When we have worry or hurt in our heart it is good to talk about it. I think you know what you need to do now

Shaindel’s Take

Hi, I’m Shaindel.

I’m 14 years old and I’m in eighth grade.
Every year since we were ten years old, the girls in my class have been making a Chanukah party. I’m not a hundred percent sure who came up with this idea, but it’s fun and cute and everyone’s always excited about it. Everyone goes and we all have a great time. Girls take turns hosting and coming up with games to play and prizes to raffle off, like a ten-dollar gift card to Sephora or a free blowout at the hair salon. The grand prize is usually some sort of jewelry. But it’s not all about the prizes. It’s nice to hang out with everyone as a group, to feel included and involved. We’re not all best friends but the atmosphere isn’t awkward at all; it’s pleasant and friendly. Except this year it probably won’t be. I had a really uncomfortable thing happen with a girl in my class named Tzippy. And now she’s hosting the Chanukah party. I’ll explain what happened. Tzippy and I are in the same carpool. She gets picked up right after me and my sister Chavi. We usually wait a minimum of eight minutes for her and are almost always late to school because of it. Chavi goes crazy from this. She’s very punctual and hates having latenesses on her attendance record. She tried asking the driver to come earlier but he said he can’t. Then she nicely asked Tzippy to please start being on time, and Tzippy said she’d do her best. Long story short, she’s still about ten minutes late every morning and Chavi has had it.

A week or two ago, when Chavi was pressured to get to school because she wanted time to ask her teacher something about an assignment before she handed it in, she lost it and lashed out at Tzippy when she got into the car 11 minutes late.