One Sunday afternoon, two months after we moved from our old neighborhood, father received an invitation from Mr. Gaspar, the ex-soldier who used to live next door and was constantly yelling at me and my friends for picking the wild flowers in his garden. Dad asked me if I wanted to tag along and join Mr. Gaspar’s 65th birthday party. I could barely contained my excitement at the idea of seeing Jenny again.

The neighborhood looked pretty much the same from the day we left. I laughed at my own silly thoughts, expecting that something would changed between a short period of time.

The party had already started when we arrived. I could see the embarrassment in Dad’s face when everyone was staring at us when we entered Mr. Gaspar’s huge living room where the party was being held.

As soon as Dad started talking to his friend, I made a quick escape to find Jenny. I missed her so much and I didn’t want to spend the rest of the night, watching old people talking about the economy and politics.

I found Jenny laughing with a group of girls in the terrace. She looked surprised to see me but I could feel that there was no excitement on her part.

“Hi.” She said. “It’s good to see you here. I didn’t know you were coming.”

It wasn’t the greeting I was expecting from a friend who I haven’t seen for a long time.

“It’s good to see you too.” I told her. “So how’s life?”

“Good.” She smiled.

Our conversation was interrupted when Hanna came. She didn’t see me at first and went straight to Jenny to show her something on her mobile.

“Jen, look at the picture of Aldrin Morgan. Isn’t he gorgeous?” she said while giggling, showing her phone to Jenny.

Since when did they become friends?

Jenny quickly abandoned me to check out Hanna’s phone. Together, they started giggling and making high-fives. I felt jealous as I watched them looked totally close with each other.

Finally, Hanna noticed me, looking miserable in the corner.

“Hey, Denise.I didn’t know you were here.” She said with the smile I always hated.

“Hi.” I mumbled.

Then she went to talk to the other girls. “Girls, Sophie is waiting for us. We have to go.”

“Where are you guys going?” I asked out of curiosity.

“In our friend’s house. We’re having a sleep-over.” Hanna replied. “Let’s go, Jen.”

I was surprised to know that Jenny was coming with them. We never had a sleep-over because she wasn’t allowed to sleep in other people’s house.

“You’re going with them?” I asked Jenny.

“Why not? It will be fun. Nice to see you again, Denise.” She replied.

She was about to leave when I grabbed her in the arm.

“Can I talk to you for a second?” I asked.

“We have to go, Jenny.” Hanna reminded her, the other girls were waiting for her outside.

“Sorry, Denise. I’ll catch up with you next time.” She said. But she didn’t look like she was really sorry.

“Just one minute, I promised.” I said, not hiding the fact that I was really disappointed. “Please?”

She took a deep breath, making me feel like an annoying friend.

“Okay.” she finally gave in. “Just one minute.”

We went out in the porch, waiting for each other to speak.

“Look, Denise, if you’re not gonna say anything, I better go. I don’t want people waiting for me.” She told me, losing her patience.

“What happened?” I asked , trying hard not to cry.

She looked at me but I couldn’t dare look back “What do you mean?”

“I thought you hated Hanna.”

“I didn’t say that. You guys were fighting so as your friend I have to take your side.” she explained.

“I see.” I wanted to yell at her and tell her how hurt I was for telling that to my face.

“She’s not that bad.” she added.

“What do you mean she’s not that bad?”I asked. “So, You think I deserved to be bullied?”

“Come on, Denise. That was a long time ago.” She said, looking at her watch to check the time.

“Two months isn’t a long time ago.” I replied, totally offended.

“You have to forgive and forget.”

“Is that why you forgot how we used to be bestfriends two months ago?” I couldn’t take it anymore. “You still can say that after witnessing how they bullied me before?”

“Oh come on. What do you want me to do? Stay in our house like a monk not talking to anyone? You’re the one who left. “ She raised her voice at me which she had never done before.

“And now it was my fault that I left as if I had a choice.” I screamed back at her. “How considerate of you.”

“You know what? It’s pointless. I better go.” She said. “You’re being selfish. You can’t just order people who should they hang out with. You’re even worse that Hanna was.”

“Okay then, I could see that you’re no longer the bestfriend I once had. I wish you wouldn’t regret your decision because I won’t take you back.”

