I am the Skeleton in the Closet

Brandi

Erica and I didn't always have the same friends in school as we did outside of school. One such friend was a girl named Brandi. She was eccentric and fun but for some reason I hated her. I couldn't put my finger on it but she was off from everyone else in some way and no one else could see it. I knew I didn't want to be close to her but I could never really explain why. I think she got a similar idea from me. At the time she was one of the most popular kids in school. Brandi often wore dark clothing that contrasted pretty heavily with her bleach blond hair. Her face was ovular and her eyes bulged out to either side of her long pointed nose.

Megan, the girl from my LA class, had invited both Erica and I to her birthday party this year. I couldn't have been more excited. Megan didn't live too far from my house either, we passed her subdivision every time we went into town. If things go well here maybe I can have another buddy to hang out with. Soon enough I'll have more friends than I can count. I hoped, making sure I had everything and preparing myself to be the life of the party.

Erica and I carpooled over to her house. It was a big brick house. When we got there we were sent to their walk out basement that was really nicely finished. They had a few dalmatians that were adorably excitable and lovable. Megan's parents were artists for children's books. Their work was insane. I still have the invitation for her party because the card was just so beautiful and intricately made. Her mom had drawn this eloquent girl riding a dragon with a parade of rabbits and other small critters following close behind, it had two thick purple slabs attached to it that helped it fold up into a little book. The front had a sown in flower that protruded off of it and underneath that was the elastic band that bound the invitation together. Accordion folded inside was the picture and a little cubby for the personal note she wrote for us individually. My name was scrawled in a beautiful loopy cursive atop the cubby. Words don't really do the invitation justice, the drawing was quite possibly one of the most detailed pieces I've ever seen and covered the whole six by four inch sheet. While we were there her parents even drew us our own customized T-shirts. Mine was my face on a fairy that was flying above a city, my name cursively looped at the bottom.

Ding Dong!

"Oh that must be Brandi!" Megan popped up.

"Wait. Brandi is coming?" I whispered to Erica.

"Yea, why?"

"I don't know. I've got a bad feeling. Let's hope I'm wrong." I summed up watching the stairs carefully for her shadow.

Hours passed without an issue. I tried my best to just stay out of Brandi's way and let her have her fun. Finally, we were getting ready for the sleeping part of the sleepover. I had chosen to sleep on the couch instead of the floor like most of the other kids with their sleeping bags. Maybe she isn't so bad. Maybe I was wrong. I convinced myself watching her joke with everyone else happily. I started joking with them slowly, seeing what I could and couldn't say around her. Trying to figure out why I still had the feeling that something was going to go horribly wrong. I ignored my gut instinct. Just over reacting to a joke probably. Stop blowing this all out of proportion. What'd she ever do to you? So stop treating her like she's less than a friend. If I can secure things with her I can secure things with everyone else. I rationalized and started talking to her like I might anyone else.

"Have any water?" I looked at Megan for a direction point. "Sweeeeet." I walked over to where it was grabbing a bottle from the packaging. "Thanks." I took a big swig and walked back to my sleeping bag. I had chosen to sleep near Erica. I set down my water by her on the floor and brought my legs up on the couch with me. She was laughing and accidentally bumped my bottle. "What the heck! You can't just bump my water like that!" I exaggeratedly yelled jokingly.