Speak up Samantha! #tweenblogs, #selfesteem,#friendship,#tweenblogs,#selfconfidence,#tweengirls,#

Samantha's bff is Tanisha.Samantha and Tanisha grew up in the same apartment complex.They became friends in kindergarten and played together at the YMCA after school program.The birthday parties and swimming pool parties were always a blast!Tanisha used to love playing with Barbie dolls and singing as she listened to Beyonce and Taylor Swift.They wrote about their favorite books and games in their personal journals.Tanisha and Samantha liked going on the fastest rides in the amusement park.After the amusement park,the girls would go and get strawberry and chocolate ice cream cones.Those were fun days for the girls. Now the girls are in 6th grade.Tanisha plays on a soccer team and Samantha doesn't.Samantha wanted to play but her parents did not have anyone to pick her up after practice.This made Samantaha sad. Meanwhile,Tanisha made new friends on the soccer team and had fun playing at the games.The soccer coach told Tanisha that she was doing a great job. Tanisha was usually tired after soccer practice and fell behind in her homework assignments.Samantha was making good grades in all of her subjects.One Tanisha's teachers gave her a 69 on an English worksheet.She started asking Samantha if she could copy homework assignments from her.Samantha said,"ok".'That's what friends do',thought Samantha.She felt good about helping her friend. A teacher noticed that the two girls had the same answers on their classwork so Tanisha stopped copying the homework.Tanisha stopped talking to Samantha and began hanging out with her soccer friends.Samantha missed her friend but didn't say anything to her. Two weeks passed.Tanisha didn't eat lunch with Samantha anymore.Instead she ate with the soccer girl and some of the other popular girls.Samantha had not talked to her friend for days. Then on Wednesday Tanisha called.She had a favor to ask of Samantha.Tanisha had asked Samantha to bring her backpack to the soccer field after school. Samantha agreed and carried Tanisha's backpack to her each day that she had soccer practice. Because of this,Samantha would have to run to get a seat on her school bus after school.This went on for a week until Samantha's mom found out. On Saturday, Samantha asked Tanisha if she wanted to go to the mall with her.Tanisha said she would go. They were to leave at 3 pm,but Tanisha never showed up.Samantha called her cell,but there was no answer.Samantha and her cousin went to the mall anyway. They walked and looked at jewelry,cd's,clothes,and tried on some shoes.Samantha walked out of the shoe store and saw Tahisha and her friends standing outside of Macy's.One of Tanisha's new friends made eye contact with Samantha.The girl slung her long brown hair and turned her back to her. Samantha's feelings were hurt and she wondered if she had lost her best friend.Samantha didn't like the way that Tanisha was treating her.There was an ice cream stand in the mall.Samantha's cousin wanted to cheer her up,so they bought strawberry and chocolate ice cream.The strawberry ice cream did not taste so good on Samantha's tongue today because her heart was smashing... igg! It was like a part of her body being burned by a candle flame...or falling down on a piece of sharp broken glass. It was time for Samantha to think about the situation and find a solution to the problem. Samantha was smart,kind,and a real good friend to Tanisha.Samantha understood that there was absolutely nothing wrong with herself.She knew that she had to do something to throw this experience behind her.That night, Samantha went to her room,listened to music on her mp3 player and fell asleep with her thoughts. Samantha made friends with a new girl in Math class. Her name was Anna. A couple of days later Tanisha walked over to Samantha in the bathroom.They said hello.Tanisha asked if she could borrow her new house slippers to wear to a friend's sleepover that weekend. Samantha knew her friendship with Tanisha was over at that minute...she realzed that Tanisha was a "user". Samantha smiled and calmly said to Tanisha,"no,my slippers only fit my friends feet." That weekend,Samantha and Anna had a pink slumber party... and yes she let Anna wear her glittery house slippers! What would you do if your best friend stopped talking to you and got another best friend? Do you think Tanisha knew how badly she hurt Samantha's feelings? friends, Marie