This creative writing assignment is based on the Hero's Journey storytelling concept.
The Friendship Meadow
A normal school day; science class, AP calculus, lunch, public speaking, music, cheerleading practice. Emma Alleson. Top student and popular. A respectable height of 5’. With her Short Blonde hair. Her Crystal blue eyes sometimes made her seem a lot younger than she was. She was probably the most popular girl in the 11th grade. With all that popularity one could sometimes be rude or bossy to the less popular students, but Emma was not like that. She would often sit off to the side and watch as everyone else participated in an event.
At lunch Emma would sit with her two best friends, Hanna, and Sade along with a few other girls from the cheer team. Being 15 years old made Hanna the oldest. She was taller than Emma and Sade and had a broad shoulders and a tomboyish attitude. Shoulder length black hair dyed with a dirty blonde mixed with dark mahogany colored streak just off to one side of her hair. Her Chocolate brown eyes gave off a feeling of mystery and a hint of fear to the other girls at school. She was tough and competitive. Everyone wanted her on their team during gym class. She used to be a bully to the other kids during her freshman year. (Until she met Emma). She would either do exactly what you told her to, or she would get very stubborn and complain about it until someone else did it for her. Sade was a few months older than Emma. Sade was 5’ 2”. She had Long wavy brown hair. Her green eyes were the color of a pine tree in the sunlight. Her Skin tone was like a permanent tan in the summer sun. Sade was the smart girl of the three friends; science and math were her best subjects. She was a very prudent person. Sade would always come up with the big ideas. She was also the quiet one who did more observing from the sidelines when she wasn't with Hanna and Emma.
It was a Friday night. The girls were getting ready for homecoming. Purple and silver cheerleading uniforms. White sneakers, shiny silver team sweatshirt with purple accents. And on the back was a picture of a wolf, the school mascot.
“Ok, I think we have everything.” Emma said as she made sure her friends were also ready to go. “I’m not ready!” exclaimed Hanna as she fussed around with her hair. “Here I got it” Sade said as she fixed the Purple and silver bow into Hanna’s hair, making sure the streak of blonde could be seen. Emma sat on the bed waiting for her friends to finish up. Once they were done, they got in the car and headed to the homecoming.
As Sade was thrown high up in the air by her teammates, she performed an aerial twist as the rest of the cheerleaders did their dances and routines. Hanna being the tallest was a base support for Sade and the other the flyers on the cheerleading squad. Emma was also a flyer. but it was harder for her to perform the difficult flips and twists in the air, so she was a side flyer. she would be lifted up but the base supports like Hanna, but instead of being thrown into the air, she would do the cheering from higher up so the fans who are sitting higher in the bleachers could still hear the girls cheering the team on to win.
After the girls finished up their routines at half-time, she watched as the football team continued to score touchdown after touchdown. Emma was watching Erik, her boyfriend. The team scored 3 touchdowns. Winning their first game of the season.
That night after the game, the girls had a sleepover at Hanna's house. They had a lot of fun. Eating pizza, listening to music, talking about boys. It was great. But during the pillow fight, Hanna accidentally got hit really hard by Sade. Her nose started to bleed a little, and that made Hanna mad.
“Its all your fault!” she cried “I'm sorry.” Sade repeated for the fifth time.
Hanna kicked Sade out after that. they didn’t speak to each other for two weeks. And during those two dreadful weeks Emma was on her own.
After the pillow fight Emma felt horrible. Why had she just stood there? It was her best friends. Friends shouldn’t fight. And now Hanna and Sade weren’t even speaking to each other. And Emma was in the middle of it. She had to do something to fix this friendship. She didn’t want to lose her two best friends. Tomorrow is going to be monday. A school day. She would talk to the girls tomorrow and try to fix this.
On the bus the next morning, Hanna and Sade sat at opposite ends of the bus. When they did look at one another, it was always a vengeful glare. Sade looked sad. Hanna looked infuriated. Emma just sat there. Overwhelmed by all the drama. At lunch the girls didn’t even sit near each other. Everybody at school noticed. Sade failed a math test. Hanna got sent to the principals for ditching two classes. Emma was called into the principals office. Principal Hahnsen looked very concerned. He asked Emma what was going on. He was shocked to find that all this was caused by a pillow fight. That night Emma went over to Erik's house. But even spending time with him didn’t help take her mind off her friends. “Whats up?” Erik asked. “It’s just Sade and Hanna.” “Oh, you mean the pillow fight?” He already knew what was up. “What am I going to do? It’s hard enough to try and keep tabs of both of them. “What do you want to happen?” he asked. “I just don’t want them to stay like this forever.” “That's not what I asked.” Erik stated. “Huh?” Emma was confused. “I asked what you want to happen; not what you don’t want to happen.”
It was then that Emma knew it was up to her to figure this out on her own.
