English 22
October 12, 2000

The single carat heart cut diamond set in platinum hangs from a gold chain. The cherished piece of jewelry dangles from a delicate neckline. Looking at the girl whom the necklace hangs on, a tired look fills her face as she drops her luggage bag onto the floor. Rachel, who has just rushed to her childhood home from the airport, drops into a recliner as she looks up at me. I'd picked her up at the airport with some friends, then returned to her parents home, which was located a few houses away from my own. Thinking back to our childhood and the brief time we spent together, I still find it unbelievable that Rachel has been through so much at such a young age.
As I watched my friend as she looked around her room, I couldn't help but notice how she looked the same since the last time I'd seen her. Standing up Rachel walked over to a long row of shelves set into her wall. Trophies, metals and ribbons from cheerleading, science fairs, soccer, softball, volleyball, archery, karate, and horse showing, among other things, are displayed in her room. Each award with it's own special story. Rachel, who had always been athletic, seemed to excel in whatever sport or hobby she tried. After going though a number of hobbies, including violin and piano lessons, horse showing, and large number of sports, she soon found while away at boarding school that drama and cheerleading were her favorites. Framed pictures of Rachel with her cheerleading squad from boarding school rests among the awards. Ribbons and trophies from winning the all-state cheering competition the year before, and the largest framed picture-a group shot of her high school football team and cheerleading squad from her Junior year. Rachel smiled for a moment as she stared at the picture. Then her smile melted away as she moved over to sit down on her bed as she took off the necklace to look at the ring. The brilliant diamond shone with even the slightest movement, while the stunning platinum gleams as if brand new. It seems hard to believe that such a stunning and expensive piece of jewelry, especially an engagement ring, could belong to a seventeen-year old girl fresh out of high school. A wave of emotion flows over Rachel as she remembers all the happy moments, and tough times, that will be forever enclosed in this ring.
I think back to the sad day when I was seven, I'd known Rachel since I was born, and she was leaving Hawaii. Her family had been planning on moving for a while and soon the inevitable happened. Rachel packed up her things and left me friendless.
Sitting on the porch on a hot sunny summer day, a five-year-old Rachel watches as a moving van pulls up into her driveway. Not long after, a boy not more than a year older than her appears in the yard next door. After brief introductions from the children's parents, Rachel runs to the garage and gets her roller skates as her new neighbor, David, comes bounding across the sidewalk on a scooter. After ushering her to hurry, the two run off and play. Though this sunny afternoon was filled with new friends and innocent play, the two kids became best friends. And would eventually spend the next thirteen years going though every up and down life could throw at them, but it would be worth it since they would head into life's trials together.
For the next three years, Rachel and David shared many things together. First days of school, learning to ride a two wheeler, and first adult teeth among many more. As time wore on, Rachel began to have problems in school. Not just academically, but socially as well. She was far more popular at school than her twin sister Julia, which often lead to fights among the sisters and problems with Rachel paying attention in class and doing homework-though this was more because she was busy with friends or talking to be bothered with work. One day, when sibling rivalry hit an all time high, Rachel ended up in the emergency room with a broken bone, and the two sisters were sent off to boarding school. Soon summer and Christmas visits home became the only time Rachel could see her best friend. Though there were phone calls and the occasional letter, the two grew up, and grew apart. Middle school arrived for David and things began to change. The two next door neighbors who used to be the best of friends, suddenly became mortal enemies. But of all the reasons in the world, they perhaps had the most forgiving, she was a girl-she was yucky, he was a boy and he had cooties.
Just as they had done for the past six years, Rachel and David met outside their houses on a hot summer day to go to the community pool. But this day would different since this past year David started the seventh grade, which meant a new school while Rachel was still in the sixth grade and still stuck returning to boarding school every fall.
Rachel closed the door to her house and ran into the yard, what she saw knocked the wind out of her. David, in his driveway, playing basketball with a group of boys whom she didn't know. Rachel tried desperately to get her friend to acknowledge her, but David dribbled and shot as if she weren't there. She finally burst into tears and left. For hours, Rachel sat in her living room, looking out to the driveway, watching her him. Then, for a moment, David stared directly at her. Rachel grinned, thinking he had gotten over the new found freedom of his new school and finally came to his senses. But instead a scowl formed on David's face as he rounded up his friends and headed to the pool, without her.
