I looked up over the glass bottle of my soda and stared at my friend. "What!" I cried. "No, Starr, please don't! Everything will be all right." I trailed off at the look on Starr's face. It clearly told me that she did not think everything would be all right. To avoid looking at her sad, depressed eyes, I looked instead at my frothy Cream Soda. Its bubbles fizzed to the top of the bottle, but since I hadn't opened it yet, they were trapped against the metal cap. It always amazed me how the bubbles kept trying, never giving up their endless task of pushing off that stubborn cap. They just kept trying and trying.
I looked up at Starr again. This time I pleaded with her, trying to pacify her. "Starr, your parents do care about you. Really they do. they just don't know how to show it. Please, please don't do this." When she didn't answer, I tried again. "Please Starr. Don't do it. Don't do it for me." She looked up sharply, and stared at me hard.
"I am not going to let you talk me out of this. I have decided to do it, and I will." The vehemence in her voice should have told me to back off, but being me, I didn't. "Starr, think of what you're doing. This could ruin your whole like. Dang it! No one will ever trust you again. Don't you see? This is stupid!" I was almost crying now, scared of what Starr wanted to do. I bit my lip and looked back at my bottle. Slowly, mechanically, I opened the lid and took a drink. The fizzy coolness swishing down my throat almost made me forget about Starr, but through half lidded eyes, I saw her staring at me, waiting for me to continue. Slowly I put down the bottle and wiped my mouth on the back of my hand. Then I pushed back the plastic chair I had been sitting in, making a screechy grating noise on the linoleum floor and walked over to the other side of the table where Starr was sitting.
"Starr, I care about you a lot. I really don't want anything to happen to you. You are the best friend I ever had." I sighed. I knew by the determined set of her jaw that Starr wasn't paying the least amount of attention to me. I looked across the table where I had been sitting a few moments before and noticed that the carbon bubbles in my drink had stopped fizzing so much. They were not pushing to the top as hard. I shook my head and turned to Starr. But she was gone. I looked up just in time to see her yellow jacket swish out of sight as the bell above the soda shop door jingled. I got back up and sat down at my place again. I slowly twisted the cap back on the Cream Soda and looked around. Starr and I had come this place every single Tuesday after school for four years. It looked exactly as it had four years ago too. Same poorly cleaned counter, same peeling dirty wall paper and same person behind the counter with a rag in hand, cleaning out the cups, completely oblivious to everyone around him. Then I broke down and cried. Right there on a Tuesday afternoon in November, in a dingy soda shop in front of everyone. I just put my head on my arms and cried. Then I felt a hand on my arm. I looked up, and saw the person from behind the counter. He handed me a Kleenex and I attempted to wipe the snot, tears, and runny mascara from my face. When I tried to hand it back to him, he just kind of smiled and pointed to the trashcan. I walked quickly over to it and deposited my mangled tissue. When I sat back down, he sat down in the chair beside me.
"Tough day?" He asked gently.
"Yeah," I replied softly.
"Wanna tell me about it?" he prompted.
"Ummm.okay." I said awkwardly. "Well, my friend Starr- you know, the one who comes in here with me every Tuesday?" When he nodded, I continued. "Well, she's about to do something that will ruin her life forever. I'm scared for her. I keep telling her not to. I don't know what's going to happen to her. I want to help her but she won't talk to me. She won't talk to me! I am her best friend! And she won't even tell me what's wrong!" I was crying again, and this time the shopkeeper just patted me on the shoulder and waited for me to calm down. When my tears had subsided, he said in a thick country accent, " Well, why don't you just quit tryin' to make 'er tell you and maybe she'll tell you. It's like your Cream Soda there." When I looked at him questioningly, he just smiled knowingly and said, "You'll figure it out." The he got up and walked away.
I sat looking at the Cream Soda for a minute, then in a fit of anger I jammed the cap back on and shook it up and down fiercely. All the rage inside of me went into the glass, and the bubbles effervesced frantically to the top. I watched as they pushed and pushed against the top. When I opened the bottle, the fizz settled and I understood. I knew what I had to do.
I jammed my jacket on and raced down the street, past pretty houses with pretty yards up to Starr's house. I saw her in the window, looking forlornly out at the street. I walked up to the door and rang the bell, shivering against the cold. I heard rustling, and then the door creaked slowly open. I saw Starr standing there, and the speech I had prepared flew right out of my mind. I just stepped inside, and hugged her as hard as I could. She was so surprised she could not move. Then I hopped off the front steps and ran across the street to my house. I watched as she stood in front of her house, too astonished to speak. I watched as she slowly closed the door, and I watched as she passed through her house turning off all the lights. I watched until she was in bed, and then I went to bed too. That night, all I could think about was Cream Soda and if the Soda Shop person was right. I tossed and turned, too discouraged to sleep. In the morning, I got out of bed and dressed slowly then walked across the street to Starr's house. When she opened the door, I gave her what I had brought with me- a bottle of Cream Soda. She looked at me strangely, then at the bottle. "Explain," she said softly.
I smiled stepped inside. We sat down at the kitchen table and I set the bottle in front of us. First, I explained how the bubbles pushing at the top could not get out. Then I shook the bottle up and showed her how they got increasingly frenzied but the top still would not budge. When the bubbles had stopped a bit, I showed her how when I opened the bottle, the bubbles fizzed, then stopped. Then I looked at her. From the look on her face, I knew she understood. I reached across the table and grabbed her hand. " I just need someone to let me open the bottle," I said softly. She smiled for a second then burst into tears. As she sobbed, I held her close and whispered in her ear. When she finished, she took a huge drink of Cream Soda. So did I. When she smiled at me, I knew that she would always be my friend, even through hard times.
With that bottle of Cream Soda, I learned what true friendship is all about, and I knew that in Starr, I had the best friend I would ever have.