One week. Neither of the girls spoke to each other. Emma called up Sade after school on Friday. Asking Sade to come over. The first thing Sade said was that she would not come if Hanna was going to be there.
When Sade got to Emma's house. The girls talked for a long time about the pillow fight. Along with Sade crying about how she had tried to apologize. Now that Emma had the necessary information of Sades side of the story. It was time to talk to Hanna.
Hanna was furious. She was now starting to blame Emma for the accident. All she did was yell and scream at Emma. Saying it was because Sade has always thought she was too reckless. All Emma could think of doing was sit and let her friend vent out all her anger and emotions. Normally this worked, and Hanna would end up crying and apologizing. But this time was different. It was just making Hanna's temper go through the roof. Emma was beginning to get afraid. She had to leave.
The next day, Emma went to her favorite place: the meadow. Surrounded by a dense forest with one hiking trail that led back to a dirt parking lot with a huge tree in the center. She would sometimes climb the old tree, and the view was amazing. If you took the trail a little ways and take a sharp left turn, the forest would begin to grow darker and darker; until you come into the clearing. Where it was a beautiful open area with a slight incline. This was the meadow. It was a big field on a hill. The millions of different colored wildflowers made Emma feel almost like she was walking on a rainbow. The dew on the grass was cool on Emmas bare feet. The sounds of the birds sang cheerfully in the branches of the trees around her. Today was the perfect day to go. It was a clear blue sky, with perfect puffy white clouds that took on different shapes from your imagination if you stared at them long enough. A cool gentle breeze prevented the heat of the day from becoming unbearable.
Emma had found this place seven years ago when she was eight, while hiking with her older sister, who was now grown up and moved away to college. Emma had ran off the trail chasing after a rabbit. Emma was separated from her sister. she was lost in the woods. she found the nearest trail thinking it would lead back to her sister, but instead it led her to the meadow.
She would come here when she felt lost and confused: Being in this serene, calming, opening in the forest, she could have time to really think about what is really going on in her life. Today as she lay on a bed of flowers and clover, she thought about her two friends. She thought about what they had said when she talked to them yesterday. Thinking of that made her want to cry. So instead she looked back to all the times they were together: Going to the mall to try on shoes, eating lunch at school, the first time sade was asked out by a guy but she turned him down (smart choice too), trying out for the cheerleading squad. All happy memories. suddenly she got an amazing idea that could save the friendship. She thought back to the first time the three of them became friends. It wasn’t very long ago. Maybe two years? It was at school. Sade was still the freaky nerd who nobody wanted to hang out with. Hanna was one of the tough girls who nobody wanted to mess with. Emma was the quiet mysterious girl. On that day Hanna was bullying Sade in the hallway. Telling Sade to take her math test for her. Emma noticed that one of the girls was being picked on. So Emma went over to Hanna. “Excuse me.” Emma quietly said as she tapped Hanna on the shoulder. “What do you want? Can’t you see I’m dealing with something here kid?” Hanna replied forcefully “You don't have to yell.” Emma's voice was rising “So? Get out a here.” Hanna dismissed Emma “No. It’s not nice to pick on other kids. How would you like it if I told you what to do?” Emma demanded “Fine. Whats your name punk?” asked Hanna in a neutral tone.
From there Emma, Hanna, and Sade became good friends. And have stuck up for each other when they needed help.
Emma smiled as she thought back to that day. And suddenly Emma bolted to her feet and ran down the hill back to the trail. She had an idea on how to fix the friendship.
The next day she went over to Erik's. She was excited to tell him all about her plan to save the friendship. She told him about her plan to get the girls to remember the good times and all the fun they had together.
On Tuesday before Emma went to lunch, she stopped in the hallway where she first met Sade and Hanna. She waited for a little while until the classes began filing out from the other students rushing to lunch or to their next class. Emma grabbed Sade as she was passing by on her way to lunch, then she looked for Hanna in the crowd of students. The students looked like salmon all going in one direction in a river or stream. It was a little chaotic, but it wasn’t long before Emma saw Hanna. You really couldn’t miss the big tough girl with the baseball cap and scowl on her face. Emma went to grab her arm, but Hanna wanted nothing to do with Sade or Emma. She effortlessly removed her arm from Emma's grasp. The shock that Emma felt was evident by the expression on her face. This wasn't like Hanna. She never backed down without a fight. Emma didn’t know what to do. That's when Sade spoke up.
“She isn’t mad, Emma. She’s sad.” “What?” Emma was confused. “She doesn’t have the energy to fight or be stubborn anymore.” Sade explained, "All she wants is her friends, but she also doesn’t trust us the same way anymore. I’ve been watching her behavior today for a while now. She no longer makes jokes in class, she hasn’t come to cheerleading practice for a while, and she doesn’t play with the same competitive attitude in gym class. It’s like everything that mattered to her is meaningless now.”
