The first day of school is never fun to me. You walk in to your same friends, talk about how tan everyone got and take off where you left off. Some things never leave from the previous year. Jenna and Josh still fight about who cheated on whom. Mollie and Lauren still ignore each other about a fight in 7th grade. When I get to lunch I sit with my normal friends. Jenna talks about how fun her summer was and how she and Lauren met guys at the beach. Mollie talks about how fun it was when Josh came over. I’m so sick of this, why can’t they just chill out? The one person who hasn’t said a word is Megan. She is my best friend. I went away to a cheer camp for summer so I haven’t seen her in awhile. She is pale, and she must have dropped 25 pounds. No one notices her. They go on about tans and camps and guys. I know something is wrong.

“Hey Meg” I say.























“Oh, hey Zoey” she responded.

“How was your summer?” I asked.

“Fine..”

“What’s wrong with you. You haven’t talked much, and you didn’t text me all summer!”

“Nothing, I’ve just been, busy.” She walked away.


I’m in English. I should leave Megan alone, but I need to know. Something happened. And it’s not good. I write her a note. “Hey Meg, you can’t lie to me. Something is on your mind. What happened to you? I tried calling your phone and it said it was disconnected. I haven’t talked to you lately and I just want to know what’s going on.” I pass the note on when she gets it she looks at me, tears up a little but stops. She starts to write.


“Yes something did happen. Zo, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be okay. I might tell you later.” I save the note.
In Algebra I pass another note. “Megan, what’s going on?” She ignores this one. She doesn’t care much she just puts it down and goes back to taking notes. Megan has been my best friend since second grade. I moved here and she taught me how to do a toe touch at Cheer practice. Ever since then we have cheered together. Both being little we have always been flyers. On the first day of school we usually talk about summer and cheer but I’ve heard she might stop. Something is going on.
At the end of the day I track her down. “Megan what’s wrong?”
“Nothing, chill out.”
“In the note you said..”
“I don’t care what I said.”
“Megan, you look like you have dropped 25 pounds.”
“Maybe I have?”
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Go away.” She said. I walked away. I couldn’t stand this. She is my best friend. What happened.

Megan hands me a note, she makes me swear only I see it and I wait till 8:32 tonight to read it. I wait. I go to cheer. Take my dog on a walk. Go to the store. Help my baby sister do a toe touch. Practice Cheer. And no it is finally 8:32. The note enclosed reads:
Dear Zoey,
You are my best friend. If I had to choose anyone to share this information with you’re the only one I could choose. Over the summer I went to the pool. Some guys came over to me and started telling me how hot I was. I enjoyed it. Then one of them pulls me over and starts to kiss me. I pull away. I ask my mom to pick me up but she was at work and I would have to wait. It gets late, he finds me again. I found out his name was Zach. He pulled me in and asked me to go all the way. I didn’t want to and my mom had just gotten there. I ran to the car and tried to forget. When I looked in the mirror I wanted to lose my boobs so no guy would ever look at me that way again. I worked out. I stopped eating everything. I had a few things a day. I liked the way I started to get. I stayed inside so I would lose any tan the days had gave me. I stole cigarettes from my brother and started to smoke so that I would appear different. I hung out with a different crowd. I turned off my phone so no one would change my mind. One day my brother’s friend came in my room and raped me. I tried not to scream. I didn’t want my parents to look at me like I’m a sl**. I just wanted to get out. I got drunk all the time. And when it came around to cheer, I can’t keep up. My life will never get better so tonight, I will end it. No one will stop me. I know you have tried to see what’s wrong, and I know you think you could have stopped me. But no you never can do that. No one will. This will hurt me and you but don’t bother. I’m gone.
Love,
-Megan. I’m sorry.

I could have stopped her. Megan you were my best friend. Come back? You could have had help. You could have been saved.