I Hate Elsie Rivers!

On Monday afternoon, Ramona Parrish bounded in from school and threw her backpack onto the floor in a huff. Then, she stormed into the kitchen slammed opened the cupboard, grabbed a bag of chips,  violently ripped opened the bag and sat at the table and began eating them with an angry crunch.

"Ramona!" exclaimed her mother. "What is the matter?"

Ramona frowned deeply. Her eyes were like red angry red coals. She was so intensely mad that her mother could practically see steam coming out her ears. "I hate Elsie Rivers!" she shouted slamming her fist down on the table and scattering chip crumb everywhere.

"Elsie?" replied her mother in surprise. "But, Elsie is your best friend." Elsie and Ramona had been inseparable since they met as babies in Mommy & Me class. They went through preschool, kindergarten and first grade together and now they were in second grade.

Ramona shook her head furiously from side to side and glared even more angrily  at her mother as if that were even possible. "Not anymore, we're not." she said with a snarl. "I absolutely hate her!"

"Hate is a strong word." replied her mother. "Maybe, you are just angry with her."

"I am angry with her, and I hate her!" insisted Ramona slamming her first down on the table again. "She sat with Shayla Styles at lunch, and she didn't even save me a seat." Shayla was a friend of Ramona and Elsie's. After Elsie, she was probably Ramona's closest friend."I had to sit with that smelly kid, Oscar because it was the only seat left." she added wrinkling her noise in disgust at the memory.

"Did you ask them why they didn't save you seat?" inquired Mommy calmly.

Ramona looked at her mother as though that were the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard. She grabbed her empty chip bag off the table, tossed it in the trash and trounced out of the room.

On Tuesday, Ramona burst through the door in even angrier snit then the day before. She threw her backpack clear across the room and almost hit poor, Ollie their orange tabby cat who was coming out of the kitchen. Ollie mewled in terror and ran into the other room and hid under the couch.

"Ramona!" scolded her mother furiously. "We do not throw our things across the room. You could have hurt Ollie!"

"I'm sorry." replied Ramona with true remorse at almost hurting Ollie but otherwise not really sorry at all. She really wouldn't want to hurt Ollie she loved him, but she was just so mad! "I just hate that Elsie Rivers!" she grumbled.

"Did you try talking to her?" asked her mother.

Ramona looked at her mother as if she were crazy. "Do you know what she did today?" she snarled.  "She played  with Shayla Styles at recess, and they kept looking at me!"

"Maybe, they wanted you to play with them." suggested Mommy.

Ramona lifted her eyes and wrinkled her nose at her mother as if now she thought her mother was completely insane. "I can't believe I was ever friends with Elsie Rivers." she declared trouncing off in a huff.

On Wednesday, Ramona burst through the door in a cloud of anger so deep she could barely speak. "I really hate Elsie Rivers!" she shouted in burst of fury as the words finally came pouring out of her. She screamed so loudly that it echoed through the whole house.

"Ramona, stop shouting! The whole neighborhood doesn't need to hear you yelling." reprimanded her mother. "What happened now?" she asked when Ramona had quieted down and collapsed into a seat at the kitchen table.

Ramona just shook her head and glared. She was too angry to even say. She just tromped noisily out of the room muttering under her breath.

On Thursday when Ramona came home, her mother braced for an angry snit, but Ramona was unusually calm. "Hi, Mommy." she greeted her mother warmly with a kiss on the cheek. Can Elsie come over?" she asked hopefully.

"Sure, sweetie" replied her mother. "You and Elise are friends again?" she inquired with relieve that maybe things would be getting back to normal now.

"Of course, we're friends!" exclaimed Ramona defensively as if the past three angry days had never occured. "Elsie is my very best friend in the whole entire world. She is my best friend in the whole entire universe even, but I hate Shayla Styles!"she added angrily.

Mommy sighed. "Here we go again." she thought.