Events continued this way every summer when Rachel came home to visit her parents and friends. Rachel eventually found out David now thought girls were yucky, and even though they were the best of friends, Rachel was still a girl. Then came the long stretch Rachel and Julia didn't return from school. They had opted to stay the summer for camp for a few years in a row. Then finally, came the school year when Rachel returned home to start high school back in her hometown while her sister remained away at school.
To Rachel's surprise, things had changed drastically since she had last seen David. Though Rachel had been out with numerous guys, she for some reason, there wasn't the magical feeling she thought accompanied thoughts when a girl liked a guy. Perhaps, she thought, it was because she held a soft spot in her heart for David, he had always been her best friend, and had been the first to kiss her. Sitting in the cafeteria on her first day as a high school freshman, she was glad she was unattached. When she glancing to the entrance, in walked the cutest guy she had ever seen, once she got a good look at him, her jaw dropped. There he stood in all his six foot glory was David, her best friend since her first day of school. It had been what seemed like forever since the two had last seen each other, Rachel assumed it was before puberty had hit.
Without a doubt in her heart, Rachel marched up to the football playing jock and said hi. With the shock of not seeing Rachel for years on end, David welcomed her with open arms. She was greeted with a surprised look, a warm hug and an introduction to the rest of his friends-which Rachel would soon find out, were the same guys David had ditched her for all those years before.
Cliques at Rachel's high school were much for defined and segregated than at her old school, and Rachel soon found herself friends with the football players and cheerleaders which prompted her to try out for cheerleading. To her surprise, she had not only landed a spot on the squad, but she was also given the responsibility of training the JV squad, since she was the only freshman who managed to be a part of the Varsity squad. Her endless years of dance class and gymnastics had paid off when she was a cheerleader at her old school, but never had she had such an important role in the team. From there, Rachel's popularity skyrocketed as she soon joined band with David, and also became a member of the Drama class. As her first year in Drama, Rachel's part in the annual play was minor, she played Candy from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", a character better known as the tight-skirt wearing slut. But this was an important part to Rachel, especially since freshman weren't even cast in the school play.
As school progressed Rachel and David became closer than they ever were and dating soon followed. He was the captain of the football team and she became cheerleading Co-captain in her sophomore year, it seemed almost wrong for them not to date. High school passed by in a blur and soon David graduated high school. During this time Rachel felt as if her world was crashing down around her. She loved David more than she's ever loved anyone, and the thought of him leaving for college while she was still stuck in the same high school, still sitting in homeroom wile he was off at frat parties and beer keggers. The fights eventually ended and things returned to the natural state that was Rachel and David.
David soon enrolled at a local Junior College while Rachel finished out her senior year. The couple soon became closer than they had ever been, and while celebrating they're fourth anniversary, a fight ensued about now little David sees her now that she's busy getting ready for graduation. Not long after though, the fight blew out and the decision was made that Rachel would move into David's apartment.
Time moved slowly for the rest of the term. Rachel graduated; David finished his first year of college and took on a summer job in addition to his regular job. While time trickled by, the pace of Rachel and David's relationship quickly escalated, and David proposed soon after Rachel's graduation. While Rachel loved David deeply, she couldn't help but realize she was only seventeen, and to be married at such a young age Rachel feared her relationship with David would end in a fiery blaze of wreckage, just like her parents. Once Rachel declined the proposal, the relationship became incredibly rocky and while David wanted marriage in the near future, Rachel wanted to live life, then marry later and have kids-which David directly protested since the pitter patter of little feet gave him a headache.
Rachel felt they're differences in what they wanted from the relationship were to bi-polar and they soon broke up. Rachel moved home with her mother and sister as she started college. They would soon try to fix the relationship, but things had been said that couldn't be taken back and it was inevitable for they're second try to fail.
Rachel looked up from the engagement ring to look at me as she wiped a tear away from her eyes. At that moment I knew she would always love him. He was her first love, and perhaps she'll never fully recover from the break up, but she told me once she can't live in the past, David and her wanted different things, and if she had only seen that earlier, she would have been spared the pain she suffered. But had she known how things would have ended, she never would have felt the true, pure love that only comes along in fairy tales.

Author's Note: Names have been changed to protect the guilty.