"Oh, come on, Melanie. Rematch!" I begged my friend to play just one more game of 'concentration'.

"Face it, Renee. I'm the queen of hand games. All I need is a tiara," she couldn't hold back her giggles as she posed in the most royal position of all; the princess wave.

We all laughed as, once again, Melanie became the drama queen and center of attention.She held that throne with ease.

"She's right, Renee," Rachelle piped in. "I bet she's never lost a game in her life."

"Melanie should be in the GuinnessBook of World REcords," Samantha said. "She catches onto these hand jives so fast!"

Michelle joined the conversation, "Show her it once and it's implanted in her head."

"It's too bad she can't remember anything when she's in the classroom," Leila joked.

Mel, who had been mosdestly blushing during the length of the conversation, now laughed. "Oh, youre just jealous!"

I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty good at hand jives myself. It always came easily to me. Hand-eye-coordiantion, I guess. But Melanie was better. Much better. Our little group absolutely loved to learn new handshakes or clapping games. You name it, we had been there and done that! It was the fad of the year at Mt. Pilchuck Elementary School.

Some of us were better than others. And I have to admit, I never was the most patient kid on the playground. Teaching these shakes to Michelle wasn't a piece of cake. She had a bit of trouble with them. Let's just go with that. Even after she would (finally!) learn one, fluent movements weren't in her abilities. It was almost robotic, the way she had to force her hands to move!

We lived in western Washington, a place with four fairly distinct seasons, and we loved every minute of it.

All six of us were pertty popular, but we didn't realize that until years afterward. So, we definitely could not be defined as the snobby type. Everyone wanted to be our friends because we were benign and good-hearted, for the most part.

Rachelle was the one that the guys adored. Even in elementary school, it was obvious she was going to be that way her entire life. Tall, skinny, and super fun to be around. And, yeah, she was definiteyl flirty. But when it was just us girls hanging out, she was just Rachelle.

Leila was also liked by guys, but not for the same reasons. She was short, blonde and sporty. Soccer was her game, and she played it well.

Michelle was a tall brunette who was always active. I was really close to her, so to me she was a chatter-box. But to everyone else, she was the shy girl. I can still remember the first day of first grade, when she had first moved to town. My mom walked me into the classroom and the first person I noticed was the brunette with cute clothes, sitting and hugging her lunchbox with fear and loneliness in her eyes. When she saw me, I smiled. She smiled back, a bit shyly. That's when I knew I had found a friend in her.

Melanie looked a lot like Leila; short and blonde. She lived right along the lake, with a ton of rich neighbors.

Samantha was also short, but her hair was dark brown like Michelle's. She was really active, also. I guess practically everyone was back then.

And, lastly, there was me. I was way taller than all the guys (in my mind, a very unfortunate event), worked the dirty blonde hair and spent every last bit of my free time playing sports. Soccer, basketball and volleyball.

Pur little posse began in kindergarten. We were three people strong; Rachelle, Leila and me. You could say I was an outsider. The two of them were best friends. Unbeknownst to me, I was merely a third wheel.  They were also really close with this girl named Kyla. I didn't like her at all. She wore belly shirts (at 5 years old) and I would have described her as a meanie-head, back in my kindergarten days. But, anyways, I put up with Kyla so I could get closer to Rachelle and Leila. Truthfully, Rachelle was the only one I really bonded with. Leila and I just got along, nothing more and nothing less.

Michelle and Melanie started attending Mt. Pilchuck Elementary in first grade. Rachelle and I were in Mrs. Palmer's class, where the two of them were newcomers. Leila and Kyla were together in another classroom. We grew apart that year. Remember the lunch box hugger? Well, I wasn't the most outgoing person, either but I really wanted to make new friends. It seemed so fun to be able to go ask someone to be your friend. If only that worked when you got older...Melanie and I weren't exactly friends. But Michelle was friends with both of us. So after awhile, all three of us became inseperable. Of course, I still stayed friends with Rachelle. How could I go through all te work of becoming her friend to just let it go? But she never talked much with Michelle and Melanie.

Second grade came around and, once again, I was seperated from my friends. Rachelle, Melanie and Michelle were all in Mrs. Husseman's class while I was stuck in a classroom on the complete other end of the hallway. We stopped talking because they made their group of friends, and I had Leila. Yes, the girl I just put up with only 2 years before became my very first best friend. Half-way through the year, a new girl named Leslie came into our class. She was really nice. Leila and I were still best friends, but we decuided to invite her into our "group". Before the year was over, Leslie moved again to an island in the Puget Sound. Once again, it was just Leila and me.

Before we knew it, 3rd grade had started. Leila and Rachelle were in Mrs. Guzley's class. They became best friends once again. My 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Palmer, moved up to teach our class again. Melanie, Michelle and I were in her class. After a full year of not talking, we were back to being best buds. A new girl named Natalie came into our class in November. She was nice, so we started playing hopscotch with her at recess. Just like in 2nd grade, my new friend moved away before the year had ended.

4th grade seemed like it was going to be the best year ever. Rachelle, Leila, Melanie, Michelle and I were all in the same class. All of my friends! Finally! Our teacher, Miss Alvin, was the teacher that everyone requested. She was young, and we were kind of like teachers' pets. But nothing turned out as perfect as we had hoped. Melanie didn't like Rachelle or Leila. Not one bit. I'll never know her reasoning behind that decision. So there were technically two cliques that year. Rachelle, Leila and I; Michelle, Melanie and I. Just because my friends didn't like each other, I had to start choosing favorites.

It. Sucked.

I would go on teh monkey bars with Melanie and Michelle one recess, then go play tether ball with Rachelle and Leila at the next recess.We started getting into fights because no one enjoyed being told (basically) that they were second pick to another friend. This was never the case, of course. At least I can talk for myself. I liked everyone equally. But, believe it or not, ten year old girls were beginning to see body changes and attitude adjustments came with them.

When the spring volleyball season started, Michelle, Rachelle and I were on the same team. Finally, Michelle started to hang out with Rachelle, Leila and me during school. But this meant that she also had to jump around between groups. At that time, it was like social suicide.

But 5th grade came around and everything just sort of clicked into place. Miss Alvin  looped up with the class. It was the year that Samantha joined our class. She was shy, but easily fit in with everyone. Melanie still was hesitant to become friends with Leila or Rachelle. Apparently, she didn't like how they flirted with all the guys. I personally think she was just jealous.Sometimes, she would spread rumors about them that weren't true. Every once in a while, some of us would be found crying in the bathroom because we were getting into fights. Our lives were changing, and we felt like anything we did would hurt someone's feelings.

Eventually, Melanie started getting to know Rachelle and Leila. Some of the elementary school drama started slowly to fade...