"Your challenge is to create a 500-word story about a time you felt successful, despite the odds being stacked against you"  For a long time, I have thought about that prompt. I've spent hours staring at a computer screen, typing up an intro, and then deleting it. Nothing really came to mind. I'm not one of the heroines I read about in my books. I'm just me. I don't fight in wars, I go to school. I have a pretty average, if not dull, life. So what was I going to write about? Well, after much consideration, I came up with something. It may not be a spectacular story with aliens, but it is a peak into one of the worst parts of my life.

The story starts when I was in 5th grade. I had just turned 11, and me and my friends were starting to go through the terror known as hormones. And things were starting to change. People were starting to change. Friendships started to fall apart.

From the age of 8, I had been best friends with Evelyn and Jemma. We were practically inseparable. That was until 5th grade.

I'm not sure what caused it. I'm not sure who knocked the first domino down, but soon, it's like we didn't even know each other anymore. Whenever we did talk, we were screaming at each other, blaming each other for every bad thing that had happened to us. And just like that, the best thing I had was gone.

Now, I found myself sitting alone at lunch, blinking back tears as I though of all the times we had together. I couldn't really believe that our story was over. That the time we had spent together was all we would ever have.

And then, something happened. Call it a blessing, or a miracle, I don't really care which, but me and Evelyn both auditioned for the school play. One day, she sat next to me. And we talked. It wasn't much, just a few exchanged words. But from then on, she always sat next to me, and our everyday chats got longer. And slowly, we started to feel like friends again.

It wasn't the same-not without Jemma. It felt like a vital part of our friendship was missing. And so one day, I suggested we talk to her. Evelyn was hesitant, but agreed, wanting our friendship fixed as much as I did. And so one day, we asked her to sit with us at lunch. Neither of us expected it to work, but it did. She sat with us that day, and the next day, and the next, until it became as natural as it was a year ago.

Of course, the wounds took some time to heal. But now, we're okay. And somehow, despite it all, we are still best friends. I'm not sure how many odds were against us, but we won, and that's all that really matters in the end.