The light breeze from the Pacific Ocean blew the palm trees as Lauren and Brittany tried to tan on the beach. It wasn’t the best day to be out on the Orange County Beach. The clouds were overcast but the temperature was still in the high 80’s. As Lauren picked up her pink Blackberry Pearl, she took off her oversized Channel Sunglasses and answered her phone. It was her boyfriend, Seth, asking if she wanted to meet him at the Sailboat for a stack of pancakes.

As Lo hung up the phone, she packed up her things and put on her new Abercrombie and Fitch skirt. “That was Seth. He wants to meet at The Sailboat for some pancakes. Wanna Come?”

“I guess. It’s too windy here anyway,” Brittany said as she took off her Dolce and Gabbona sunglasses and packed up her tote bag.

Brittany and Lauren had been best friends ever since 6th grade. Now, 16 and in 10th grade, they are still together. They have never gotten in a fight. At OCH, Orange County High, they were known as Brittany and Lauren. Not just Brittany and not just Lauren. They were always together and a lot of people envied them. Lo and Britt practically lived together. Nothing has ever come between them. But lately Lauren has noticed something was missing. She just couldn’t put her finger on it.

As they were walking to the pancake house, Britt nervously picked at her perfectly manicured nail and looked at her shoes. She said, “Ya’ know, you and Seth have been really close lately.”

Lo took that comment as a conversation starter, not in any way a problem she was trying to address. “Yeah, I know. I really like him.”

Brittany looked into Lauren’s eyes and she said, “Yeah but he gets so mad really easily. And you guys are so into each other. I mean you guys are just gonna lose all your friends and all you’re gonna have is each other and it will be disgusting and you won’t have a life!”

“Oh no! Ugh! What the heck!” Lauren thought to herself, but didn’t dare to say it out loud.

So instead, she said,” Britt, that is not going to happen. I spend like my life with my friends, way more time than I do with Seth. And I thought you liked him.”
“I do. I just hope your right.”

Lo was so confused. Where was this coming from? She always thought that Brittany had been good with Seth. What was she suppose to do?

That week Lauren and Brittany were together a lot. And on Friday night, they hung out with Seth and some of his friends. After that, Brittany went home and got ready for bed. It was about 2:30 and Lo was just lying down in bed. Her phone vibrated. It was a text from the lovely Britt. “Hey. We need 2 talk,” it said.

“Hey. Yeah what’s up?” I replied back.

“I’m sorry but I think you and Seth should brake up.” Lo just stared at the screen blankly. After a minute she just got mad.

“Why have you been like this Britt? What is this about?” UGH! As she texted she was getting frustrated. Her fingers were pounding on the numbers like the Wack-A-Mole game. She was so taken back by Brittany.



After a bit, Lo’s phone vibrated and the bright florescent light shone on her ceiling. “He gets mad about every little thing. And you never hang out with your friends anymore. What’s going to happen is you are going to start hanging out with him more and more and then none of your friends will want to be with you and then all you will have is each other and you will be miserable. It will be disgusting!”

“You know that I would give the world for my friends. They are my life. I would never let that happen. Now what is seriously wrong? Cuz I know that isn’t it.”

DO YOU WANNA KNOW THE REAL REASON? THE WHOLE REASON THAT I ALWAYS TALK ABOUT WANTING A BOYFRIEND IS BECAUSE I USED TO BE YOUR NUMBER 1 AND YOU USED TO ME MINE, BUT NOW NICK IS YOUR NUMBER 1 AND I AM NOBODIES! AND IT HURTS! SO I JUST WANT TO BE SOMEBODIES!

Lo didn’t know what to say. Brittany has always been her number 1.She was so upset that she had let her think that. All she wanted to do right now is scream. But she couldn’t. A lump was in her throat. Her eyes began to burn and tears began to build in the corner of her eyes. Right now she really just wanted to cry into Seth’s muscular arms. She never wanted to lose Britt. They were to close and she was too precious to lose.

