Dare to Be Different (12 page)

Chapter 11

Well before class was to start, Lindsay walked into the home economics room and asked Mrs. Portney if there was something else she could do during the class period to give Macy, Sam, and Kelly a chance to work on their project alone since they had missed so many days. In truth, Lindsay wanted to avoid having to work with them and thought that just missing the class entirely was a good option. Mrs. Portney understood that there was a problem going on, so she wisely said that it just wasn’t an option. She asked Lindsay to stay in class and face up to her challenges. She recommended that Lindsay just be bigger than the problem, act maturely and confidently, and show that she was not bothered by any of it.

As Lindsay was leaving the room to visit her locker before the bell rang, resigned to do as her teacher asked, Mrs. Portney stopped her so that she could make one last comment. “Lindsay, I just wanted to tell you that I think I’ve heard enough of the story of what went on last weekend to confidently say that I’m very proud of you for your strength of character and your willingness to defend your principles. You did the right thing, and everything will work out better than you could even imagine. Now go ahead, and get your things.”

Lindsay nodded and ducked out of the classroom. She gathered the few books she needed for her afternoon classes and headed back to the home ec room. As she arrived, she saw that Kelly, Sam, and Macy were entering the classroom just ahead of her. She took a deep breath, straightened her shoulders, held her head up high, and confidently walked into the classroom. She walked to her seat and calmly sat next to her friends. Macy quietly caught her gaze from across the table and gave her a slight wink, just enough to boost Lindsay’s confidence and convince her that she was doing well.

“Settle down, class. Let’s quiet down and pay
attention.” Mrs. Portney waited until the class had stopped talking before continuing. “This is the very last class period that you have to work on your projects, so please use the time wisely. Tomorrow will be the day for you to present your projects to the class and share your findings and cost comparisons. Now, get to work.”

“I set it up with Mrs. Portney just before class,” Kelly immediately jumped in, avoiding all small talk. “We can take our things to the library and work on our pillow there so that we can keep it a surprise from the class.” The four of them gathered their things and quietly left the classroom. No one knew quite what to say. Lindsay broke the ice.

“I don’t want this to be uncomfortable. If you guys want, since I did a lot of work on the pillow while you were out of school, I can just read or something while you three finish up the pillow.”

“No way!” Macy would have none of that. “We started this together—we’ll finish it together.”

Sam and Kelly had looked like they had been about to go along with Lindsay’s plan, but when Macy made her statement, they reluctantly agreed. “Besides, it could affect your grade if you
don’t participate, Lindsay,” Macy continued.

To that, Kelly rolled her eyes. “Not like she’d risk getting into trouble.”

Lindsay took a deep breath. Enough was enough. “I just have to say this, and then we can do our work. Kelly, you’re selfish. You want things just how you want them, and if anyone goes against you, you have no use for her. I am a person, too. I have plans, feelings, emotions, limits, likes, and dislikes, just like you do. I also have the capability to make a decision about what I want for myself. If you ever hope to have a real friend and not just a follower, then you’ll have to learn to appreciate the differences in people and give others room to be themselves. Otherwise, rather than real friends, you’ll always only have people around you until they are tired of just following your orders and taking your bullying.”

Kelly stared at her with her mouth open. No one had ever spoken up to her that way. Sam spoke up. “Hold on, Lindsay, I take offense to that. Are you saying that I am just a follower and can’t make up my own mind?”

“Well, think about it, Sam. That whole night,
all of the dares—they were Kelly’s idea. When I refused, it was Kelly who demanded that I be cut out. You and Macy didn’t want to, but you went right along with Kelly. Macy at least had the guts to come to me and apologize.”

Kelly glared at Macy when she heard that.

“See?” Lindsay whispered emphatically. “It makes you crazy mad, Kelly, to think that Macy came and apologized to me, that she would want to be my friend even though you said she couldn’t.”

Macy tentatively opened her mouth. “You know what? I agree with Lindsay completely. I don’t want to be a follower. I want to be my own person. My heart tells me that Lindsay is one of my best friends, and I’m not willing to turn my back on her just to follow the orders of another one of my best friends. I think that you need to do some soul-searching, Kelly, and decide what you want out of your friendships and if you’re willing and able to respect us as people and appreciate our differences rather than try to erase them.”

Sam had been quiet for a while, but it seemed like some of the things she was hearing had gotten to her. She quietly said, “I’m sorry,
Lindsay; you’re totally right. I’m sorry for how I’ve been acting. Can you forgive me?”

“Of course I can, and I do. It’s over and done.”

“Well, if you three are finished, we have some work to do.” Kelly was having no part of the apologies and wanted to change the subject.

Lindsay showed them what she had done to their pillow while they were out of school. There wasn’t a whole lot of work that remained, so Kelly, Sam, and Macy set about to complete the pillow while Lindsay worked on finalizing the cost and material comparison report. The four girls finished their work at about the same time, and they sat back to survey the results.

