Week 4 Story: No New Friends
Casey, Janice, and Daniel had been friends since freshmen year of
high school. It was now their senior year, and their final first day of high
school. That morning before school, they made plans to meet at their normal spot
to sit together at lunch.
At their meeting spot, they were eating and reminiscing on their
craziest experiences that they had together. Then Casey said something that
created an awkward silence among them. She said, "Remember when my parents
were out of town that one weekend, and I threw that Halloween party at my
house!" Janice and Daniel looked at each other uncomfortably. Then, Janice
said, "Um you didn't invite us to that party... I don't think we were your
friends at that time." Casey felt badly for bringing it up so she
responded, "Oh...well you two didn't miss much. I was cleaning up trash
and vomit for days! It was a mess, so really it wasn't too fun." They all
felt a little awkward now and were sitting quiet and thinking about that time
during junior year.
October of junior year is a time they don’t like to talk about,
especially Casey who still feels terrible that she ignored Daniel and Janice
that entire month. Casey only did that because she was trying to impress Linda
Smith. Linda was in Casey’s U.S. History class, and they had never spoken until
Linda asked to be partners with her for a class assignment that was due the end
of the month. Linda was only friends with an elite group of kids (the popular kids
with wealthy parents), and Linda began to invite Casey to hang out with them. Janice
and Daniel tried to tell her that Linda wasn’t a good person, but Casey did not
listen to her friends. Also, it was Linda who convinced Casey to throw the
party and co-hosted it with her, but she didn’t even help Casey clean the next
day.
Casey was so obsessed with the idea of being popular that she
mistreated her old friends. Casey apologized to Janice and Daniel soon after
realizing that, and they forgave her. She was so thankful to have them around,
and she would not take them for granted again.
So, after a few minutes had passed, Casey broke the awkward
silence. “I don’t ever want new friends. I really do appreciate you both, and
thanks for being good friends”, she said. Janice and Daniel smiled at her, and after
that there were no more awkward silences for the rest of lunch.
Author's Note:
I got the idea for this story after reading The Goatherd and the Wild Goats from Aesop's Winter Unit. I
made this story, but the moral of my story is the same as the one from the The
Goatherd and the Wild Goats. In
the original story, the Goatherd tries to impress a pack of wild of goats by
feeding them generously in hopes that they will join his flock. The wild goats
decline his offer because they noticed the shepherd was mistreating his flock
and depriving them of food in order to seem more generous. The wild goats were
not convinced. The lesson that is important here is don't take your old friends
for granted or treat them poorly for the sake of new friends.
The Aesop for Children, with illustrations by Milo Winter (1919).
Image Information: "Logo". Web Source: Wikimedia.
Hey Tori! I really liked reading your story! I thought it was very relatable. I didn't read the original story but I liked how you changed the setting and the characters to make the story more modern. We've definitely all been in a similar friend situation. I thought it was interesting how quick the friends were to forgive Casey. I know for me, it takes a while to build that trust again when something like that happens. I wish we could always be super close with all of our friends but peoples' lives are so different and sometimes priorities change so that's not always the case. I'm glad in the end, they realized that they only need each other. I think it always makes a friendship stronger by going through something like that. I wonder what would happen if Linda had joined the group of friends, would the other friends leave or would they all be just as close? Great job!
ReplyDeleteHi Tori, I like your modern twist on this old story. Having solid friends is so important and I think some people often take them for granted. I like how easy to follow your story was, and how it kept the same moral lesson as the original. I also like how at the end Casey's friends forgave her, and they overcame such an awkward and hard time in their friendships. Great Post. :)
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