I always thought the hardest thing in life would be trying to explain the color green to me best friend, or at least I hoped it would be. Now I know that there are much harder things, like having to explain to myself that she’s gone, and she’ll never return. We will never go on our first double date, prom, graduation, our weddings, all the things we promised each other. Now that’s the hardest thing I’ll ever have to do: live my life without my best friend.

At fourteen the most important thing to everyone our age was the amount of friends you had on Picket’s, the number one social site. The fact that you can truthfully tell all your peers that you had 5,000 friends on Picket’s made you cool, even if you didn’t know a single one of those “friends.”

“Keeley! Oh MY God! I have to tell you something,” Mary Beth said, her clear blue eyes widened with joy.

Her excitement moved me, “What!” I exclaimed with the same amount of happiness in my voice.

“You know how on Picket’s everyone has, like, a million friends, but no one, like, actually talked to anyone they don’t know? Well this boy messaged me! I think it’s weird! I mean I’ve never met him before! He’s from Seattle; he’s SOOOO cute and really sweet! Plus he’s, like, two years older than us. He has the most gorgeous eyes! I think they’re green because they look like a clear shade of mustard to me. What does green look like anyway? It must be the most beautiful color in the world. I think that’d be my favorite color.”

“Um, well, green is…,” my best friend looked at me hopefully; every once in a while that question would rear its ugly head. How was I supposed to know what green looked like? It was just a color, it was just there. “…yea, green is pretty.”

From then on, I would hear about this perfect boy named Danny everyday. I didn’t mind, he was very interesting to hear about. I’ve never heard about anyone so perfect. Maybe they only make those kind of boys in Seattle.

“Incase you haven’t already noticed, I am on the verge of turning 15, and it’s almost summer…guess what my almost boyfriend Danny said!” She didn’t wait for me to reply before she exploded, “HE SAVED UP MONEY TO COME VISIT ME! He’s coming Keeley! June 25th, he’s coming!”

“That’s great Mary Beth! But, do your parents know?” I didn’t want to believe that my best friend was most likely going to have a boyfriend before me.

“Well! …no. They would freak, you know them! That’s why he’s staying at the motel that’s only a few blocks away,” she nonchalantly twirled her stick straight, blonde hair between her slender fingers. She had everything under control for the last time.

As school came to an end, she made it clear to everyone that she was “off the market” and her “heart belonged to Danny.” Our summer went on; we spent our nights gazing at stars, and sharing countless secrets and rumors.

I couldn’t sleep the night before she met him, I was so nervous for her. In the early morning hours before she was going to meet Danny, she called me. My heart was filled with hope, please let it be that he couldn’t make it!

“Hello?” my voice cracked.

“I’m nervous, scared to death, no way I can do this, kill me.” My heart dropped. This was actually happening; he would be here in a matter of hours.

“Don’t be,” I muttered, my greatest words of advice at such early hours.

“I just don’t want to mess up in front of him. What if he doesn’t like me in person,” she whispered her worries into the phone; it was 2 a.m. and surely her mother would be pissed if she knew Mary Beth was on the phone at such late hours.

“You won’t! You’re Mary Beth! Totally likable!”

“He doesn’t know I’m red-green color blind! Protan—whatever,” she blurted as if it was some sort of confession, “There’s a lot of things he doesn’t know about me.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure there’s a lot of things about him that you don’t know, turn it into a game of 20 questions or something. Now get some sleep Mary Beth! He’s sure to not like you if you have bags under your eyes!”

She laughed, “Goodnight Keeley! I love you best friend!”
“I love you too super, mega, ultra best friend, night.”
That day, she didn’t call at six like she promised. I waited, and waited. At nine, I tried calling her,”Hey it’s Mary Beth!”
“Mary Beth!” I exclaimed, “Why didn’t you—“

“Yea, I’m not answering your call because I have better things to do, leave a mess—“

Damn voicemail. I tried to occupy myself with other things, I knew I couldn’t call her mom, that was too risky, and could get her in trouble.

I didn’t sleep that night either until dawn. Then at ten, my mother came into my room.

“Keeley, Mary Beth is missing,” she cried. We’d been best friends for so long, my mom was like her and vice versa.

“Missing,” I mumbled. No! This couldn’t have happened!

“Her mom called to see if you knew where she could be. Try calling her back.”

“Missing…” I felt numb, my mom handed me the phone. I dialed her house number without thinking about it, I knew it by heart.

“Hello?!” a frantic voice came from the other end.

“Mary Beth?” I cried.

“No Keeley, she’s gone,” her mother sobbed. In between sobs, she managed to choke out, “Do you know where she could be?”

My heart hit the floor; I wanted it all to be fake. But I knew then that it was all real, like a scene from the most tragic movie ever, “Well, there’s this boy named Danny…”