara and Andrea saw Chuy, they didn’t smile back. They stuck their tongues out and looked the other way.

“You guys,” Mario started, “be nice. Sean is just trying to make Chuy feel welcome!”

“That’s right!” Sean said.

“You’re just trying to make me feel welcome?” Chuy asked as he sat in the seat across from them. “You mean you weren’t really interested in my drawings?”

“No, it’s not…” Sean began.

“No? So, you’re not? You just took pity on me?” Chuy said quietly.

“No!” Sean barked.

“Now, let’s all just start over,” Mario said.

“Mario, if you talk to these losers, you can never talk to me, Andrea or Nesta again!” Tamara said.

“What?” Mario asked.

“It’s us or them.” Tamara continued.

They all sat in silence all the rest of the way to school. In fact, no one spoke to anyone else in their little group for the rest of the week. Tamara, Andrea and Nesta were mad at Sean for talking to Chuy. They were also mad at Mario for talking to Sean. Chuy was upset because he thought the only reason Sean talked to him was pity. Mario was afraid to talk to anybody because he didn’t want his friends to be mad at him. And, Sean would have been happy to talk, but no one would talk to him. It was just a big, big mess!

By the end of the week, the friends were still ignoring each other. The funny thing was, they had mostly forgotten why they were supposed to be mad at each other. But, they were all just so stubborn. The only person who talked to any of them was Iggy. He tried and tried to make his friends apologize and make up. But, they wouldn’t listen to him. Iggy kept saying, “Just because someone likes someone new, it doesn’t mean that they don’t have room in their heart to continue to like you.”

The following evening was Mrs. Conn’s big Christmas party at the bakery. She had the party every year and everyone in Vista Falls was invited. Sean and his friends always had such a good time at Mrs. Conn’s party. But, no one was looking forward to it that year. What fun would a Christmas party be when they couldn’t talk to their best friends?

One by one, people began to arrive at “Kitty Conn’s Candy Corner” for the party. Mrs. Conn wore her red Christmas sweater. She had been very busy that year. She looked tired, but happy to see everyone.

Sean stood in the corner and watched as Tamara, Nesta and Andrea came in. Soon after, Mario arrived, followed by Chuy.

When all the guests had arrived, Mrs. Conn clinked a spoon on a clear glass of red punch. “Welcome everyone! I’m so glad to have all of my friends here this year. It’s strange, but at Christmastime, everyone seems to be friends. Yet, during the rest of the year, we hardly take the time to remember the special things that make every person so very wonderful. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all be friends all year long? Well, we don’t have to worry about that here! We’re all friends here! All year ‘round! We’re lucky to be in Vista Falls and we’re very blessed to have one another. Merry Christmas to all of you! And, enjoy the party!”

Sean thought about what Mrs. Conn had said. She wished that everyone would be as nice to one another as they were at Christmastime. Yet, here it was Christmas, and none of his friends were being very nice to one another.

Sean started to walk to the middle of the bakery to find his friends and make things right. He was surprised to see that Mario, Iggy, Andrea, Tamara, Chuy and Nesta had all done the same thing. They all laughed when they saw one another.

“Me first!” Tamara said. “I’m sorry I acted like such a silly. When I saw you talking to Chuy, I was afraid you’d like him better than us. So, I figured it would be easier to stop being your friend than for you to stop being my friend.”

“That’s silly. There’s not like a set amount of like that people are born with. We can like everyone and there’s still love left over in our hearts.” Sean said.

Iggy smiled, “He learned that from me.”

“You’re right,” Andrea added. “When I saw Tamara had decided to not talk to you, I just decided to back her up. I don’t ever want people to think that I’m not part of the group. I was afraid she’d stop talking to me, too. I’m sorry.”

Sean nodded, “That’s okay.”

“Me too!” Nesta added. “I didn’t want to get left out! I’m just funny like that.”

Everyone laughed.

“Now, it’s my turn. Chuy, I’m sorry you got your feelings hurt. You misunderstood me. I don’t pity you. I think you’re cool. You’re a really good artist.” Sean smiled.

“You think so?” Chuy asked sheepishly.

“I do,” Sean answered. “I’d like you to teach me, if you would.”

“Me too!” Tamara said.

“Me, too!” Andrea echoed.

Everyone laughed again.

“So, are we all friends again?” Mario asked.

“Yeah, we are.” Tamara answered.

“Right!” Everyone agreed.

Mrs. Conn walked by, handing out cookies, and said. “Look at all of you! The best of friends forever. It’s nice to see that things like that don’t change!”

“Yes, Mrs. Conn,” Tamara said with a smile.

“Well, Merry Christmas!” Mrs. Conn said with a wink.

“And, a merry Christmas to you, Mrs. Conn.” Iggy smiled, “Merry Christmas to all our friends!”