They'll Never Hear a Word We Say: Part Six

Over the next few months, Mel and Sam made up about the Krystal argument, but there was still something between them that was causing them slowly but surely to become more distant. They no longer played together every day after school. They rarely hung out or went to each other's houses. At school they only sometimes talked, and they started seeing one another less and less. Krystal and Sam had become closer. Mel's worst fear had come true.

    Though Mel and Sam didn't speak very often, there was still something holding them together. They were still best friends, and they both knew it, but neither of them wanted to admit it. The bond that they had built over their years of friendship together hadn't broken yet.

    The bond kept getting weaker and weaker each and every day, however, and by the end of the year it was just a thin little string. On the last day of school, Mel had even forgotten the last time she and Sam had done anything together. She then realized that she had to somehow save their friendship before it was too late.

    That summer, Sam and her family went off to vacation in Mystery Island, like they had the previous year, so Mel had no choice but to let the string get thinner and thinner. She had sleepovers with Kira, though, and those were great fun. But they just weren't the same as the ones she used to have with Sam.

    When Mel got her letter from the school that told her which teacher she would have for fifth grade, she didn't even hear from Sam like she usually did. So the night before the first day of school, she took a walk over to Sam's house. She looked up at the giant Neohome that she hadn't visited in so long. She smiled as she thought about the memories it held of her and her best friend as she rang the doorbell.

    Sam opened the door slowly and looked down at Mel, wearing a surprised look on her face. "Mel! I haven't seen you... in a really long time," she said softly. Her eyes were filled with sorrow as she looked at the Usul. "Well, come in!"

    Mel stepped inside of the house, which smelled like cinnamon and honey, like always. She was instantly reminded of the time she and Sam made hot cocoa together on that snowy day in first grade...

    "So, who did you get?"

    "Wha-?"

    "Who's your teacher?" Sam repeated, sitting down on a big sofa. Mel sat down next to her.

    "Hedbird... same as last year," Mel told her, shrugging.

    "Yeah, I have Vasen again too. I guess all of the fourth grade teachers decided to teach us again another year. Must've liked us a bunch," Sam said, laughing slightly.

Great, Mel thought. Nothing's going to change this year. It will just be the same as last year was. Krystal and Sam will become even better friends... She sighed, looking down at the floor.

    "Anyways, Mel, listen. I'm really glad you came. In fact, I have wanted to visit you for such a long time, but I was just afraid that you were still mad at me. I hope we can save our friendship... I mean, we're still best friends. Right?"

    "Right," Mel replied monotonously, still staring at the floor.

    The next day, Mel and Sam walked to school together. That was something they hadn't done in a very, very long time, and Mel was extremely glad that they were finally hanging out again. But she knew that it all would change as soon as they got to school and Krystal took over.

    And take over was exactly what Krystal did. She and Sam behaved exactly like they had the year before. They went off all by themselves, and Sam would never even speak one word to Mel during recess. So the yellow Usul spent time with Kira as usual. But one recess, a few weeks after school had started, Mel was quite surprised when she saw Sam and Krystal walking her way.

    "Hey, Mel." Sam waved, smiling. Krystal smiled too, which Mel was very shocked to see. She didn't think she had ever seen Krystal smile genuinely at her like that before.

    "Hi," Mel and Kira replied together.

    "Um, yeah. Krystal and I were just starting a club, and well, we were wondering if you guys wanted to be in it," Sam explained. "It's called the Cool Kids Club. So, do you want to?"

    "Of course they do," Krystal said cheerfully. "They would never turn down an invitation to be cool."

    "They already are cool," Sam corrected. "Otherwise we wouldn't be asking them to join, would we? Anyways, do you guys want to? Mikey, Chad, and Garret are in it too."

    "Well," Mel murmured, looking at Kira. The yellow Cybunny shrugged and then after a few moments, nodded in approval. Mel wondered about this herself for a second. Krystal was in it, so she wasn't sure if she really wanted to join. But then again, she would get closer to Sam and be able to hang out with her more, and maybe she would get to know Krystal even better. "All right, we're in."

