Deep down in the crystal blue waters of the ocean live countless amounts of creatures. Of all the nitty-gritty creatures in the sea, Sierra Sea Urchin is the kindest of them all. She is a friend to all the other critters including the cordial clams, maniacal mussels, and outlandish oysters. She always includes all of her shellfish friends in fun sea games and always tries to share her daily feast of algae. Out of all the critters, her best friends are Miranda Mussel, Chloe Clam, and Olivia Oyster. Unfortunately, some of her friends have suddenly become completely different.
         One day, the creatures were babbling about Clara Clownfish, a well-known harle-fish, who was performing at the Coral Reef Resort.
Sierra sighed, “I wish we could go to the show.”
“If only it wasn’t sold out,” Miranda cries, “all of those mean mollusks scurried to purchase the tickets and left none for us.” Miranda’s tone quickly escalated. The critters took a brief moment to sulk around. Suddenly, the taste of guilt overcame the taste of the salty seawater. Chloe felt five pairs of eyes on her as she slightly struggled to breathe through her shell.
“What’s wrong,” Sierra asked.
Chloe replied, “I have a confession to make...I bought two tickets to the concert and--”
“Who are you taking with you?” Sierra interrupted, extremely excited with the news.
“Take me, I am your bestest friend, aren’t I?” Miranda prompted. Chloe sighed, clamped up, and let the waves of the sea shuffle her away across the surface of the now drama-filled sea. The next day, Sierra and Cassie were snickering by the seaweed.
“Sierra! I have good news! I have sea-lected you to come with me to the Coral Reef Resort for Clara Clown fish’s show!” Chloe cheered.
“This is amazing! I am so excited! Thank you so much!”
Chloe shushed Sierra and whispered, “But promise you won’t tell Miranda.” Sierra nodded. Three days before the big show, Sierra decided to float to Chloe’s shell to babble about the fun they’d have.
“Hey Miranda, what brings you here?” Sierra asks, confused.
Miranda replies, “Oh, Chloe invited me so we can chit-chat about Clara’s show.”
“B-bu-but,” Sierra stutters, “I thought you were taking me. Did I do something wrong?”
Chloe rolled her eyes and explained, “It was super hard for me to decide who I am taking along with me. Honestly, Sierra, you have been shellfish lately. I decided to take Miranda instead.”
“Shellfish? What did I do?” Sierra questioned.
“You are being such a prick! Just float away Sierra! Can you understand that she is taking me? This is what we mean by shellfish! Not everything is about you!” Miranda shouted.
“This is so unfair. Chloe, you promised to take me. Good shells keep their promises.” Sierra paused for a moment. “Fine, I’ll go, but never talk to me ever again.” Sierra turned around and floated back to her home, her spines wimp and weak and tears streaming from her eyes. Along the way she spotted Olivia Oyster.
“What’s wrong?” Olivia asked.
Sierra sniffled and replied, “Chloe promised to take me to Clara’s sold-out show but now she is taking Miranda instead because I am, in her words, selfish.”
“Well, that wasn’t nice at all,” Olivia acknowledged, “ She was the one being shellfish. I’ll tell you what. Let’s go watch a whole sea-son of Full Ocean together. It will be way better than that show.”
“Really? You think so?” Sierra looked up at Olivia in disbelief. “Thank you, Olivia. You are truly a great friend.” From that point on, Sierra realized that all friends don’t last forever. As for Chloe, she had replaced Miranda for other sea friends and pushed away any critter that wasn’t good enough for her. Fortunately, Sierra had found a lucky critter in the sea that was a true friend.

Moral: Some friends don't last forever.