The Scribe and The Fallout (Part 2)

The Scribe burst from the doors of the school.  "Mama, I'm going to die."

"No, you're not.  But maybe I am.  You told the teacher your friend would hurt the baby?" 

She gawked at me.  "Yeah, well that's not what this is about.  I need to talk to you because I told everyone I won't be friends with them anymore."

"What!  Why did you do that?"

"I don't want to lose my best friend.  I made her a little gift, wrote her a note and everything about how I want to be friends with her and everyone, but she said that wouldn't work.  I either told the class, or she'd drop me."

"This has gone too far."  

"Mom, I think I did the wrong thing.  My best friend is happy, but I'm so sad."

I drove over and visited with the girl's mom.  
She said The Scribe has been leaving her daughter out.  "My daughter expects loyalty from a friend.  She wants someone who will be as loyal as she is."  

"But I don't see anything wrong with being friends with everyone.  I'm sorry if she left your daughter out, but . . . "  I didn't know what else to say, so I left after that.  To me, The Scribe is as loyal as they come.  Maybe she had been leaving the little girl out, and I would talk to her about that, but I didn't see a problem with her having other friends too.

The Scribe sobbed on and off.  I took her to get her nails done and they turned out beautifully.  I'm still so proud she saved all that money by picking dandelion.



Right as we were about to drive from the nail salon, my cell rang.

"It's my best friend," The Scribe piped.  "Now we'll be friends forever."  She answered the phone and put it on speaker.  "Hello?"

"Hi," the girl said in a monotone.  "Ummm . . . I've been thinking.  I know you told everyone you can't be friends with them anymore, but this isn't working."

"What are you talking about?" The Scribe asked.  Her fake nails looked amazing holding the phone.  She suddenly looked so old, but I couldn't focus on that.  I was about ready to rip my phone in half.  It was bad enough that her best friend gave her an ultimatum, but now this?  

The best friend continued.  "I don't know how to say this, but we can't be friends anymore.  You're not popular like you used to be."

I almost growled.  Well gosh, I wonder why she wasn't popular, that girl told her to de-friend the world!  My arm suddenly snaked out and grabbed the phone.  "Hello!  This is Elisa, the mother!  I'm SOOO SORRY! BUT MY DAUGHTER NEEDS TO GO!  HAVE A FLIPPIN' GREAT DAY!"  I slammed the phone shut and you should have seen The Scribe's face.

"Why did you do that?" she asked.

"Because I'm tired of it.  You don't deserve a friend like that."

"But she was my last friend."

"Everything will be okay.  We'll work something out.  Even if we have to visit some people and tell them you're sorry, we'll work this out."

So, that's what we did.  We called and visited.  We apologized and laughed, and I'm pretty sure by the end of it The Scribe learned an amazing lesson and she got all of her friends back except her best one.

"Mom," she said as we drove home, "maybe you were right about that baby story.  A good friend wants good things for other people."

I nodded.

"Maybe that's why my teacher didn't flip out about the story.  I forgot, but she told me to tell you, it was a great anal-gee."

I smiled.  "You mean analogy?"

She nodded and I felt much better about the whole thing.  The Scribe had her important friends back and her teacher didn't think I was a psycho.     

Have you ever had something like this happen to you or your kid?  
I keep wondering if kids are becoming more mean as time goes on.  Sometimes being a parent is really difficult, but I guess we just have to do the best we can.