“I started at Mooresville in 6th grade at Waverly. When I moved here, I didn’t know a single person. I managed to get through half the first day without talking to anyone. I thought “I’m just going to sit down by the door at my desk & not talk to anybody.” When I got down to lunch, Kiersten was the first person to talk to me. It kind of shows how friendly she was & how she wasn’t afraid to talk to anybody. She had a lot of kindness in her heart.
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We had a lot of common interests. We played Minecraft & other nerdy little things like that. We just hit it off from there. I talked to her all the time. Even through middle school we were good friends. A lot of people say, as years go on, you’re going to lose a lot of friends, but ever since 6th grade she’d been my one friend that I hung out with consistently. I had a lot of classes with her, so I always talked to her. 6th grade, Kiersten was very awkward, just like me. She was kind of nerdy in a good way, that made everybody like and admire her. She was very nice to everybody & spontaneous. She was really energetic.
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Not much changed in the 7th grade. We had 3-4 classes together. We stuck together. We were still able to talk to each other every day. Even though she developed her friend group with Gracie & Abi & all the girls that were obsessed with the boy bands, I was still able to talk to her every day & we still had our interests. We still loved Minecraft. We had fan accounts on Instagram. But stuff like that. We had the same sense of humor & we always had something to talk about. We talked about stuff that happened at school or what happened with other people we knew. From 6th-7th grade the relationship grew because we spent more time together.
In 8th grade, we had classes together again & continued our friendship. Then we had the D.C. trip & hung out a lot on that trip. One thing that sticks out about that trip is that me, Kiersten & Shaelyn wore those bucket hats. That’s the picture that sticks out in my mind.
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At the end of 8th grade, Kiersten told us she was moving to Herron.”
“We all said “”You can’t do that! You have to stay here because you’re one of our best friends. We can’t have you go off like that.””But she had already made up her mind. To be honest, when freshman year started, we didn’t talk as much. We texted sometimes but we grew apart because I didn’t get to see her every day. That’s how it was until she came back junior year.”
“Junior year, we only had Pre-Cal together & we sat next to each other. So I was able to talk to her a lot more & we got closer again. We each took American Studies, so I went to her house & we did homework together & we’d go over reviews. We didn’t have to be doing something fun to have a good time together, even doing school work we could just vibe together & have a good time. We still had the same sense of humor so we found humor in the same kind of things. She was never one to judge. I could always be really weird & say weird things & she wouldn’t judge me for it. I felt like I could be myself around her & I think she felt the same way around me. We could be ourselves around each other & be a lot more fun.
We went to the Plainfield football game together, I went & picked her up from her house. We drove to the football game & hung out there & then went to Chili’s afterwards to eat & then I drove her back to her house & dropped her off. In the car, we had a lot of good conversation. We could tell each other anything. In that moment, I could tell we were starting to get close again. She was one of the people I was able to have a deep conversation
with & not feel judged. I talked to her about things about myself that no one else knew. She did the same thing back. We would just go back & forth about ourselves & personal stuff, with no judgement. It’s funny because in 8th grade, we “dated” & didn’t talk to each other that entire 2- 3 weeks. We just decided “this makes no sense. We’re better off as friends.” It was not an attraction thing. It was simply just being best friends.
I had to work the night of the accident. I worked from about 4-10pm. I didn’t know anything about it because I believe it happened around 6-7pm. I remember getting a text from someone I used to be friends with. All she said was “Are you ok?” & I didn’t understand. I just said “Why wouldn’t I be ok? I’m fine.” But she never texted back. Then I got home & my mom was crying & she told me. She said “I’m so sorry” but in the moment I was shocked, so I responded to my mom “Oh it’s fine.” I went to clean up and it hit me. I just laid & cried all night.”
I had to work the night of the accident. I worked from about 4-10pm. I didn’t know anything about it because I believe it happened around 6-7pm. I remember getting a text from someone I used to be friends with. All she said was “Are you ok?” & I didn’t understand. I just said “Why wouldn’t I be ok? I’m fine.” But she never texted back. Then I got home & my mom was crying & she told me. She said “I’m so sorry” but in the moment I was shocked, so I responded to my mom “Oh it’s fine.” I went to clean up and it hit me. I just laid & cried all night.”
