‘Who needs friends?’ I thought, looking down at my crossed feet on my twin-sized bed.

A while ago, I had long, blonde, silky hair, and was the most beautiful girl in my school. Every guy fawned over me. Until I came down with a rare sickness called snakeitis. All of my hair fell out and what grew back were actual, live snakes. I realized I was staring at my pastel, blue socks when I heard Jerry (I named my hair snakes. It’s only customary) hiss.

                “You have us as friends.” He huffed. I rolled my eyes.

“Because being friends with my hair snakes is definitely not lame.” I replied, my voice laced with sarcasm.

“And you guys say I’m the mean one.” Audrey commented, leaning in next to Jerry. I have 8 hair snakes. You have Depressed Jerry, Mean Audrey, Sassy Delicia, Scared-y Sammy, Lonely Vanessa, Obsessive Jayson, Annoying Trevor, and Obnoxious Ally. I don’t consider them friends because of the fact that all of them bully me.

                “I need to eat, so can you guys go to sleep please?” I said, half-heartedly, already knowing the answer.

“Why do we need to go to sleep now? It’s only 6 o’clock.” Delicia hissed.

“I would like to talk to my mom for once in six months.” I mumbled.

“Aw little baby Stacia wants to talk to her mommy!” Trevor jeered. The other snakes laughed. I put on my slippers and went towards my bedroom door, kicking my dirty clothes in the process. I opened the door and walked down the hallway. The laughter floated up the stairs as I started down them.

“I’m coming to eat!” I yelled.

                The giggling stopped and the rustling started. Everyone was gathering their stuff to move into mom’s room. This started when I caught snakeitis. The doctor said that I (or rather my snakes) weren’t allowed to make eye contact with anyone. This is because they would turn into stone.

                I trotted down the stairs and went into the kitchen as my mom’s door shut. I went up to the cabinet and poured a bowl of Purple Tusked Elephant O’s. As the snakes talked to each other, I heard the familiar human whispers I used to talk to. I felt my eyes tear up, but I quickly shoved my sadness down my throat. I couldn’t let the snakes know, they’d mock me.

                Later that night, when all of the reptiles fell asleep, I put on a baseball cap with a bright blue bow on it and snuck out of the house. This is my routine; picking somewhere to spend my money so I can fill the void for a few days before I go out again. Tonight it’s a Japanese squishy shop called ‘Neko!’, or as it is in English, ‘Cat!’. I got into my car and made my way downtown.

                As the neon blue and pink lights flashed overhead, I looked at all of the squishies and felt overwhelmed. They were all so adorable, so many to choose from. I picked up one that looked like a baguette with a kawaii face on it. It was labeled ‘slow-rising’. I squished it and felt immediately satisfied. I put it in my cat covered hand-basket. I sighed as I felt someone come up next to me.

“I like the artisan goods too. All of them are slow-rising.” a girl said, leaning closer to me.

I smiled and looked at her face, not meeting her eyes. Her purple hair tumbled down past her shoulders and her emerald eyes were lined with black.

“I’m Stacia.” I said.

“I’m Rachel.” She replied. I shook her hand. Her nails were painted with a pastel pink.

“Wanna be friends?” She asked. I smiled from ear to ear.

“Yes, I would love to-“ I started.

As soon as my cap popped off, I knew my snakes were out. The hat seemed like it fell to the floor in slow motion. All of the snakes met her eyes as soon as mine did. Starting from her feet going up to the top of her head, she became a dull gray color.

“Rachel! No!” I screamed, hugging her. A few seconds later, she was set-in-stone.

All my snakes started to hiss and chant, “All you need is us…” I fell to the ground, my arms around Rachel’s stone feet. Finally, after months of hiding them, I let the tears fall.

‘Who needs friends?’ I thought, looking down onto the tear-soaked floor.