When I was 14, I invited some friends for a party at my home out in the country.

I planned it well, but something _________ happened.

When it was time for us to ride the bus, Nora, one of my friends didn’t _________. I felt _________. Why would she tell me she’d come to the party and then _________ without letting me know? So, I decided to call Nora and get some _________. I needed no apologies but I demanded to know why.

Nora explained she had to stay away from school because she was sick. Anger still _________ me and I _________ to listen, “What kind of friend are you?” Nora began crying on the phone, hurt and surprised. For the rest of the school year, we _________ hung around (溜达, 闲逛) again, and I forgot about my _________ call with Nora. __________ had happened between us at some point, but I shrugged it off (对……满不在乎).

Years later, I began to reflect on that ugly phone conversation. Now, I __________ it. I recognized how selfish, and __________ I’d been, caring only about myself. I wanted to make things __________. I wrote an apology letter to Nora and soon got her __________. So finally, we did bring a sad moment from the past to a __________ conclusion, healing both of us.

When I was 13 my only purpose was to become the star on our football team. That meant _______ Miller King, who was the best _______ at our school.

Football season started in September and all summer long I worked out. I carried my football everywhere for _______.

Just before September, Miller was struck by a car and lost his right arm. I went to see him after he came back from _______. He looked very _______, but he didn’t cry.

That season, I _______ all of Miller’s records while he _______ the home games from the bench. We went 10-1 and I was named most valuable player,_______ I often had crazy dreams in which I was to blame for Miller’s _______.

One afternoon, I was crossing the field to go home and saw Miller __________ going over a fence—which wasn’t __________ to climb if you had both arms. I’m sure I was the last person in the world he wanted to accept __________ from. But even that challenge he accepted. I __________ him move slowly over the fence. When we were finally __________ on the other side, he said to me, “You know, I didn’t tell you this during the season, but you did __________ .Thank you for filling in for __________.”

His words freed me from my bad __________. I thought to myself, how even without an arm he was more of a leader. Damaged but not defeated, he was __________ ahead of me. I was right to have __________ him. From that day on, I grew __________ and a little more real.

I stared in horror at the computer screen. The familiar Facebook page I had once known as friendly and _______ now was breaking my heart. I couldn’t believe it. One of my best friends, Allie, had just _______ that she no longer wanted to be my friend.

I flashed back to a _______ night with leaves under my feet as I walked towards the open fire where my friends, Allie, Sabrina and Jenna, sat on blankets around the fire. I can still _______ the sizzling of the hot dogs as they were being roasted and the laughter that filled the air. Allie _______ out her guitar and we sang “Three Little Birds”, over and over for about half an hour. Three little birds, four best friends, _______ around the fire.

I still sat at the computer screen, hurt and confused. I couldn’t believe she did this. I _______ to myself that we had grown apart in the past year, but we were still friends. As far as I knew I had done _______ that would make her angry with me. Even if I had done something that _______ her, she hadn’t confronted me at all so I was at a loss. I had to ask her what happened. I decided to __________ her. I said, “Hey, Allie. I __________ that we aren’t friends on Facebook any longer and I was __________ why that is.” She replied, “Honestly I feel like we’ve grown apart this past year and I don’t __________ the person you’ve become.”

I decided to write, “I didn’t know you had a __________ with me. We had been friends for so long that I wish it hadn’t ended so __________. I wish we could have more fires with more songs and more hot dogs.” I never received a response to that message.