Fair-weather friend

Eight-year-old Daniela stood and watched the rain. It was late at night and a summer storm was in full gear, pounding wind and rain on the window. Her mother approached her from behind, rubbing her head in a silent gesture of comfort. They watched the storm together.

There was an idiom that Daniela had heard the other day that she’d been thinking about since she heard it, trying to decipher what it could mean. She’d heard someone say

“-perfect storm. How could a storm be perfect?”

“Well, you can’t think about it literally.” Her mother said, staring out the window next to Daniela. “You have to realize that they don’t mean a real storm. They mean, maybe a person who’s really energetic.”

“Like Jen?” Daniela asked.

“Yeah, like Jen.” Her mother responded. “And you know, Jen has her flaws. But her energy means that she can do things better than the rest of us. Like, you’ve seen her soccer playing.” Jen was good at soccer, way better than Daniela. Daniela felt a pang of hurt with the indirect comparison, but nodded without a word.“You think Jen could do that if she wasn’t so wired? Some kids don’t have as much energy as Jen, which can be a good thing, but sometimes Jen storm is what makes what she does perfect.”

Daniela squinted her eyes and tilted her head as a gust of wind sent the trees outside her window leaning to the left.

Jen was the storm.

Ten candles blew out on Daniela’s birthday cake. On her right was her mother, and on her left was Jen. As Daniela beamed out at the table of people, Jen leaned down and whispered in Daniela’s ear.

“What’d you wish for?” Jen asked, grinning. Jen had outgrown her hyperactivity, and her energy was channeled now into being charismatic and keeping herself fit - she was still the star of the soccer team. Her perfectly curled blonde hair brushed against Daniela’s cheek. Daniela had recently started to develop acne on her cheeks and forehead. Secretly, she was worried about what Jen would think if she saw. Jen’s skin was perfect.

“I can’t tell you!” Daniela smiled back. “Then it won’t come true.” Jen laughed. Daniela’s mother pulled the cake away and began to cut it, resulting in screams of excitement from the group of kids.

Daniela had wished that she was as pretty as Jen.

Later, as Daniela and her friends ate, she overheard her mother talking to a friend.

“We better enjoy this while we can, Lily.” Said Daniela’s mom. “These years, right before they’re teenagers? This is the calm before the storm.”

Was Jen still the storm?

At fourteen, Jen and Daniela sat next to each other around a campfire surrounded by their friends.

“Let’s play a game.” Called Evelyn, the hostess. “Everyone go around the circle, say one thing you’re gonna miss about middle school, and then one thing you’re excited for in high school!” There were chimes of agreement, so the group of girls quieted down.

“Jen, let’s start with you.” Evelyn said. Jen stood up next to Daniela, and Daniela looked up at her. She had to look up at her now. Even when they were both standing, Jen towered over everyone, and her high ponytail, lean frame and strong presence only made those around her feel even smaller. When she stood up like that, it made Daniela feel like Jen was on top of the world. Too far up to look back down at her.

Jen smiled her perfect smile. “I’m gonna miss this group - I can’t believe some of you guys are leaving for other high schools! Hopefully we stay in touch.” A few people nodded. “But I mean, we get to start fresh. New friends, new teachers, new boys,” she emphasized, resulting in giggles from the group of girls. “and in the end, every cloud does have a silver lining.”

Were these the storm clouds mom said were coming?

At sixteen, Daniela and Jen sat together at a lunch table. Normally they were surrounded by their friends, but today they were alone. Their eyes were on another table, on one person. His name was Casey.

“Come on, you have to go talk to him! This is your chance!” Jen egged Daniela on. “Just go for it! I’ll go with you.”

Daniela agreed at the idea of company. She stood up cautiously, and Jen popped out of her seat excitedly. Daniela walked shyly with her shoulders tensed, Jen pranced with her head high.

The two walked to the table where Casey sat, sliding into the seats across from him. Before Daniela could open her mouth, Jen’s voice spoke, bright and eager. “Hey!”

Casey smiled at them. “Hey, who are you two?”

Daniela felt the brush on Jen’s ponytail on her neck as Jen flipped her hair. Daniela looked over at Jen. She had that smile again. The one that made her look like she was on top of the world all over again. “I’m Jen, this is Daniela.”

Casey was smiling too. Suddenly, the chime of the bell sent students scattering. “Well, you two seem great. Wanna talk tomorrow?” Casey’s eyes swept over the two of them. Daniela’s heart fluttered. Jen’s eyelashes did the same.

“Oh, Daniela, don’t you have to go to the library tomorrow? Some makeup test?” Jen asked sweetly, looking down at Daniela.

“Uh, that’s next week.”

“But you better get it done soon! There’s a bug going around.” Jen’s hair flipped back at Daniela as she turned back to Casey. “See you tomorrow!”

The two walked off, and Daniela watched Casey leave over her shoulder.

“Don’t worry, Dani. I’m just gonna get in there and break the ice, tell him all about you.”

Daniela went to the library at the next day’s lunch. She thought about Casey and Jen alone at a lunch table. She thought about the ice that Jen said she was trying to break.

There would have been no ice if the storm hadn’t frozen the lake.

Whack. Seventeen-year-old Dani winced as Jen’s hand hit the table, sending her blonde curls bouncing.

“Don’t you get it?! It’s not about you! It’s about him!” Jen yelled into Daniela’s face. The table and lunchroom all stared.

Jen and Casey had broken up. They’d almost been together a year, almost made it to junior prom. Whipping around, Jen angrily left the room.

Daniela and Jen’s other friends remained at the table in silence. Finally, a girl named Jackie moved down a few seats to put her arm around Daniela’s shoulder, comforting her. “You didn’t do anything wrong.” she reassured her. “She’s just having a bad day. First Casey, and I heard she got a pretty bad grade on that essay we turned in a month or so ago.”

“And you know Jen.” Said another friend, a boy named Brandon. “When it rains, it pours.”

Jen brought the rain.

Eighteen-year-old Daniela sat and watched the rain. She was in a cafe now, away from home.

Jen was away from home too. Jen was gone, but she wasn’t only gone in the way that Daniela no longer sat next to her. After high school ended, Daniela had been terrified. She’d stayed up at night, worrying about the next few years and her own future. But when she’d dialed Jen’s number on her phone, it always went to voicemail.

Instead of Jen, there was a boy named Kenneth sitting next to Daniela.

Kenneth had seen Daniela alone in the cafe, staring out the window at the threatening-looking storm clouds that were rolling in. He’d sat down next to her, handed her a coffee he’d claimed was supposed to be for a friend who’d “cancelled on him”, and struck up polite conversation. Daniela had been talking with him for hours now. Particularly, about high school. Particularly, about Jen.

“I knew a ton of girls like that in high school.” Kenneth said, shaking his head sadly. When he shook his head, his curls shook with it. Kenneth’s curls were like Jen’s, but they were real and they were brown. Big, loopy curls that spilled over his eyes in a way Jen would never let hers do. “They’re fake, completely toxic. I always call ‘em fair-weather friends. They’re around when they need you, but never when you need them. Only when the weather is good.” He turned his head to look out the window that Jen had been staring out of. The rain was harder now, and wind bent the big, evergreen trees to the left.

Jen brought the rain and the wind. She bent trees and buildings with force. But once she began the storm, she left. She didn’t return until her storm was over and the weather was good again.

The weather was stormy now, and Jen was gone.