Written by Annabella Delcambre
Jayne finally felt she belonged. Her friends were laughing with her instead of at her. Her friends invited her to parties without a second thought. Unfortunately, it wasn’t always like this. Before, Jayne was always getting left out and felt like the fifth wheel.
It began around a week ago, when Jayne awoke with a start. Her alarm clock didn’t go off, and she was already 7 minutes late for work. She hurriedly threw on some sweatpants and a long sleeve top, put her hair in a ponytail and rushed out the door. There wasn’t any time for makeup today. She couldn’t be late for work or they would fire her! Jayne ran through the automatic doors of the CVS, running straight into her manager.
Her manager looked at her, upset, and said, “There she is.”
“I’m so sorry, Ms. Granger,” Jayne whispered nervously. She had never been late before,and had seen what happened to others when they came in late.
“You know what happens when you’re late,” Ms. Granger growled.
“I know, and I’m so sorry! I’ll work an extra hour, no pay, to make up for it.”
“Good. Now, get your key to the cash register in the back. Sarah should be in there too.” Sarah was one of Jayne’s friends who also worked at CVS. As Jayne entered the back
room, she could immediately tell something was off with Sarah. Sarah almost seemed… hungover? That couldn’t be right. No one told her about a party.
“Hiiiii, Jayyynneee!” Sarah wheezed. Oh yeah, she was definitely hung over.
“Hi, Sarah.” Jayne figured she could get some information from Sarah while she was still like this. “How was the party last night?”
Sarah responded with a slight head nod, “It was so much fun! It lasted hours.”
So there was a party last night. A party that Sarah was invited to, but not Jayne. Had she done something wrong? This wasn’t the first gathering where she had been left out. She had heard her friends whispering behind her back before, but maybe it was just an afterthought to invite her.
Jayne looked back at Sarah, “Hey, who was at the party last night?”
“Me, Callie, Lyra, Zoe, and a bunch of other people you don’t know.”
So, her whole friend group went to a party without her and had a bunch of fun. “Why wasn’t I invited?” Jayne muttered almost to herself, but Sarah heard her. “Because Callie didn’t want to invite you. She said you were boring and everyone else agreed with her.”
Jayne was dumbfounded. Callie was her best friend and she said that she was boring? Was this why no one invited her to stuff? Jayne sat there for a while thinking about what Sarah said. She finally decided that she was going to become “less boring.” She was going to change.
“Sarah,” Jayne said confidently, “There’s a party at my house tonight. You’re all invited.”
That night, Jayne stood in her doorway waiting for everyone to show up. She had spent her whole afternoon preparing for that night. She couldn’t just have a boring party; she needed to gain her friends back. Sarah was the first person to show up.
“I’m so glad you’re throwing this party,” Sarah exclaimed. “You should come hang out with us tomorrow at Starbucks! Zoe can’t come because she has gross college classes, but we don’t have to tell her anything.”
Poor Zoe, she would feel so upset if she found out Sarah was talking about her behind her back, but Jayne just went along with Sarah, “Oh yeah, gross college.”
Their conversation naturally came to an end as others started showing up. Jayne noticed there were a few other people she didn’t recognize, including one girl getting bullied by none other than Jayne’s friends! Jayne was stunned, she didn’t realize her friends could be so mean. They are adults and should be acting like it, although Jayne could give them the benefit of the doubt since they were still getting used to being independent. Jayne almost went up to them to tell them this, but thought better of it. The girl would be fine. Jayne needed friends more than the girl needed “saving.” Jayne turned her back and went to get more food.
The next day, Janye took a taxi to Starbucks, as her car was still in the shop. As Jayne walked in, she noticed Callie and Sarah judging Lyra’s outfit. Lyra was wearing a mini skirt and a crop top. It looked fine to Jayne.
“It looks like you’re a child. Haven’t grown up yet, have we?” Callie said judgmentally.
Sarah added, “Why would you even show up if you can’t get your act together.” Lyra looked on the verge of tears. Maybe, before, Jayne would have thought about helping Lyra, but not anymore. All Jayne wanted to be was part of the “in group”.
“They’re right,” Jayne said. She was no longer the outsider, “you look terrible.” Lyra took one look at Jayne and whispered, “You too?”
Jayne just blinked. She’ll be fine. A little girl no older than seven walked straight up to the girls.
“You are very mean people. My mommy believes you won’t succeed in life. I think she’s right. How could you succeed?”
Jayne felt destroyed on the inside. This little girl was completely right. Jayne was being so mean. When did this happen? Jayne realized what she said about the girls earlier was now true about her. She was an adult, why was she acting like a child? Jayne couldn’t stand it; she had to say something.
“We have to change. That little girl was right. What we just did was so rude, we had no right to act that way.”
Callie looked her up and down and said, “That’s fine. You can change, but we won’t miss you. I certainly don’t care what a five year old thinks of me and neither should you. Sarah?” Sarah looked strangely calm as she agreed, “I don’t care either. You should leave, Jayne.” Jayne was shocked that even after what just happened, neither Callie or Sarah would change. “Okay then, I’ll go. I hope you think about what you did.”
“We won’t!” Callie snapped. She couldn’t care less about what Jayne said.
Jayne kept her chin held high as she left. She couldn’t let them see that she was hurting inside. Instead of taking a taxi, Jayne decided she wanted to walk home. She didn’t know why, but she felt it was weirdly the right decision. She was about fifteen minutes away from her apartment when she accidently ran into a girl around her age.
“Oh my gosh, I am so sorry,” the girl frantically exclaimed.
“Oh no, you’re good,” Jayne replied, “I was in my head a lot just now and that helped me break out of it, so thank you.”
“Rough day?” the girl asked.
“Actually, yes. I just realized my only friends are fake, and I’m not sure what to do now.”
“Wow, just wow. Basically, the same thing just happened to me, except they all went on a vacation without me and claimed they ‘forgot to invite me.’”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Jayne felt so much empathy for this girl. She knew exactly what it felt like to be left out by her closest friends. Suddenly, an idea popped into Jayne’s head, “Hey can I get your number and maybe we could hang out sometime?”
The girl smiled, “Of course! So, what are you doing tomorrow?”
In the following years, Jayne and her new best friend were very close. They were inseparable. For the first time, she felt like she belonged. Her friends never laughed at her, and accepted her for who she was. Jayne never felt the need to change herself again.