Fellowship of the Nine

The Fellowship of the Nine

“A friend loves at all times” Proverbs 17:17

         The purple notebook was the first the Fellowship used to chronicle our high school experience.  For nine girls, it symbolized a group effort for us to stay together rather than rage against the petty fights that threatened our friendship.  There had been other notebooks, but never one for all nine.  This purple notebook would become part journal, part storybook, and part personality decoder.  It was the way nine girls connected in the crazy realm of Northpointe Christian High School. 

         Northpointe provided the foundation of our friendship, where we grew up and matured.  Through its hallways, the purple notebook and those that would follow passed from Fellowship member to Fellowship member in our specific order, encouraging the story of the friendship to flourish, and, without the story of The Lord of the Rings, it never would have. 

In the world of J.R.R. Tolkien, we made our own journey, never avoiding our fascination with the story of the Fellowship of the Ring.  It was part of the glue that held us together.  A Fellowship was formed within the pages of Tolkien, and, within the pages of the purple notebook, a Fellowship of nine recorded their memories and passions and future hopes, securing a place in the hearts of eight other Fellowship members.  As I open it, I hear the voices of the Fellowship, my own voice among them, echoing on every page—every ink-stained, picture-covered, story-telling, fascinating page.

Page One:

In big pink bubble letters, Sarah’s three sentence greeting to her friends covered the entire page.  Sarah tended to bear the bad rap of being the original Boromir.  Not because of her pink penmanship, not because she did not fit in with the rest of the Fellowship, and not because she died at the hands of Saruman’s Uruk-hai, but mainly because she was the first to have a real boyfriend and other crazy friends beyond the Fellowship.  Her image soon changed for the better as she took the part of Pippin, the hobbit.

The Fellowship had a fairly extraordinary bond.  First of all, it was known amongst the members of the group as the Fellowship of the Nine.  This meant that there would always be at least nine members and no more than nine members, perfectly reflecting the Fellowship of the Ring that Tolkien created.  As Kathryn put it, “Even though people thought it was kind of cliquish and exclusive, the bond of having a defined number of friends (with a name) really added to us being and staying friends.”  The Fellowship defined themselves as a group, a group that was not going to fall apart, though Sarah flitted and flirted with other friendships at times.

Sarah never left the group however, as she joined her friends at their lockers, all lined up in a row, in between classes and when school got out.  The Fellowship’s string of blue lockers stood out from the rest of Northpointe lockers as they held picture after picture of cute movie stars or other good looking boys that were generally high school seniors that fellow Fellowship members watched from afar.  Sarah’s locker, though spotted with a few Lord of the Rings pictures placed there by her locker-mate, Joy, was generally barer than the others.  She loved her friends but wasn’t going to get all crazy about awesome movies such as The Lord of the Rings.  That was all her façade, however; she went right along with her friends, acting in home videos as Pippin, making Lord of the Rings t-shirts, and going to the movies right when they came into theaters.  Though she may never have admitted it then, she was a die-hard Fellowship fan, member, and friend.

Page Two:

Amidst pillows and sleeping bags, the Fellowship giggled over crushes, laughed at jokes, and did their best to stay awake as long as possible.  This happened in the basement and bedrooms of separate houses throughout their high school years—the Fellowship sleepover. 

Jenny took the motherly role, keeping the noise level to a minimum.  Her obedient spirit did not want to wake any sleeping parents, which would thus end the merriment going on in family kitchens where snacks were being found or in basements as the Fellowship participated in games and storytelling.  She was generally the one that fell asleep first, not wanting to participate in deep conversations about predestination and circular reasoning.  Instead, she chose to crawl into her sleeping bag and put on her head phones, listening to the mellow music that moved her.

Yet, she came out and alive in her drawings, which several of the other members took advantage of in freshman year biology class.  Instead of taking the time to pay attention to monotone Mr. Ulstad, they had Jenny draw pictures of hunky attractive Roman soldiers, the first of which was named Brutus. 

Page Three:

In the Carlson’s basement were many adventures.  Their basement, though it may be small and messy at times, became the stage for several productions of fantastical natures in which Heather was a popular actress.  On one wall, there is a smushed-up ping pong table that was only used when the Fellowship decided to make a Fellowship scrapbook their senior year of high school.  In the corner opposite this was an old treadmill and a bowflex.  Brown paneling surrounded the room, only to be interrupted by a fireplace, once covered with hundreds of beanie babies and stuffed animals, and a colorful wall-hanging of a happy clown.  The first Fellowship performance was an instant classic, as Heather took the role of Gandalf and portrayed his fall at the bridge of Kazadhum with an air full of drama and passion.