All four of them laughed when they stepped back to really look at their finished pillow. It looked just like Mrs. Portney. To prove it, Sam took the pillow up to the circulation desk and asked the librarian, Mrs. Woods, to look at the pillow and see if it reminded her of anyone.

Mrs. Woods looked up from the book she was reading and lowered her glasses so she could peer over the top of them at the pillow in Sam’s hands. Immediately she started to laugh. “Well,
I’ll be. It’s a Portney Pillow.” She laughed until she had to wipe the tears from her eyes. After she composed herself, she said, “You girls have done a great job on that pillow. It looks just like her down to the littlest details. Great job.”

Confidently the four girls headed back to class to get everything put away before the bell rang. Their Portney Pillow was carefully wrapped in plastic and stowed in their bin, awaiting the day they could reveal it. They gathered their things and readied themselves to head off to their next class. Lindsay, trying not to be too intrusive, moved to leave immediately so that the others could walk together.

Kelly reached out and grabbed her backpack and softly tugged her back. “Linds, just give me some time to figure things out. I heard everything that you said, and I’m not a completely coldhearted person. I just need some time. But you don’t need to leave. You didn’t do anything wrong. I just have to figure out what I did wrong.” With that, Kelly left alone, leaving Sam, Macy, and Lindsay to stare after her, dumbfounded.

“Wow, I guess miracles can happen,” Macy said.

“Pray, girls. Just pray,” Lindsay encouraged them.

As Lindsay woke up Friday morning, she thought she heard the phone ringing, but it was hazy. A few moments later, there was a knock at her door and her mom was standing there holding the cordless phone. “Lindsay, it’s Macy on the phone for you.”

Lindsay groggily sat up in her bed and reached for the phone while rubbing her eyes as they adjusted to the bright sunshine streaming through the windows. “Hello? Macy?”

“Hey, Linds, I just wanted to catch you before you left for school. I know that you’ve been trying to get there early so you can go hide out in your classroom.” She hesitated as she chose her next words carefully. “I just … I guess I just don’t think that’s fair. Sam and I want you to come to our tree. There’s nothing that you should be hiding from. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Macy, I really appreciate that you’re concerned about this, but I really don’t want to cause any more problems. I really want to give Kelly the time that she asked for and see what happens without pushing it.”

“I know, Lindsay, and I can respect that, but I
also think that if we don’t all show Kelly that we aren’t going to accept things as they are, it won’t make her sit up and take notice. She needs to realize that it’s not her call. She can take the time she needs, and we’re all there for her, but she can’t control us in the process.”

“Okay, here’s what I’m going to do, Mace,” Lindsay explained. “Since I’m up so early and now have plenty of time before school”—both girls laughed—”I’m going to talk about it with my mom and pray about it. I just want to do the right thing and not mess up any progress that we’ve already made.”

“Lindsay, I think that’s a great idea,” Macy agreed. “You know, I think you’re the wisest person I know.”

“Thanks, Mace. I’ll see you at school one way or another.”

Lindsay decided that she needed to approach Kelly alone so she didn’t feel bombarded by all of them at once. So she went to another tree and waited there. The tree in Kelly’s front yard seemed to be the perfect place. Kelly would see her standing there when she came out to walk the dog before she and her mom left for
school. So Lindsay waited.

After about five minutes, the front door opened and Kelly appeared in the entrance, struggling with their golden retriever, Abby. She started to walk out to the front yard but stopped short when she saw Lindsay waiting there. “Hey,” Kelly said without emotion. She tried to pretend she wasn’t interested in talking to Lindsay.

“Hey, Kell. I thought it was time that we talked. Don’t you think this has gone on long enough?”

“Yeah, I guess so. Where do we go from here, though? I mean, how can we possibly fix this?”

“Well, the way I see it, I’ve already told you the ways I feel I’ve been hurt. Now you can respond to that if you want to. And if I have done anything to hurt you, this would be the time for you to tell me.”

“See, that’s the thing, Lindsay. You’re perfect. You haven’t done anything wrong, and you never will. I can never measure up to you. You’ll always be strong enough to be your own person.”

“What is it about that that scares you? Is it because you can’t control me? So what? It’s not a competition. I love you for who you are, and I
don’t want to change you. Why do you want to change me?”

Kelly began to cry. “I know that’s how you feel, but it’s easy for you. You have nothing to worry about. You don’t care if people like you or not—but they always do, because you’re perfect. It’s different for me. Before you girls, I didn’t really have best friends. I guess I was afraid—afraid that when you said you liked Macy best of all of us, it meant the two of you might go off and just be friends without me and that Sam would go with you because she likes you better. I thought if I kicked you out, they’d stop liking you.”

“But, Kelly, don’t you see, maybe that’s the reason you feel like you never had friends before us. I love you for who you are, and yet you still pushed me away instead of just letting us love you and trusting that we can each do our own thing and still stay friends.”