Paige Potoski

Mr. Dufresne

10 Lit Comp

2 November 2021

Camp Michindoh

There was a girl who I didn’t like in 4th grade. She was beautiful— beautiful blonde hair,

beautiful blue eyes, a beautiful smile. She was a great person everyone loved, and I wonder why

I didn’t realize earlier.

The reason why I so-called hated her was for many reasons. She was perfect and

amazing, and I wanted that too. She was likable, and I wanted that too. She was a beautiful

person, and I wanted to be that too. So, maybe it was jealousy. A type of jealousy where you

despise them for being what you wish you were like, but you’re just not. An admirable type of

jealousy, because you admire them for being such a good person.

We had a mutual hatred. Whenever we saw each other, we avoided eye contact and acted

as if we didn’t exist to each other. There was always some sort of drama between us or

something we were hung up on. We didn’t quite know why we were hung up on it, though. We

just… were.

In 5th grade, we went to Camp Michindoh. The counselor was separating us into each

bunk, and miraculously, we were in the same bunk. We did all the activities together, so

naturally we started talking. Its not that we wanted to talk, but we had to because we had to work

together. As we started hanging out there, I could tell we were both thinking, “Huh, she’s

actually not as bad as I thought.” We continued to grow on each other and realize that our

“hatred” for each other was for no reason.

 While walking back to our bunk the last night, she decided to speak up.

“You know, Paige,” she said, “i’m sorry for treating you badly. You’re actually a good

person.” I was shocked and embarrassed for some reason.

“Yeah, I’m really sorry too. You’re cool, and now that I think about it I had no reason to

not like you,” i replied. We both awkwardly smiled at each other and walked back together in

silence.

In 6th grade, we had a couple hours together. We had mutual friends in the class, so we all

sat together. After a month of school together we gradually got close. It was like opening a

present on Christmas day— shocked at what you got, and really happy you got it. I never

expected to be friends with her when just a year prior I had sworn she was my enemy and I never

wanted to speak to her. But now that I had a friendship with her, I was thankful.

We talked about it sometimes, about why we hated each other so much. We always

laughed about it because as we matured, we realized how stupid it was and how we could’ve

missed out on a great friendship. The things I was jealous about turned into things that I liked. It

wasn’t jealousy anymore; they were truly things that I admired. She was perfect and amazing,

and I loved that. She was likable, and I loved that. She was a beautiful person, and I loved that

about her. She was someone I considered my best friend and was someone I had a very strong

connection with.

In 8th grade, she moved. We pinky promised each other we wouldn’t stop talking to each

other, but we did. It felt like some part of me was gone now that I didn’t see her, because she was

such an important part in my life and taught me many things along the way, and I missed her

with everything in me. Even though we haven’t talked in years, I still think about her sometimes

and I’m thankful we were friends.