Dare to Be Different by Nicole O'Dell Page A

there was a knock at her door and her mom was standing there holding the cordless phone. “Lindsay, it’s Macy on the phone for you.”
    Lindsay groggily sat up in her bed and reached for the phone while rubbing her eyes as they adjusted to the bright sunshine streaming through the windows. “Hello? Macy?”
    “Hey, Linds, I just wanted to catch you before you left for school. I know that you’ve been trying to get there early so you can go hide out in your classroom.” She hesitated as she chose her next words carefully. “I just … I guess I just don’t think that’s fair. Sam and I want you to come to our tree. There’s nothing that you should be hiding from. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
    “Macy, I really appreciate that you’re concerned about this, but I really don’t want to cause any more problems. I really want to give Kelly the time that she asked for and see what happens without pushing it.”
    “I know, Lindsay, and I can respect that, but Ialso think that if we don’t all show Kelly that we aren’t going to accept things as they are, it won’t make her sit up and take notice. She needs to realize that it’s not her call. She can take the time she needs, and we’re all there for her, but she can’t control us in the process.”
    “Okay, here’s what I’m going to do, Mace,” Lindsay explained. “Since I’m up so early and now have plenty of time before school”—both girls laughed—”I’m going to talk about it with my mom and pray about it. I just want to do the right thing and not mess up any progress that we’ve already made.”
    “Lindsay, I think that’s a great idea,” Macy agreed. “You know, I think you’re the wisest person I know.”
    “Thanks, Mace. I’ll see you at school one way or another.”

    Lindsay decided that she needed to approach Kelly alone so she didn’t feel bombarded by all of them at once. So she went to another tree and waited there. The tree in Kelly’s front yard seemed to be the perfect place. Kelly would see her standing there when she came out to walk the dog before she and her mom left forschool. So Lindsay waited.
    After about five minutes, the front door opened and Kelly appeared in the entrance, struggling with their golden retriever, Abby. She started to walk out to the front yard but stopped short when she saw Lindsay waiting there. “Hey,” Kelly said without emotion. She tried to pretend she wasn’t interested in talking to Lindsay.
    “Hey, Kell. I thought it was time that we talked. Don’t you think this has gone on long enough?”
    “Yeah, I guess so. Where do we go from here, though? I mean, how can we possibly fix this?”
    “Well, the way I see it, I’ve already told you the ways I feel I’ve been hurt. Now you can respond to that if you want to. And if I have done anything to hurt you, this would be the time for you to tell me.”
    “See, that’s the thing, Lindsay. You’re perfect. You haven’t done anything wrong, and you never will. I can never measure up to you. You’ll always be strong enough to be your own person.”
    “What is it about that that scares you? Is it because you can’t control me? So what? It’s not a competition. I love you for who you are, and Idon’t want to change you. Why do you want to change me?”
    Kelly began to cry. “I know that’s how you feel, but it’s easy for you. You have nothing to worry about. You don’t care if people like you or not—but they always do, because you’re perfect. It’s different for me. Before you girls, I didn’t really have best friends. I guess I was afraid—afraid that when you said you liked Macy best of all of us, it meant the two of you might go off and just be friends without me and that Sam would go with you because she likes you better. I thought if I kicked you out, they’d stop liking you.”
    “But, Kelly, don’t you see, maybe that’s the reason you feel like you never had friends before us. I love you for who you are, and