Why are you making this so hard?
“Hi Emily!” Millie’s voice was wobbly but her body was stiff. She handed me a big bag of Jelly Bellies. I love Jelly Bellies, especially the bubble gum and licorice flavors.
“No thank you.” I pushed the bag away. “I’m on a diet.”
Millie’s jaw dropped. “But you’re not fat! Anyway, jelly beans are fat-free.”
“I am on a diet,” I repeated firmly as I pulled out a chair. It made an embarrassing sound as it scraped against the floor. Normally one of us would have cracked a joke about this. Instead, I sat down and crossed my arms. Millicent remained standing. She was wearing two friendship necklaces, hers and mine, and she clutched both as she spoke.
“Well, I know that my being a genius can be off-putting,” she began. “But I am certain our friendship is strong enough to withstand the effects of my high intelligence.”
“Man,” I said, shaking my head, “for someone who’s supposed to be so smart, you sure are dumb.”
“Pardon me?”
“Millicent,” I struggled to explain, “this is not about your brain. I’m mad at you because we were supposed to be best friends! But you didn’t trust me enough to tell me the truth. Instead, you just assumed I wouldn’t be able to handle it. There was this huge part of your life that you hid from me!”
“I can’t believe you just called me dumb! Et tu, Brute.”
“But Millie, you do act really dumb sometimes, like you’re clueless.” By now we were both standing.
“So…?” Millie was gripping the beads so hard, I was afraid the necklace would break.
“So nothing. It doesn’t matter to me.”
“Really?”
“I don’t care if you’re smart or dumb, as long as you’re a true friend.”
Millicent was silent for the longest time. Finally she said, ”Emily, I’m sorry if I misrepresented myself in any manner. For you see, I had sorely misjudged the dynamics of our friendship…”
Urgggg, why was she making this so hard?
“Millie, you just didn’t misjudge our relationship, you misjudged me!” I shouted. “Can’t you just shut up and say you’re sorry you lied without making up a bunch of hooey?”
Instantly I was sorry. Millie looked the way I felt – hurt.
Finally after a million years, she mumbled, “I am sorry I lied to you, Emily. I hope you can forgive me.”
Could I forgive her? I wondered. After her lies and betrayal? Now it was up to me. I could go on being angry at Millicent and feeling horrible. Or I could be her friend again. My body suddenly got light and I was dizzy, but this time it wasn’t from not eating.
Extract from the book So Totally Emily Ebers
By Lisa Yee
All Rights Reserved
New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2007
Call Number: J English YEE
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Title: Thanks for telling me, Emily
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Can true friendship survive even if one friend lies to another?
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June 15th, 2009 at 10:24 am
Oh well, friendship/bestfriend are not forever. People do lie a little due to insecurity ans self-confidence. People change through time. Even some would deny, but there are changes going on. We cannot be 16 forever. There are times which we have to grow up. People are resistant to changes. Therefore, enjoy friendship/bff while it still last.
June 21st, 2009 at 2:04 am
Firstly you have to ask yourself what TRUE friendship really means and how it is different from normal friendship.
To me,true friendship is only built through doing/enjoying happy moments together, undergo adversity with one another as supporting pillars,accepting partners’ shortcomings and trusting each other.
Friends are the family that we chose for ourselves.
Lies will not fumble the relationship because their trust gave them confidence that this will not happen again. Lies will become a past mistake to be learnt,as well as the stepping stones to bring the relationship up to another level.
Another reason is that they had already gone through so much together, it takes more than lies to make them give up the fond memories and the effort they have put in.
October 12th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
well,no. of course, true friendship cannot survive if despicable lies exist as an obstacle. however, it’s different if one told white lies in order to not hurt the other party. maybe, only in that way, the friendship will then go on. but surely, the friendship will become nothing but a delusion. hence, it would not be true anymore. it’s just a plastic, a fallancy. the most important things that keep a friendship going are: honesty, integrity, loyalty and passion! bear that in mind friends!