“Fly! Across the bridge!” called Heather as Sarah climbed the chairs holding a large, soft doll in her arms.  She quickly ran across the bridge and out of sight.  Heather emerged, staff in hand; her long blonde hair flowed over a grey beard.  She picked up her long purple robe and gracefully followed Sarah.  Epic music played in background.

         Heather stopped atop the bridge and turned; out of the darkness, a tall hooded being in a long black trench coat came forth.  It stopped at the edge of the bridge waving its red inflatable guitar arms.  Beneath its menacing face, a red and yellow frill stood in place of fire. 

         “I am a servant of the secret fire!” Heather proclaimed to the beast, “Dark fire shall not prevail you, flame of Undun!”  She extended her staff, which had a flashlight tied to the top of it, and stamped it upon the bridge, “Agh!”

         “Gandalf!” cried a small voice from the shadows.

         Heather was unwavering. “You shall not pass!” she yelled, articulating each word.

         The beast smiled, waved its wings playfully at the figure on the bridge, and took a step forward.

         “Agh!” yelled Heather once more, and the beast fell with a mournful cry.

         Heather watched it fall into blankets and boxes until, suddenly, she, too, fell off the bridge; her tennis shoed foot had been grasped by the frightening beast. At the last second, she grabbed hold to edge of a plastic toy box, out of breath.  Her eyes were wild and searching, looking out into the darkness.

         “Gandalf!” was heard once more from the same small voice.

         “Fly!” Heather yelled, and, in a shaky voice uttered to the camera, “You fools!” 

Page Four:

Chronicled by Jenny and Kathryn are the “Last Tales of the Nine.”  In this wonderful work, put together in their last years of high school, are the stories of how each Fellowship member met their death.  The tales begin with the princess Rebecca’s suicide—she threw herself down a volcano never to be found again.  This was all because Joy was sending her depressing telepathic messages, making Rebecca hate her life.  Little backpack and all, Rebecca disappeared into the dark abyss of the volcano’s core. 

Though it is to be hoped that is not how Rebecca’s life will actually end, the creativity of the Fellowship never failed to astound.  In the sixth grade, when the friendship was beginning to blossom, Rebecca, Jenny, and Joy cleverly invented the sport of synchronized swinging.  In twirls and jumps, they would fling themselves off their swings in one fluid motion or in waves.  If one were to judge their music-less performances, they would undoubtedly have received tens across the board. 

Rebecca was a definitive member of the Fellowship, adding her knowledge of the works of Tolkien to any group meeting, which happened everyday at lunch time.  She was an artist and a musician, a playwright and an actor.  With small, neat penmanship, she wrote notes exploring the personality and character of each Fellowship member in the words and way of a wise sage.  With a flourish, she scrawled her penname: Beeks, which Joy informally gave her, intending for Rebecca to take the name “Becks” (kind of like the famous soccer player David Beckham) instead.  Unfortunately, bad penmanship ruined Joy’s plan, making a “c” look like an “e”.  Beeks stuck, though Rebecca limited its use to only the written word.



Page Five:

On the first day of April, the friends Nikki and Joy performed the greatest prank ever known to be performed by and on the Fellowship—the fake trade.  As The Lord of the Rings grew in popularity, so did the trading of movie cards and game cards, which the Fellowship dedicatedly collected for the best pictures of their favorite characters.  On April Fools Day, Nikki and Joy conspired against Heather and Kathryn.  Their plan: Joy would fake trade her autographed Faramir card, a card she would never have traded for anything, for several of Nikki’s cards to get a reaction out of Heather and Kathryn.  The plan worked.

“Joy,” Heather exclaimed, upset she missed out on the deal, “I have way better Merry cards I would have traded you!”  Nikki and Joy gave each other knowing looks, laughing on the inside.  Who could have thought of a better joke to play on fellow friends?

