Growing up I, like most people, didn’t get along with my sister. Jackie and I hated each other. She thought that I was the most annoying thing to ever happen to her, and I thought she was the biggest bully to ever walk on the face of the Earth. We constantly fought. Sometimes I think we just fought to fight, not because there was actually a conflict going on. We went on to rarely talk or even be friends. I have always thought I hated my sister, but as I grew up I realized she is somebody that I can never live without.

Like most big sisters, Jackie took advantage of me being young and dumb. She would lie to me and make up stories, just for the sheer joy of me believing them. When I was five, she told me I was adopted. I completely believed her and I thought I wasn’t my parents biological child until age seven. I even went to the point to tell my whole first grade class that I was adopted because I honestly thought I was. Jackie also tricked me into doing everything for her. She would tell me she would pay me money to clean her room, rub her back, or do her other chores. I never received any money for anything she asked me to do.

Jackie wasn’t the only person in our relationship to cause problems though, I did a few things to upset her too. As soon as I realized I could sass back to her, I did. I learned that I could be just as big of a brat to her as she could be to me. I also had the biggest weapon of all against her, my parents. I’m not saying my parents like me more, because they don’t, I’m just pointing out that while Jackie was a defiant teenager, I was innocently in elementary school. They would obviously believe their “innocent” child. I would lie and say she hit me or called me mean names, or do whatever I could do just to get her into trouble.

When I was in the seventh grade, what I thought was the best day of my life happened. Jackie moved out of the house. I was happy to finally be an “only child” for once. I acquired her old room, and repainted it. I also received a few more extra things, such as money or clothes, here and there. I also gained better relationship with my mom because I was the only daughter at home now.

My eighth grade year my love-hate relationship with my sister turned into almost no relationship. Not because we were mad at each other, we just both had a lot going on with our lives. I rarely talked to her, and when I did, is was because she briefly stopped by my house or it was over a text message. It never really bugged me at first but as I got older I started to miss seeing my sister.

Our lack of communication changed shortly after I entered high school. As a freshman I went through a lot of big changes, and new experiences. I remember having an extremely bad problem with finding a homecoming dress. I was convinced that I looked horrible in everything I tried on and I basically gave up on the whole idea of the dance. My mother tried to help me, but it did no good. She called my sister and asked her to take me shopping. We traveled to the great city of Des Monies and talked the whole way there. We talked about everything; friendships, boys, girl drama, high school, and pretty much life in general. She told me a lot of things that I never knew about her. I learned a lot of new things that day about my sister, not just secrets but things that I should have known about her, like her favorite flavor of soda, or her favorite place to shop. We easily found a dress that day, and that night I went to her house and watched movies and talked with her all night.

After that day something just clicked with us. We texted almost everyday, and I would come over to her house at least once a week. We went out to eat a lot, it became one of our things to do. We just really started to become friends. For once, I actually enjoyed spending time with my sister.

Now days, I tell my sister everything, which is something I never would have done before. I still go to her house and just talk with her once a week, usually. Although we haven’t always been that close, I love the way our relationship has progressed and I would not have it any other way.