"Lara, what am I going to do?" I laughed. "I don't know! Tell him you don't want to out with him!"
I loved these conversations. Simple, plain, girl stuff. Lara was the perfect person to have them with. Lara was an honor student and a star track star athlete. She had everything going for her.
On the morning of June 12th rumors were flying. Some people had gotten a text saying "Lara's dead". We all thought it had to be some kind of sick joke...but Lara wasn't there that day. I tried to tell myself it was a joke but deep down I knew something was wrong.
At about 11:00 that morning the principal came on over the intercom instructing students to report to class because he had an important announcement to make. By this time I was really worried and practically in tears.
"Attention students...junior Lara Bunce passed away unexpectedly last night..." My body went numb. This couldn't be happening.
For the rest of the day the hallways were so quiet. The sound of a pin dropping would turn heads.
Lara had a seizure in her sleep and died from it. This was her first seizure ever. She was a perfectly healthy teenager. My theory is that God must have had bigger plans gor her.
Her family held a celebration of her life. Everyone went and the church was as full as it could get. This was a time to think back about how Lara was a friend to everyone and to cherish the life she had.
Still to this day her facebook account is still up and people leave her comments all the time. People update her about what's going on with the class of 2009. Personally I chose a more private approach and i keep an online journal where I write to her once or twice a day.
She watches over us and now I live by her famous quote that she said all the time. "Life's too short to be anything but happy".