Barbara had a very convincing way about her, almost like that of a double personality. She could be very nice if she wanted to, especially if she wanted to know more about something. She would pretend as if she could help, or as if she actually cared, when really, she did not. When push came to shove, Barbara was never around for any of it. Then suddenly every problem just became simply too difficult to actually contend with. 

Yes, this was Barbara. The double personality. She could appear nice to your face, and then the moment you’re not there, talk about you as if you were the worst person in the world. She did that with everyone. Anna had seen Barbara’s other side. She knew the truth. Yet Lisa did not.

Lisa always wanted to see the good in people. She did not want to have to see them in an unfavorable way. However, also working against Lisa was her naive disposition. At times, Lisa did not always get the big picture. Lisa had the potential to be very oblivious to even the most obvious circumstances. Anna did not ever have enough patience and this really annoyed her. Sure, she could talk to Lisa about simple things, but anything more complicated, Lisa simply just did not get. She was too idealistic.

Therefore, Lisa thought that Barbara was really nice. Barbara always put on the “nice act” for Lisa, knowing that Lisa would fall for it. And poor Lisa; she did. She believed that Barbara was truly that way. Anna had warned Lisa before about Barbara’s behavior, but Lisa always refused to believe her. She would always say “But Anna, Barbara is so nice.” The effort was fruitless. 

So there stood Lisa and Barbara, right in the hallway. Anna slowly approached them. She assumed that if Lisa were there as well, the conversation would not have to be as horrible. However, right at that moment, Lisa went into the other room. So it was just Lisa and Barbara, facing one another, about to begin upon the inevitable.

Barbara always made sure that she knew about everything. That was another thing about Barbara. There was no keeping secrets from her. Sure, you could try, but she would always find out. It may not be right away, but she would find out. She definitely had a way. So it only made sense that she knew about what happened with Eddie and Anna.

Barbara started off by making that characteristic, false grin of hers. It made her happy that Anna was naive enough to have believed in loved. She then said “Anna, I think that Eddie likes you.” She knew the truth, but now she was going to make Anna go through the whole thing. At this point, Anna was very frustrated. She said, exasperated “No, Barbara, he was Jade’s girlfriend. And then he told Lisa that he loved her.” Again, Barbara knew this. She had just spoken to Lisa, and Lisa tells her everything. Barbara then raised her eyebrows, faking astonishment, “He said he loves Lisa? And he was Jade’s boyfriend?” Anna did not want to have to go through this yet again. She just said, even more frustrated this time, “Yes, Barbara. He does not like me. I get it.” Then Barbara said, just to add to the drama of it all “I would not say that. He likes you, Anna. He just does not know you very well. He does not know what would happen if he told you that he liked you. He needs to get to know you first.” Anna just sighed and walked on. Yet little did she know, this was only the beginning of the wisdom that Barbara would have to offer.

Therefore, Anna did have friends at school. She had Lisa, even though Lisa did not understand every little situation. She had Eddie, even though Eddie did not like her in the way that she had thought. There was Jade, and there was even Barbara, who perhaps was not the type of friend that Anna really wanted. But regardless, these were people at school that Anna dealt with on a daily basis. Some were more difficult than others. But that was life and this is what normal high school teenagers do. So Anna was not at all different from them. She knew how to be a normal girl. Anna was normal. Everything had been fine.