Friendship Cookies

Friendship Cookies
         
        The humid June breeze blew and brought with it the bustling excitement of another school year. If there was one thing I looked forward to every school opening, it would be the renewal of old friendships. During summer vacations, I would reminisce the times when my best friend and I would chat and sip our frappocinos at a nearby cafe. Or the times we spent having study lunches and last-minute cramming under the oak tree of our school garden. It was the usual high school drama that I just couldn't get tired of watching again and again.
         
        But this June was unlike any other school opening that we had before because everyone knew that the much coveted college life was just around the corner. This was the time to be serious and to focus on our grades because they mattered a great deal now more than ever. We couldn't afford to be as carefree anymore as we did the past years and the first three weeks just proved that. It was a massive torrent of homework, exams, and projects to deal with 24/7. Over that short period of time, I had a messy schedule, a deteriorating social life, two black rings boring my eyes, and a migrain night after night. Also, my best friend and I were both busy that we merely spent time together. We only said our hellos amongst the crowded hallways or just whenever we met, if we could. We were assigned to different groups and to different committees, making it hard to have contact with each other. I really missed her.
         
          I remembered that Thursday when we had quite a big misunderstanding. I couldn't say for certain as to whose the one to blame but it didn't matter anyway. We had quarrels before but the reconciliations were easy and we compromised since we had many differences. On that day, she baked some cookies to congratulate me for placing second on the recital competition. I was touched but we both knew that she wasn't much of a baker and true enough, her cookies tasted disgustingly weird. I was afraid that if I ate any more of her cookies, my poor, sensitive stomach might not be able to handle it. I was caught between returning back her cookies and hurt her feelings or throwing it away and we would both be happy. I excused myself and ran straight to the trashbin near the library. She wouldn't dare go near there because she hated books, silence, and librarians. I thought that my plan was perfect but some meddling busybody took a video of my crime and apparently showed it to my best friend after class. She confronted me with the evidence in hand and I was proven guilty even if my stomach protested. The whole thing was really trivial but nevertheless, she was offended.
         
        I sat beside the oak tree one afternoon. We had our fight weeks before and we never talked to each other since. I knew I was wrong and it was insensitive of me to do what I did but she shouldn't simply force me to ingest them. Ironically, I was eating cookies at that moment but I bought them at a convenient store. They actually looked the same but the one I bought tasted way better than the ones she baked. I was looking for a four-leaf clover when suddenly, somebody behind me covered my eyes. How could I not know them? I could feel the plastic ring on my eyelids and the pearl bracelets beside my left ear.
         
        “I thought you're mad at me.” I said blindly.

         “Yeah, but I forgive you.” said the voice behind me.

         “Why?” I asked.

         “Because. Just because.” she whispered. She knelt beside me and took off her hands from my eyes. At first my vision was blurred but as I was able to see again, the sunset appeared before me. She took some of my cookies and we ate while watching the sun's remaining rays flickered across the sky.

         “Where's your friend?” I asked as I remembered that during the course of our fight, she hung out with another girl from our class.

         “Right here.”

         We smiled at each other.