I was so excited to go to Shelby’s house. She was one of my closest friends. Ever since she moved, we hadn’t been able to see each other much. I asked her what time I should come over. She sent a picture with her couch with the caption: “I’m helping my mom move stuff, you can’t come over.” I was disappointed, but it was fine.

Later, I opened a message from Shelby. “Who wanna spend the night?” She had obviously sent this to multiple people, and she had videos of her and a newer friend on her story. My stomach dropped, and caught fire on the way down.

I messaged her and said something like, “What the heck? You could’ve at least invited me personally. It was your idea for me to come in the first place.”

All she responded with was a picture of her smiling. “I told you I was busy.”

The next day, she blocked me.

I wasn't even upset. It wasn’t like the time she tried to abruptly end all communication with me; I cried for an hour straight. Now, I was only mad at her. I tried so hard to stay close with her, and she just threw everything away? Over the next few months, I learned how to live without her. It was hard to not have her there, picking up my calls whenever I was bored. I felt alone, even though I had plenty of other friends to talk to. My family was trying to move, so we looked at lots of houses. On the way to one, I was talking to a friend about what had happened with Shelby and how unfair I thought it was. While talking about it, I got a notification that turned my world upside down.

“shelby_masterson has requested to follow you.” What? “shelby_masterson: I’m so sorry,” my phone buzzed again. Shelby, the strong headed girl I looked up to for who knows how long, was saying things like, “I miss you. I was a jerk. I wasn’t fair.” I couldn’t believe it. I looked out the car window, we were at the house. Even if Shelby was the only thing I could think about, I had to get out of the car.

I was so lightheaded I felt like I could collapse, but I somewhat managed to tour the house and make it seem that’s what I was thinking about. In reality, I was messaging her almost the whole time. When I wasn’t messaging her, I was thinking about her.

“Please forgive me. I wasn’t fair. Please.” She begged. I’d never saw her so vulnerable.

All I wanted to do was make her happy. I told her, “It’s alright. I’m busy now, but I’ll call you later.”

After she blocked me, I imagined something like this happening. I always knew I’d forgive her immediately, no matter how much I know I shouldn’t. No matter how unfair she was to me. That doesn’t mean I expected it to happen.

I took a look at the house I might move in to. I was still overwhelmed, so one of the only things I picked up was that it was really pretty. Once we got back home, my mom and sister decided they really liked it “You should put a bid on it!” Ava said. She really only wanted to move because neither of us had moved in our lifetime. 

“Let’s make a pros and cons list.” My mom suggested. We made a pros and cons list for every house we looked at that was interesting. She wrote some things her and Ava thought of. My contribution were things like wide stairs and school district. We decided to put a bid on that house. The house I barely looked at. 

I went in my room and FaceTimed Shelby. When her face appeared on my screen, my heart beat 10 times faster and we both looked like we didn’t know what to say. She was wearing a tight shirt, big gold hoop earrings, and her hair was straightened. Not to mention the detailed makeup.

“I’m about to leave for my pageant meeting.” The voice I hadn’t heard in a while shocked me. “Oh, I don’t usually dress like this,” she added. Looks like she’s still a pretty good mind reader.

“Oh. Um. Ok. Bye?” I stammered. I really had no idea what I should say. “You’ll call me back, right?”

“Right.” She promised. Then the call ended. It lasted only six minutes, but it felt like forever. I was left overwhelmed and not sure what to do.

Later that night, I got a call from Shelby. Of course, I answered. We were both extremely awkward at first, but we got over it pretty quick. She told me all about her latest crush, and how well it was going. I told her about the house, but I had a hard time finding anything in my life exciting enough to talk about.

Over time, Shelby and I got close again. We spent lots of time together and I was able to trust her again. We started FaceTiming more often, and I went over to her house whenever I could. Even now, a year later, we’re still close. Me and Shelby’s friendship has had some pretty rough spots, but if someone is truly your friend, no matter how bumpy the road might be, they will always be by your side in the end.