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Carrie and I weren't very close. Not friends, not enemies, but somewhere in between.

We went to the same school and the same church, so we saw each other a lot. And even though we weren't close, we were always civil to each other. That is, until high school. That's when Carrie started telling lies-first about my best friend, and then about me.

It seemed to start when Carrie was dating John, the ex-boyfriend of my best friend, Emily. For some reason, Carrie started gossiping and telling awful lies about Emily, things that were so untrue it was ridiculous. But sometimes people are willing to believe anything, and the gossip about Emily spread like fire. It was obvious Carrie really wanted to hurt her, and though Emily hid her feelings well, she was angry at what Carrie was doing.

I should've been smart enough to stay out of things, because the problem really was between Emily and Carrie. But I felt like I needed to do something, since my best friend was the one getting hurt.

So I confronted Carrie about the rumors: "How could you possibly say things about Emily that are so untrue? Don't you care about other people at all?"

Carrie looked back at me innocently and said, "I didn't say anything. I'd never do that, and you know it."

Well, I didn't know it. And the next thing I knew, Carrie was spreading lies about me too-stories about me and guys, about how I acted on the weekends, anything she could think of to make me look bad.

Part of me said, "Hey, everyone knows she's a liar. I shouldn't let it bother me." But another part of me was angry. And even though they were all lies, the things she said about me really hurt.

Somehow, Carrie and I avoided saying "hi" or even acknowledging each other. We just pretended the other person didn't exist. But we were both very aware of each other, and what was going on between us.

OK, so Carrie really bugged me. But something else started bugging me too: My conscience.
I knew how Christians were supposed to treat other people. But I never really gave it much thought and I always tried to be kind. I never treated anyone badly.

Not even Carrie. Well, at least I didn't think so. If anything, I felt like I was the victim in this whole thing. She was the one who was treating people badly. Not me. But my youth leader, Annette, didn't agree.

Annette and I were working together at a local youth camp one weekend, making hundreds of bologna sandwiches. We were talking about school and guys, and out of the blue, she says, "So, how are things between you and Carrie?"

I wasn't totally surprised by the question. Everyone knew that Carrie and I didn't get along. But I was a little surprised by the timing of the question. She asks me this now?? I thought. While we're making bologna sandwiches?!? But we had 250 more sandwiches to go, and we were alone, so I guess Annette figured she had my undivided attention for a while. And she must have sensed that I needed to talk. I'd been bottling up my feelings about Carrie for too long, and I wanted to tell someone how I felt, how much it hurt to be lied about.

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