That's when a light bulb went off in Emma's head. Her original plan was to get the girls to come with her to all the different places where they used to have so much fun together; but now she had a better idea. That night she sent a text to Sade and Hanna: "Meet me outside on the football field after school tomorrow. If you don’t come, I will have Erik hunt you down." That would work. Erik can be scary when he wants to. Even Hanna is scared of him sometimes.
The next day after school. Emma waited on the football field with Erik at her side. Sade arrived first. Ten minutes later Hanna showed up with the same scowl on her face and her hands clenched into fists. As soon as they were all there, Emma handcuffed the three of them together. She made sure that Erik had the key so even Emma couldn’t get out of this situation. Hanna screamed and went into a rage of fear and anger as she tried to get out of the handcuffs. But her efforts were futile. She was out of reach of Erik and she didn’t want to hurt Emma or Sade. (Even though she would never admit that to the rest of them.)
As they were Half dragged to the car, Erik whispered to Emma that he wouldn’t allow anything to happen to any of them. That if he felt there was any sort of "struggle or conflict" he would unlock the handcuffs. Then he got into the drivers seat of the van and they all headed out. In the back seats, Sade was fast asleep, Emma listening to her music, and Hanna just stared out the window as the paved asphalt turned to a dirt road. The scenery was familiar to Emma and slightly familiar to Erik. He had only come here once or twice before but remembered it clearly like he had come here every day. After a few miles the narrow dirt road opened up to a small loop around an unimaginably old tree. Carved into the trunk was: E+E within a crudely drawn heart.
Emma went over to the tree with the other two girls still attached to her wrist. Before she could go any further, Erik unlocked Emma from the cuffs, but left Sade and Hanna attached to each other. Emma explained that this was a very special place and that if you were to climb the branches of the tree you can see the whole town out in the distance. She also explained that there is a hiking trail not far from here. That's where they were headed.
As the four of them walk along the worn out trail, Emma began to feel less anxious. she took a sharp left turn onto a partly overgrown path. The dense forest seemed to engulf all the sunlight. This was normal for Emma. After walking through the darkness they all saw light not too far ahead. They all caught their breath as they came into the clearing. Emma had taken them to the meadow.
“What is this place?” Sade asked “I call it the meadow.” Emma answered gingerly.
All they could do was walk around in awe. After a while Erik released Sade and Hanna from the handcuffs. Both girls looked at the other. Hanna had tears in her eyes. just as Hanna began to cry, Sade hugged her. Both girls apologized for everything repeatedly for a while. Emma smiled as she watched her best friends.
After the tears and apologies were over. they all enjoyed a nice picnic together and enjoyed the beautiful spring day. Sade and Hanna played Frisbee, Emma made flower wreaths and halos for everyone, while Erik sat next to her as he watched the clouds pass by. The rest of the day was spent playing games and talking about life.
As they quietly walked back to the car, Emma kept thinking about how through all this she realized how much her friends meant to her. She now knew that she did have the power and strength to make things happen and not just sit and watch everyone else.
A few days after Emma took her friends to the meadow, she asked Erik, Sade, and Hanna to help her clear all the overgrowth leading to the meadow and build a stone pathway too. So together the four friends spent a week building a beautiful mosaic-like pathway out of white stones that they found in a stream not far from the path. Sade had found it while they were clearing the overgrowth. By the end of the week, the path was finished and it looked like a small path that would lead to someones private property. Erik also added a trail marker to prevent others from knowing about the meadow.
Almost a year has passed now. The four friends were no longer in high school. They were all in different colleges around the area. Sade was given a full scholarship to AST, Academy of Science and Technology. One of the high end Private schools in the area. Hanna went off to some college so she could go study to become a personal trainer. Erik got a scholarship for C.A.C.H, College of Athletics, Crafting, and Health. He was going to be the coach for one of the beginner level athletes. Emma went to a community college to become a psychologist for teens in high school. The four of them didn’t see each other very often. Sometimes Erik would spent a week with Emma. But Sade and Hanna never had breaks the same times of the year. So they didn’t see each other for a very long time. They did text and talk on the phone. But it just wasn’t the same. One day during spring break, Emma was with Erik for the week. They decided to visit the meadow. The path they built was still there, and the trail post had been replaced by a weather resistant post. As they walked down the path holding hands, they heard laughter as they got closer to the clearing. “Sade! Hanna!” exclaimed Emma. They were sitting on a blanket; the same blanket they had all sat on that day when they were in high school. The two of them were laughing and joking about school. When they saw Emma and Erik, they came running over and they all hugged each other for a while. After almost a year the four of them were together again. They had an amazing time talking about what their schools are like and it was just like when they were together in high school. That's how it was for the rest of the day.
Every so often, the four of them would meet at the meadow. Just as they had done that day. It kept them together and forever. Sade, Emma, Hanna, and Erik.