At the end of the day, Nikki and Joy traded back their cards that they never really gave away and told the dumbfounded Heather and Kathryn that it was all an April Fools joke.  The trading of cards usually was never so light-hearted—it was a competition.  Nikki would exclaim in the midst of a trading session, “I’ll give you two Gimlis for your Pippin face card.  I need that card!”  There were moments of anger and frustration if someone was being stupid about trading a card, such as demanding several cards for a card she had doubles of.  It was a serious matter for the Fellowship.

Nikki had the competitive spirit that made her well-adept at trading cards.  Her competitive edge carried out into her academics as well, competing with Jessica and Joy for the best grades on tests and assignments.  She strove to do her best with all the brain power she had, hoping to get A’s on everything. 

Beyond grades, she competed with Heather for the choice-meat, Elijah Wood, the actor who plays Frodo in the movies.  Heather regularly called herself and signed her name as “Mrs. Wood.”  Nikki, though never calling herself Mrs. Wood, had the same fascination for the blue-eyed boy.

Page Six:

There was only one soccer-loving member of the group; the other Fellowship members did not and could not understand the complexity and skill that made soccer known as the beautiful game.  They saw 90 long minutes of 22 people kicking around a muddy ball and few goals to show for it.  Joy, a soccer fanatic, was accepted, however, in her quiet way and remained a faithful member of the Fellowship.  Joy had never been much of a talker, preferring to observe, listen, smile, and laugh, rather than be in the spotlight like Stassia and Sarah often were.  Even though she may not have had much to say, she had always been a member of the Fellowship. 

She was there at the beginning for the twins’ birthday, when six girls sat close together on the couch as Heather and Kathryn opened their gifts.  The twins each received little stuffed animals and small treasure boxes amongst other things.  Joy gave them each a cool pen. 

Mrs. Carlson, the twins’ mother, entered the room.  “What movie would you girls like to watch later?” she asked the guests.  Among their choices was The Fellowship of the Ring, which had just come out on video.

“Oo, Lord of the Rings!” Joy exclaimed; her response was quickly echoed by Jenny who sat next to her.  Joy had just watched the movie, and already the world of J.R.R. Tolkien had begun to fascinate her.

The Carlsons opened other presents, but Joy and Jenny were lost in conversation about Galadriel and hobbits.  Later, as the salty smell of popcorn wafted through the air, they watched in wonder as Frodo began his journey to the land of Mordor to destroy the One Ring.  It was epic.  They quietly whispered to each other as they attempted to grasp the story; the story of a fellowship of nine brought together by a Ring of power.

Page Seven:

Singing and dancing down the hallways of Northpointe came Jessica as she was in another school musical or play.  Her dark blonde hair whirled around her face that always bore a bright smile.  Her enthusiasm for acting and singing was often apparent in the way she carried herself through the halls of Northpointe and even at Fellowship sleepovers. She would often break into song with the rest of the Fellowship, singing a Disney song, a worship tune, or perhaps a song from a musical, always in perfect pitch. 

The music only lasted for so long at Fellowship sleepovers, however, as somehow conversation tended to shift away from happy light-hearted things to deep religious and intellectual arguments.  Jessica led the way in these serious conversations, just as she led the way in the songs that were sung.  The Fellowship would lay in their sleeping bags or gather around the kitchen counter arguing over quite large and abstract concepts such as predestination, free will, racism, end times, and Jessica had a strong, steadfast opinion over each of the issues that were presented.  Most of the time the Fellowship actually agreed with each other, but still the theological debates continued on, as each member tried to wrap their minds around the idea of God and His Will. 

More frivolous arguments erupted over what books were read and suggested to other members of the Fellowship, specifically the Harry Potter series, the fantastical books of a young wizard growing up at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  Many people found the books to be dangerous because of their elements of divination and magic, Jessica included.  During lunch, as the twins encouraged others to read the magical books, Jessica firmly stated, “I don’t need to put my head under a semi-truck to know it hurts.”  Her conviction was final.

Page Eight:

Knife in hand, Liv, or rather Kathryn acting as the character “Liv” in a Fellowship remake of the reality show, Survivor, fiercely attacked a plastic toy lizard that lay upon the grass in her backyard.  She mumbled some unintelligible name and tucked it into her fanny-pack.  The camera zoomed in on her face, which was smudged with dirt and grime.  Her sandy blonde hair was pulled back in a typical pony-tail with a few strands wisping out of place.  It was a crazed look, but it completely encapsulated her adventurous spirit. 

