Belonging: A Short Story

As I entered the second semester of my second year of middle school I didn 't feel a sense of belonging and I couldn 't understand why. Was it because I am too friendly? Maybe it is because I’m a girl? Was I flat out weird? What was so wrong with me that I couldn 't fit into crowds of people who supposedly had similar interest as me? It wasn 't always isolation and lack of socialization. I was always the talkative girl in class who was surrounded by friends that would find humor in something as simple as impromptu eye contact. The chilling idea of not belonging started out in seventh grade when my best friend at the time called me at approximately seven o’clock each night. We would speak every day, but instead of her telling me about …show more content…
I turned her tears of sadness into tears of joy for weeks on end. Every call, video chat, and after school play date were all centered around making her happy by doing the things she wanted to do when she wanted to do it. After a few rough months, her parents came to the realization that they loved each other and decided that they didn 't want to continue with the divorce. Still by her side, I sat with my best friend every day at lunch and listened to her every problem, issue, and dilemma until the bell would ring. As usual, we would finish classes and go home just to have our daily seven o’clock talk. After about a week of her being on her feet emotionally, she decided that she didn 't need a daily pick me up anymore. The next day she called me. The moment I heard the dial connect I knew that something was wrong. I asked her if she …show more content…
I couldn’t trust the one person I thought I was able to call a true friend. Along with her, I lost trust for everyone else in my life. I questioned and second guessed ever person I interacted with. Not being able to tell who was genuine and honest made me feel isolated in every conversation id try to engage in. I was unable to relate to the topics that were being discussed because I couldn’t differentiate the truth from the lies people would tell to attempt to make me laugh or fit in themselves. I lost all sense of belonging. Most of my classmates began talking about how the popular dynamic duo were going their separate ways. Across the school, people were choosing sides and reevaluating their own friendships. Our split started a domino effect of gossip and misfortunate events. The domino effect continued when my now ex best friend got a new best friend whose name was conveniently Gabby, just like mine. Thankfully, middle schoolers can only hold a two-week memory span and the domino effect of misfortune moved away from me when an eighth grader stole a sixth graders