Prologue
"You must be getting pretty strong, carrying all those books back and forth!" Alphonse Elric teased. The girl next to him smiled, carrying all her books in her arms; she just laughed and handed him half the books. "I am trying to get a little better at fighting, and getting stronger, too." She replied, giggling.
Chapter One: Alphonse Elric's side
Alphonse's Point-of-view
One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class was walking home from school.
Her name was KJ.
It looked like she was carrying all of her books. I thought to myself, "Why would anyone bring home all their books on a Friday? She must really be a nerd."
I had quite a weekend planned: parties and a football game with my friends tomorrow afternoon, so I shrugged my shoulders and went on.
As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward her. They ran at her, knocking all her books out of her arms and tripping her so she landed in the dirt. Her glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from her.
She looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in her eyes. My heart went out to her. So, I jogged over to the raven-haired girl and as she crawled around looking for her glasses, I saw tears roll down her cheeks. As I handed her her glasses, I said, "Those guys are jerks. They really should get lives."
She looked at me and said, "Hey thanks!" There was a big smile on her face; it was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude. I helped her pick up her books and asked her where she lived.
As it turned out, she lived near me and Edward, so I asked her why I had never seen her before. She said she had gone to private school before now. I would have never hung out with a private school kid before.
We talked all the way home, and I carried some of her books. She turned out to be a pretty cool kid.
I asked, "Hey, wanna play football with me, my brother, and our friends?" "Sure!" She replied happily.
We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know KJ, the more I liked her, and my friends thought the same of her.
Monday morning came, and there was KJ with the huge stack of books again. I stopped her and said, "You are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!"
She just laughed and handed me half the books.
Over the next four years, KJ and I became best friends. When we were seniors, we began to think about college.
She decided on Central Universtiy, and I was going to Eastern Academy. I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never be a problem. She was
going to be a lawyer, and I was going for business on a football scholarship.
KJ was valedictorian of our class. I teased her all the time about being a nerd. She had to prepare a speech for graduation; I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and speak.
Graduation day, I saw KJ and she looked great. She was one of those girls that really found herself during high school. She filled out and actually looked good in glasses. She had more dates than I had and all the guys loved her. Boy, sometimes I was jealous! Today was one of those days.
I could see that she was nervous about her speech, so I smacked her on the back and said, "Hey, you'll be great!" She looked at me with one of those looks -the really grateful one- and smiled. "Thanks," she said.
As she started her speech, she cleared her throat, and began:
"Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years. Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach...but mostly your friends...I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them. I am going to tell you a story."
I just looked at my friend with disbelief as she told the story of the first day we met.
She had planned to kill herself over the weekend.
She talked of how she had cleaned out her locker so her dad wouldn't have to do it later and was carrying her stuff home. She looked at me and gave me a little smile.
"Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable."
I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this beautiful, popular girl told us all about her weakest moment. I saw her mom and dad looking at me, smiling that same grateful smile. Not until that moment did I realize it's depth: Never underestimate the power of your actions. With one small gesture you can change a person's life. For better or for worse.
Yami Shira Community Member 
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