         Kathryn was all about adventure, from the things she did to the books she read.  If there was a mountain, she would climb it; if there was a river, she would attempt to cross it; if there was a forest, she would explore it.  Behind Northpointe was a small wood in which Kathryn, Heather, Stassia, and Nikki would often disappear into, taking their time to wander around and explore the little creeks and crevices they found.  They named it the Secret Spot, a place they daydreamed they would take their lover for their first kiss or just to make-out—that never happened.  For Kathryn, however, adventures also tended to find her, even when she came to Fellowship sleepovers. 

         In an attempt to find something entertaining for the remainder of the night, Kathryn, who had already fell asleep, became an experiment.  Creeping over to her sleeping bag, Rebecca whispered to her, “Kathryn.”  Kathryn responded with an unconscious grunt, but that was just the beginning.

         “Kathryn,” someone would whisper, “Kathryn, describe the color of Heather’s eyes.”

         With a disturbed sigh and a stretch, Kathryn pondered the question until she finally said, “Dragon-scale green.”  The others giggled as they hovered over her.  Jenny sat amongst them, urging the others to not move Kathryn or be too loud or make her say embarrassing things. 

         “Guys,” she whispered, “we should stop and go to bed.”

         The next morning, all waited for Kathryn to wake up.  The first question she heard: “Do you remember what happened last night?”

         Of course she didn’t remember what happened; she was sleep-talking.  It only happened twice; she eventually didn’t respond to anything or simply refused to fall asleep first. 

Page Nine:

Stassia was a popular girl.  She was well-liked in school, not afraid to talk or say what she was thinking, which sometimes revealed that she was, indeed, a blonde.  She was voted most athletic in their senior mock elections, and she was also voted homecoming queen by the entire school.  She and Sarah had several friends outside of the Fellowship, yet Stassia never left the side of her best friend, Heather.  Needless to say, Stassia was a likeable character, usually wearing a bright, happy expression on her face, ready to laugh and have fun with her friends.

Though her popularity gave her other friends, everyday at lunch she chose to sit with her Fellowship, even when they huddled over words in the appendix of Tolkien’s Silmarillion in order to come up with an Elvish name for everyone in their group, or when they took Tolkien’s Elvish even further and tried to write a letter in that language.  She continually sat alongside Heather as Heather traded cards with other members of the Fellowship, even taking part in a few trades herself.  In Fellowship home videos, Stassia regularly took the role of Frodo and Legolas, her bright blue eyes and long blond hair making her a perfect fit for the Elven prince.

Stassia added to the quirkiness of the entire Fellowship.  “We are all a lot alike,” she said, “but when you look close up we all have our little quirks that add to our great friendship.  We all incorporate and help each other.  We ask for prayer, and we pray for each other.”

Page Ten:

In a small room in Horn Creek, Colorado, all nine girls sat on a queen-sized bed; Stassia and Kathryn lay in the middle as Sarah, Heather, Jessica, Jenny, Rebecca, Nikki, and Joy surrounded them.  They were spending their last few moments as high school seniors together.  Soon they would leave the sheltered lives they were born into and embark on separate paths.  This was the end.  Could friendship last beyond the end? 

They smiled and laughed and giggled like they used to, talked about boys and past memories.  They cried.  Tears spilled down Kathryn’s face in the midst of her friends, causing tears to arise on the faces of others as well.  They were facing the part in their lives where the Fellowship could not stay together but had to go in separate directions.  They all feared it, but they couldn't avoid growing up or missing each other.  They had to face the end—the breaking of the Fellowship.



         I turn the last page of the purple notebook expecting to see the words: “The End,” but I find that there is no last page—there is no ending, but several blank pages waiting to be filled.  The fear of growing up and forgetting the people that helped me become who I am is quickly washed away in the clean white before my eyes.  These are pages waiting to be filled with more memories and adventures.  The Fellowship does not end at page ten, but continues because that is what fellowship does; it causes me to remain faithful to the eight other Fellowship members I love. 

Amidst the vast diversities of the Fellowship, there is a balance.  Every piece, page, and person works to develop every other individual.  As Heather once said, “It’s like a little microcosm that just kind of gels together.”  The gel that held us together was not our diversity but our common faith and values, memories and experiences.  Those are the kind of things that deepen relationships, making them stronger.  That is the beauty of fellowship.  We share the burden of laughter and hardships going beyond mere friendship and into the heart of things.