    "Great!" Sam exclaimed, and handed Mel a piece of torn and crinkled paper. "Here are the rules, by the by."

    Mel straightened the piece of paper out and read it.

    Congratulations! You have been chosen to be a 'Cool Kid'! However, with this great honor, there are always certain rules you must follow. Any breaking of these rules will get you immediately thrown out of the group, so you must obey the following.

1. You can never, EVER talk to a nerd.

2. Or a geek, for that matter.

3. You cannot read a book unless you have to for school. I mean, reading was so two years ago.

4. You can only hang out with other Cool Kids. If anyone sees you interacting with unpopular people, you WILL be banned from the group. (Note: if you have to be in a group with a person who isn't a Cool Kid for a project for school or something like that, it's okay.)

5. The only person who can recruit pets to be in the group is Sam.

6. If you agree to these rules, please sign your name below.

    SIGNATURES: SAM~, *KrYsTaL*, Mike-Man, Chad-meister, Gerat

    Mel frowned and looked up at Sam when she was through reading. "Garret can't even spell his own name? He's stupider than I thought--"

    "Here's a pen," Krystal interrupted, holding one out for Mel. She took it and signed her name on the paper, then handed it to Kira.

Life in the Spotlight

    From then on, the Cool Kids went everywhere together, all seven of them. Sam and Krystal were considered the 'leaders', and Mel didn't really have a problem with that. By then, she was used to Sam and Krystal being together all of the time. She enjoyed hanging back with Kira and Garret, while Chad and Mikey would talk to Sam and Krystal more often.

    They traveled in a big group, and never went off to do anything unless they were doing it together. Everyone in the fifth grade knew who they were now, since they stood out so much and were always laughing and attracting attention to themselves.

    The other kids didn't call them the Cool Kids, however. They didn't even know that that was what they called themselves. So they just called them 'The Seven'. The unpopular kids often wished that they could be in the group, and sometimes one of them would even go up to the Cool Kids and ask them if they could be their friend. Sam would always snort at them and walk away. The other six would follow her, and as the kid who had been rejected walked away with their head hung and spirits low, Mel would always secretly look back at him or her, with a frown on her face, and feel sorry for them.

    With being popular came being respected, sometimes even hated. But Mel had to admit that she loved it when people always said sorry to her so sincerely even if they had just bumped into her in the lunch line. The rude remarks from the popular wannabes she just ignored, though, and tried not to let them get to her. Whenever she and Kira heard something nasty being said about them in class, they would shoot dirty looks at the people who had said it for the rest of the day, sometimes even the next day as well. Maybe even longer, if the remark had made them really mad.

    After about a month of being a Cool Kid, Sam started to hang out with Mel much more often within their group. Krystal seemed to be over her hatred of the yellow Usul as well, and this brought great joy to Mel. Her best friend was finally noticing her again.

    Pretty soon Mel had practically became the new leader of the group, thanks to the constant attention Sam was giving her. Chad and Mikey started to talk more with Mel too, which made the whole group come together, unlike they had been before. Before, they were two separate groups, acting like they were one.

    One day while walking home from school, Sam said to Mel, "I'm so glad we're best friends."

    "Are we?" Mel said in a harsh tone. She suddenly regretted her remark however. But she did have a point.

    Sam raised an eyebrow. "You know, Mel... you haven't really been the same since... well... you know. When we got in that fight last year, and didn't talk to each other for the longest time. Something isn't there that was there before. I feel like the Mel I used to know is, well... gone."

    "Remember what I said last year?" Mel asked. "The last thing I said to you that day we got in the fight? I am different."

    And she was. Ever since that day her emotions exploded as she watched Krystal and Sam laughing like she used to with Sam, her attitude had become sour and she wasn't the same fun-loving Usul she used to be. She didn't read her favorite books anymore; she didn't spend time with her family that much. She wasn't very kind to all of her classmates like she used to be. She couldn't even remember the last time she told her owner that she loved her.

    She did not like the different Usul she had become. But she was giving in to it. She was no longer the sweet Mel that she once was.

To be continued...