After a couple minutes of thinking, Lauren thought of something to say. She picked up her slim phone and let the words flow from her heart straight to her fingertips and onto the bright screen. “Brittany Madison White! Why didn’t you tell me this earlier? I would never do anything to hurt you because I love you babe! But if you felt that way you should have told me before it got worse. You basically let it inside and let it explode. What can I do?”

Lauren just lay in bed and cried. Normally, she would tell Brittany about something like this. Then, she would tell Seth. But this time, she knew she couldn’t tell Seth and that hurt her.

Suddenly, her screen lit up and her phone vibrated. “Lauren Elizabeth Smith! I will always love you. But right now, I don’t really want to be around you when you are with Seth or even texting Seth. So for now, I am taking a break. When you and Seth break up, I will always be here for you. I understand if you don’t want me then, but I will always care about you. Goodbye for now<3.”

NO!!! Why was she doing this? What is wrong with her? Lauren couldn’t even believe her eyes. She hurried up and typed something so that Brittany would know she cared. “Why are you doing this? If you want to make me choose between you and Seth, I will 100% of the time chose you. But, I don’t think that would be nice of you as a friend. If I were in a bad relationship, then I would completely understand. But I’m not. I am happy with Seth.”


“That is the problem. You guys are happy together.”

Lauren couldn’t believe it. Brittany wasn’t the type to get jealous. But, it was definitely obvious that she was. Lauren couldn’t even text her back. She had to think about this.

Lauren’s bright blue eyes slowly opened to the bright California sun shining threw her huge bay window. She was so cozy and comfortable completely sunken into her fluffy Ralph Laurén Comforter. Then it dawned on her, she had to deal with the mess that had happened last night.

She rolled over and paced to her Paris themed large bathroom. She looked in her mirror and saw her streaked dark brown mascara down her cheek from crying. Lo opened her drawer and took out her green Neutrogena Wave. She washed her face lightly then put her hair up in a messy bun. She walked into her sun lit room and put on some shorts and a cami. Then, she went out onto her balcony to do what she knew she had to do. She listened to the phone to ring. Then someone answered.

“Hello?”

“Hey babes.” Lauren sounded like she had a smile on her face but in reality she was about to cry.

“What’s up?” Seth said back to her.

“Nothing really. Do you want to meet me for a smoothie?” Lauren hated every second of this, but she knew it was what she had to do.

“Sure. I’ll be there in about ten minutes. Is Britt coming?” He said sounding like it was what he lived on to be with her.

“No. Just you and me.”

“Okay see you soon. Love you. Bye.” He replied.

“Love you too. Bye.” She knew that was the last time she would say that.

Seth pulled up to the cul-de-sac driveway with the beautiful flower garden to the side with the large pool, hot tub, sauna, and waterfall. He took his black Lamborghini around the curved way and pulled into the front of the house. He beeped twice to let her know he was here. Lauren was out in less than 5 seconds. She hopped into the car cheerfully. They gave each other a short and sweet kiss and began to talk about the upcoming summer.


As they sat down at a table with their strawberry banana smoothies, Lauren fumbled about with her Juicy Couture charm bracelet. “Seth. We need to talk.” She really didn’t want to do this, but she had to.

“Okay Hun. What’s up?” He said sounding to caring and understanding.

“Okay this is really hard for me to say. And I’m really sorry. And I still want to be friends. Please don’t be mad at me cuz’ I really don’t want this to be happening.” She was stumbling about. She just couldn’t say it. “We have to break up. I’m sorry! It’s just that it’s either you or Brittany. I will always love you and I don’t mean to hurt you. I just have to do this for her.

Seth didn’t take it too well, but Lauren knew that she was doing the right thing. A few weeks went on and it was sad for Lauren to see Seth at school to walk by and just flirt with other girls. She still really cared about him but she loved Brittany. What she had to do now is watch her love go to someone else and try to remember that she was doing the right thing.