Photos

Hi everyone! So this is a draft of a story I am working on. I want it to be about a teenage girl named Ryleigh whose best friend Alyssa just died and how she copes with life after Alyssa's death. This is all I have so far and am stuck. I would appreciate some feedback and maybe even suggestions?? I know it's not much to work with but I started this 2 weeks ago and still am having trouble getting through with it. Thank you, and enjoy :)

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The photo collage on Ryleigh’s bulletin board attached by four thumbtacks summed up her best friend Alyssa’s friendship. It was the first thing Ryleigh saw when she woke up and the last thing she saw before she closed her eyes every night.

Each photo captured different phases of their lives and fragments of their personalities. In one photo two were giving the peace sign symbol, in another they were posing in their home-made Halloween costumes- a Bud Light can and a Heineken can- in another corner, a few photos were of them dancing and laughing at a Maroon 5 concert, and the rest of the collage were close-ups of them and smiling and making goofy faces. Alyssa made it for Ryleigh’s birthday in August.

Ryleigh missed Alyssa, she really did. The fact that they would never see each other again made her ache all over. However, the inseparable pair didn’t start out as friends. They knew each other throughout middle school but didn’t start talking until their freshman year of high school.

The two told their story, proud of the turn out and the irony it held:
Ryleigh had plans to go over her two best friend’s house at the time, two twins named Emma and Juli. As the night progressed Emma decided to invite Alyssa over. Ryleigh tried to hide her disappointment as the twins confirmed their new plans with her. She always thought of Alyssa as loud and obnoxious and she didn’t want Alyssa to impose on their night.

As it turned out, Alyssa wasn’t too crazy about Ryleigh also. When Emma told Alyssa on the phone that Ryleigh was already over Alyssa didn’t react happy either.

Two hours later the four girls were laughing, dancing, and gossiping with each other just fine. Ryleigh realized that Alyssa wasn’t as bad as she seemed and Alyssa eased up to Ryleigh as well.

Ever since that night, the two shared countless inside jokes, sleepovers, double dates, and great memories together.

The two hardly went anywhere with out each other. They turned heads no matter where they went, no matter how old the men were, they always did a double take when the girls strutted down the street, mall, or even the school hallway. Alyssa had blond pin-straight hair while Ryleigh’s wavy chestnut-brown hair gave a nice contrast to the inseparable pair. Alyssa’s eyes were light-blue and Ryleigh’s were a mixture of green and brown with a tint of yellow in the center. Alyssa was a confident a risk-taker and acted silly most of the time. Ryleigh was goofy also but she knew when to be reserved. She lacked self-confidence and was hesitant to towards the unknown. The two best friends balanced each other out, which was one of the many reasons why they got along so well.

It was 9:10 in the morning and after lying in bed for ten minutes not wanting to get out and start the day, Ryleigh took a deep breath, kicked the covers off, and went downstairs.