“Whatever. I don’t care” She said. Without even saying goodbye, she left me standing awkwardly outside the porch.

I went inside to find my dad, but changed my mind and looked for the toilet instead. I locked myself inside and started crying. I never imagined that Jenny would treat me like that. I thought we were going to be bestfriends forever.

Suddenly I heard a loud knock outside. I quickly washed my face in the sink, checked if I looked alright and took a deep breath to calm myself. I slowly opened the door and smiled at the old lady, waiting outside.

“Hi.” I said, wishing that she wouldn’t notice that I just finished crying. “Sorry for taking so long.”

The old lady just smiled and went inside, shutting the door behind her. She was probably thinking that I was doing something that was a more common reason for someone to stay longer in the toilet but I could care less. I just wanted to go home because apparently I was no longer welcome in our old neighbourhood.

It took forever for me to convince Dad to take me home and come back some other time if he really wanted to catch up with his old friends. We had a small fight in the car, telling me how annoying I was for acting like a child, being impatient when I was the one who was so eager to come in the first place. If he only knew what had happened. Anyway, guys never really understand so there was no way I would explain everything to him.

He dropped me in front of the Villa but before he left, he opened the car window and gave me the key to our house.

“Stay home and don’t open the door without asking who’s knocking. Tell your mom I’ll be home late.”

When he left, I walked slowly going to the grand gate of Cypress hill, still mad about my confrontation with Jenny and sad that the bestfriend who I grew up with suddenly became a stranger to me.

From a distance, I saw a flash of red figure in the tall grass. Curious on what it might be, I turned left instead of going directly to our house. My heart was thumping as I imagined what could be lurking behind the tall grasses covering half of the hill. Half-way through the narrow road, I saw Gabriel, sitting in a huge rock, admiring the view of the town. I sighed with relief as I realized that he could be the figure I saw in the grass as he was wearing a red shirt.

I was planning to scare him in order to get back at him for scaring me before but it was too late as he turned to face me before I even had the chance to be near him.

“I was about to scare you.” I couldn’t hide my disappointment. “It’s so unfair.”

He laughed. “I could see your shadow from the sunlight.”

I sat beside him in the huge rock. The sun was about to set, making the view even more beautiful but a bit melancholy.

“You looked awful.” He noticed.

“I always do. I’m surprised you just noticed it now.” I snorted.

“I mean you seemed sad.” He explained.

I picked up a small stone and threw it in the town below, wishing that it would hit someone.

“I just had a bad day.” I told him but I couldn’t hold the buried anger anymore so I decided to tell the whole story to him.

“How could she do that to me?” I exclaimed after telling him what happened with me and Jenny at the party.

“Well, people come and go and there’s nothing we can do about it. We just have to accept that someday, we have to let go of some people in our lives in order to let other people in.” Gabriel told me.

“Easier said than done.” I said sadly.

“I know.” Gabriel, nodded. “I’ve been there too. I was left behind when my bestfriend met a new friend. But I think proving them that we are better than the other is pointless. Don’t worry, someday, Jenny will realize that you were a great friend to her.”

“I hope so. But anyway, I hardly care anymore.”

We were quiet for a while, just admiring the sunset. Soon, it would get dark and the mosquitoes would come out but I didn’t feel like going home. I felt a sudden chill as a familiar yet mysterious name appeared in my mind.

“Gabriel, can I ask you something?”

He looked at me from removing the hanging nails in his toe.

“Do you know someone named Helen?”

For a moment, neither one of us spoke. Gabriel stared at me and from his expressive eyes, I could recognized a mix of emotion. He obviously knew her but there was a strange fear in his eyes I couldn’t figure where it came from.

“Helen Lim.” he spoke the word softly as if he was talking to himself. “I do know her.”

He looked around as if he was scared that someone might hear us.

“She used to live here but no one dares to speak about her because of the strange things that had happened when she died.”

The first star appeared in the brilliant sky and owls began to hoot. I was so scared to go home that Gabriel volunteered to accompany me. Like before, he refused to come inside as his parents might be looking for him too. I didn’t really want him to leave because I was desperate to ask him more about Helen but I didn’t want him to be in trouble. That night, I couldn’t sleep, tossing from left to right on top of my bed. I didn’t turn off the lights, afraid that Helen would appear in a blink of an eye.