Tobi and I have been friends for as long as I can remember. Our mothers were friends when they were our age, if you can believe that! Mom says that being a loyal friends isn't always easy, and she's right
I found this out last year when Tobi was chosen for the varsity soccer player, and I'm just okay. I wanted to feel good about Tobi being chosen for the elite team, but somehow I couldn't. I felt jealous and decided not to play soccer the next season. Tobi asked me to come to a few of her games, but I was always "busy.
I developed friendships with new people. My new friends and I went to movies and shopped. We talked on the phone and had slumber parties. Tobi didn't have time for us. She was always at soccer practice.
The next school year Tobi and I were not in many classes together. That's okay with me, I thought. Tobi and I never do anything together anymore anyway. In fact, the only time I ever saw Tobi was when our families gathered for picnics or birthdays. We still had fun, but it wasn't the same as it used to be.
Sometimes I felt as if a part of me was missing, but most of the time I continued doing the things I always did. I liked school – particularly math. Some students thought math was just impossible, but I didn’t. I could figure out most math problems as easily as some people can kick a soccer ball!
One day I saw Tobi sitting at a long lunch table all by herself. That was unusual because these days Tobi and the girls who play soccer were stuck together like glue. Where one went, the others went too. Tobi had her math book open and was intently figuring and erasing over and over again. A puzzled look shadowed her face.
I’m still not sure why, but I decided to sit down beside Tobi. I saw that she was working on some of the hardest math problems I’d ever seen. Before I realized it, I was showing Tobi shortcuts for working the problems. Math wasn’t as easy for Tobi as it was for me, but she caught on rather quickly.
When we were finished, we went to the library and spent some time together. Ms. Potter didn’t care as long as we talked quietly. Tobi started chattering away about something silly her brother had done, and I had a few brother stories of my own. Before long we were both laughing out loud. It felt just like old times.
I felt really good as I headed back to class. I wondered if Tobi felt the same way. I didn’t have to wonder long. When I went out to my bus that afternoon, Tobi was waiting on the sidewalk. We sat together on the bus, chatted incessantly, and made up for lost time.
Winter came and went. Tobi and I hung out with our new friends and with each other. Things were getting back to normal again when soccer season rolled around. Just like last year, Tobi was on the varsity team, and I wasn’t.
Unlike, I didn't feel jealous. I decided to play on my old team, the Rockets. The first game of the year was in mid-March, and the wind whipped around the soggy soccer field. Even though it was cold, I felt warm and excited because this was the first chance I'd ever had to play the goalie position.
The game hadn't gone on for long when a ball flew at me. I jumped, caught the ball, and fell flat on my face. I expected to hear Mom cheering from the bleachers, and I did. I heard another voice too. "Wahoo!" the voice yelled. "That's my friend who just caught that ball!"
I turned toward the excited crowd, and I wasn't the least bit surprised to see Tobi. I think we had both learned that true friends are loyal to each other, no matter what happens.