The picture book

When I woke up I saw Laura’s mother and Bertha standing over me looking worried.

“Uh what happened? My head hurts a lot.” I started to get up off the ground, looking around. It seemed the man had gone away.

Laura’s mother helped me up. “Sorry about that, I was trying to hit Peter but he dodged at the last moment. I wonder why he ran away like that? Well good riddance to good rubbish.”

I was really curious of who that guy was, but I decided not to ask. “Is Laura home? We came over to see her.”

“Yes she is in her room, come on in.” Me and Bertha came into the house, and I led her over to Laura’s room. I hoped I was right about her liking Bertha. It would be awkward if she judged her on her glasses. I really didn’t know much about her really. What if she was that kind of person? Then I would have to stop being friends with her. I wasn’t the kind of person to go agianst my word.

“Hi Laura, um...I came with a person I met at a party that my sister took me too. It was really lame. People were drinking beer and stuff. I really hope that they won’t get away with that kind of behavior. I had no idea that Denise’s friends were like that. But I should of guessed by the fact that she was getting pressured to smoke pot. Um anyways this is Bertha.”

Bertha, who was standing behind me gave a little wave over to her.

Laura laughed. “Don’t be shy Bertha, I won’t bite you know. It is always good to meet new friends.”

Bertha still stood behind me, looking at Laura like she was crazy. “You really want to be friends with me?”

“Well I don’t really have too many friends besides Ayita here. Since my sister died, I sort of lost touch with everyone I knew.” She looked away.

“Oh golly that’s terrible. Your friends deserted you after that happened? Well...I promise to stand by your side no matter what happens. Since most people don’t want to be friends with me, I promise to be a true friend.” She stepped out from behind me and reached her hand out to Laura.

“No they didn’t desert me. I just...sort of stopped talking to everyone. They tried to get me back to normal but I just kept silent. After a while, they just sort of gave up.”

I looked at Laura. “Um, this is kind of depressing. Mind if we talk about something else? Like boys perhaps. How is that boyfriend of your doing?”

“Things aren’t going well. He’s in college in another state, and the distance is killing our relationship.”

Sheesh, was everything depressing about Laura or something? Bertha spoke up. “Well there is a lot of boys at school. Is anyone catching your eye?”

“Not really. I am hoping when I graduate from high school I can go to the same college as my boyfriend. He’s the only one for me.”

I started to gag. “I don’t believe you can be so sappy about one guy. How long have you been with him anyways? Your thinking of moving to another state to be with him? You know..he might of met someone else in college.”

Laura started to cry and grabbed a pillow from her bed and hugged it. “He couldn’t of. He said he was saving himself for me.”

“Yeah right, like he is going to ignore all the other girls in school. You won’t be with him for another year. You think he is going to stay true to you that whole time?” I snorted at her, why was she being so silly?

“Um...Ayita I don’t think you should be so hard on her.” Bertha chimed in.

Laura threw her pillow at me. “Oh and you know so much about boys, when you broke up with Greg just because you looked like Olivia. I mean when she died she was too young to have a romance with anyone. Think about it.”

I grumped, it was unfair of her to say that. “He must of felt something for her. Anyways I was talking about your guy, not mine.”

“Your lucky to have any guy to begin with. Breaking up with a guy for that reason is really stupid. I agree with Laura.” Oh great, now they were ganging up on me.

“It’s my choice who to break up with or not. I am not telling you to break up with your boyfriend because he lives in another town.” I said with a grumpy tone in my voice.

“You might as well be, saying he is probably dating some other girl there. How could you be so mean to me? I thought you liked me!” Laura glared at me. It seemed we were having our first fight. I hoped our friendship could get past this.

“I do, but try to be realistic. There are some pretty hot girls in college. How could he spend a year there without being tempted? And is it really worth moving to that town away from your friends?”

Bertha looked from Laura to me, feeling the tension betweenus. She tried to difuse it. “Stop it Ayita, I am sure her boyfriend isn’t the type to be tempted by other girls.”

“How do you know? You don’t know anything about her boyfriend or how true he is to her.” I knew I should really stop. But I felt I should warn Laura about the possiblies of her boyfriend cheating on her. I would hate for her to move to another state just to learn that she had no chance with him anymore.

“STOP IT, JUST STOP IT!” Laura was crying as she yelled at me. “He gave me a promise ring. I know he isn’t going to mess with another girl.”

“A ring doesn’t mean anything.” I said casually.

“Stop this fighting you two, it seems that Laura trusts her boyfriend. She must have a good reason for this trust.” How was Bertha staying so cool I wondered?

“I just don’t want Laura to make the mistake of moving to another state for her boyfriend. I mean, she did say they seemed to be drifting apart. He is not the only boy in the world. She should be with a guy who lives in this town.”

Laura was crying harder. “I want to be with him! Keep your nose out of my buisness Ayita.”

“But...if you move we cannot be friends anymore. Your the first friend I ever had.”

“You will still have Bertha, you don’t really need me anymore.” Bertha was just watching us now silently. I felt bad for inviting her over, to watch us fight like that.

“Your going to have to start over all agian if you move to another state. You will have no friends, just your boyfriend.” I pointed out.

“I can do that. It’s no problem.”

I sighed a little bit, she wouldn’t listen to reason. I really wanted to find out what had really happened to Olivia, and if Laura moved I might not be able to ever do that.

“Sorry this trip is such a bummer Bertha. I guess Laura just wants to run away from her family and friends here.”

“Your being such a jerk Ayita, why would I want to stay here with you?” Laura grabbed the pillow and threw it at my arm.

Betha nodded a little bit. “She can still visit here, just because she is going doesn’t mean she will never see us.”

“How can you be so cheerful Bertha? If she leaves I might never find out who Olivia’s killer is.”

Laura gaped. “What makes you think that someone killed my sister?”

Oops, did I say that out loud? “I have a reason to think that is the case.”

“I would sure like to know what that is.” Laura tapped her foot.

“Uh we can talk about that later, you should really try to get to know Bertha better.”

“Why should she get to know me? She is just going to leave.” Bertha sounded depressed. I knew she was hoping Laura would be her friend too.

“I want to know what the reason is! If you tell me...maybe I will stay here.”

“Your not going to stay here if I tell you that. Your just trying to trick me.”

“No, it isn’t a trick. I always had a feeling that Olivia’s death wasn’t an accident. If I had proof that was the case. It would mean a lot to me. I can always find another guy.” Laura smiles a shaky smile.

“Well...I saw Olivia’s spirit.”

“What?!” Both Bertha and Laura said at the same time.

I started to tell them the whole story. They both didn’t seem to believe it. I looked at my watch noticing that it was almost dinnertime. “Look I will show you the book tomorow, and you will see I am telling the truth.”