Irregular Ella put down her book and looked out the window. She saw a group of girls about her age, laughing and walking down the street. She wished she had someone she could laugh and walk down the street with. At school, there were the stereotypical cliques: the popular girls, the jocks, the nerds, and the outcasts. Irregular Ella didn’t know where she fit in. She sat alone at lunch and read, and during class she would sit towards the back and try to blend in. Irregular Ella loved to read stories. She imagined herself as one of the characters in the story. She imagined what it would be like to have friends.

The honking of the school bus snapped her out of her imagination. She grabbed her book bag and ran down the street. As Irregular Ella walked into school, she heard people whispering and gossiping more than usual. When she walked into history, her favorite class, the teacher started to introduce a new girl.

“Hello, class, today we have a new student joining us.” Ms. James said. The new girl looked shy and overwhelmed by all of the other students staring her down. Irregular Ella could tell they were trying to figure out the new girl’s social status. 

“Hi, my name is Sufficient Sofia ” she said shyly. Sufficient Sofia walked to the back of the class and sat next to Irregular Ella. Irregular Ella was surprised that someone had chosen to sit next to her; she rarely sat with others.

Irregular Ella walked into the lunchroom and saw Sufficient Sofia sitting alone at a table. So, she sat down next to her. The girls had a great time.  They talked about what Sufficient Sofia’s old school was like, and what books they had been reading, and a friendship sprouted between them. The girls would often trade books, get ice cream after school, and even have sleepovers. Irregular Ella started to feel like a normal fourteen-year-old girl. Sufficient Sofia had helped Irregular Ella’s reform. Months passed and the girls remained best friends. 

The day after Spring Break, Irregular Ella walked into school expecting to see Sufficient Sofia standing by her locker like usual, but she saw Sufficient Sofia talking to Summit Sara and Retain Rachel, the most popular girls in school. Irregular Ella had always been jealous of Summit Sara’s name because summit means “peak” and it seemed as though Sara was at the peak of her life. She was beautiful, popular, and everything seemed to be perfect for her. Irregular Ella also envied Retain Rachel’s name, retain means possess, or to have something, and Retain Rachel had everything she could ever want. She had friends, a caring family, wealth, just about everything Irregular Ella didn’t have. Irregular Ella had always felt embarrassed by her name, and she wanted it to be something cooler, like Energetic Ella or Encouraged Ella.  

Irregular Ella was surprised to see Sufficient Sofia with them because the girls only talked to each other. She thought to herself it was probably nothing, but she felt a pang of jealousy. Irregular Ella walked up to them.

“Hi, Sufficient Sofia are you, ready to go?” She asked. Sufficient Sofia looked at the popular girls, then looked down at Irregular Ella and rolled her eyes. 

Irregular Ella was confused and hurt. Had she done something wrong? At lunch, Sufficient Sofia sat with her new friends. Irregular Ella felt truly irregular. For the next three months, life went back to the mere way it had been.

“I shouldn’t have yelled at you, I was just upset and confused, the last few months I’ve been thinking about how special our friendship was and I never want to lose that with you. I guess if I had the opportunity to hang out with them over spring break I would have taken it. I accept your apology.” Irregular Ella said with a sad smile. Sufficient Sofia was so grateful, she hugged Irregular Ella and realized how much she had missed their friendship while she was trying to be someone she wasn’t.

The two girls walked down the street towards the ice cream parlor. At that moment the girls truly understood their names. Sufficient Sofia had just enough; all she needed was one true friend. As for Irregular Irregular Ella, she was different, in the best possible ways.

The End