I was a bit confused by the sudden insertion of the narrator into the dynamic. Overall, it’s a lot of exposition, some introspection and rumination thrown in, but it’s mostly exposition. It’s a neat exploration of how some friendships wind up lopsided, but I think it might have been nicer to explore the themes over a series of interactions rather than just talking about them.

Almost all friendships are at least a little lopsided, aren’t they? Maybe not to this degree, but it seems like often, there’s one person who’s hanging on tighter than the other, working harder to make sure it works.

I was also confused by the narrator – it seemed like a 3rd person narrator at first, so it was a little disconcerting. Seems like the set-up for a really interesting story! I agree that interactions would be nice, but if this is meant to be the first in a series then exposition isn’t all bad.

I agree with the previous commenters that the narrator barges into the story – but it’s great that the differences between the girls seem so great to them, and yet the differences are invisible to observers.

I accidentally read THX’s comment before the story, so I knew the narrator would interact somewhat with the characters. With that out, I can say that as an introduction, this piece is pretty good.
I particularly liked the last paragraph, which sorta caught me of guard, and so made me reinterpret the previous parts. haha.

I enjoyed how the narration unfolded. There’s a nice balance of voice, story, and description. I too got befuddled a bit when the narrator becomes a character in the story but it works just fine, makes total sense, it just took me a second to catch on. Gotta give a 5 when a 5 is due :)