Losing a childhood friend at a young age would leave many feelings helpless and alone. But for 14-year-old Aidan Jackson of Widnes，England，such a _______instead empowered him and benefited his community.

Aidan’s friend Olivia Walker _______ at just 15 years old from severe illnesses. After her death，Olivia’s family set up the Olivia Alice Foundation to _______ money for medical equipment and family _______ in children’s hospitals. Aidan decided to collected teddy bears to _______ Olivia Walker.

Aidan with his mother Caroline Jackson came up with the idea of placing _______ on each seat of the local stadium，the Select Stadium，which _______ more than 13，000 people—no small undertaking.

Caroline was _______ to see Aidan make efforts and gain confidence by honoring his _______. To help Aidan，the Jacksons emailed nearby schools and businesses，________ local press，and even posted leaflets(宣传页)door to door，asking people to ________ a teddy and a pound. The response from the community was ________，with nearly 2，000 bears flooding in almost ________. When things slowed down，the Jacksons strengthened their social media presence，spreading influence far and wide. While every bear was appreciated，some were especially ________ .

Aidan set them up in Select Stadium with the help of his family and some community ________ . Having problems with his legs，he had to rest and then seat teddies on the lower levels of the stadium. Even so，he always wanted to keep going.

I met Connie in 1976, when we were both competing in a tae kwon do (跆拳道) tournament. Because we are both red belts, we had been _________ to compete against each other. As we sat next to each other waiting for our _________, Connie began to talk to me. She was _________ and had a wonderful smile. I was _________ by how nice she was.

Then we got up to compete. Connie suddenly put on the most _________ face you can imagine, which terrified me. Out of _________, I, just from that moment on, began to _________ her in the head, twice... After a close fight, I, _________, was the winner in the match.

Despite this, Connie and I became _________ friends. And despite our many __________, our relationship remained throughout the last 43 years. Connie is Black and I am White. She was __________ in a big city and I was brought up in a __________ town. Connie is a book __________ and I am a sports fan.

Connie now lives on the East Coast and I live in northern Wisconsin, but we still __________ with each other through social media. One of her __________ things to do is to introduce me as her bestie who is always there for her.

Once again, I was in a new school. So was a girl in my class named Paris. That’s where the________ended.

I was tall and she was small. I was one of the oldest in the class________she was the youngest. I was awkward(笨拙的)and shy. She wasn’t. I couldn’t stand her, considering her my________. But she wanted to be friends.

One day, she invited me over and I said yes — I was too shocked to say no.________ no one had invited me over to play before. But this girl, who wore the latest________, wanted to see me.

When we got to the________she shared with her sister, she took out a big case of Barbies - which was my next________I would have thought she’d outgrown(长大而放弃) them. I had never played with them. But we sat on the floor, laughing as we made up________stories about the Barbies. That’s when we found out that we both wanted to be________when we were older. We both had wild imaginations.

We had a great day that afternoon. Our jaws(下巴)ached from________so much.

Paris had the whole________charmed(使入迷). The bookstore owners lent her fashion________, the movie theater gave her free passes and the pizza place let her have free pieces. Soon I was________in her magic world. My dark hair grew out and I learned to love being tall.

Paris, my first real friend since childhood, helped me________the tough teenage years and taught me an amazing and very surprising thing about making friends: your“________ enemy” can turn out to be your best friend.