A True Best Friend

Best friends. A person you can always rely on. Someone you can call at 2 in the morning and talk for hours about life. A best friend is someone who makes you feel like you can be yourself around them and you don’t have to change for them. I met mine in the 8th grade.

I moved to RSU4 in 8th grade. It was hard being the new kid in the last year of middle school, but there was one person I met that made me feel welcome, important and accepted. In 8th grade we went through some patches of not being super close when we would have small arguments, or drift to different friends/ groups. However, as we moved into freshman year I knew she would always be the person I would turn to no matter what.

Through high school, she has always been right by my side and we are always attached at the hip. Even some of the teachers would ask me, “Where’s your partner in crime”, when I would be in the halls without her. If there was one specific thing I would have to say about her, is that she has always helped me find myself. Before I met her I was always a floater. I would find someone to hang out with and call them my “friend”. I did this multiple times because I never found someone who felt like my soul connected to theirs. Whenever we were together I felt like I could be myself without being judged, well, not completely.

Between her making fun of me not being able to swim well, or my mistakes while typing messages to her, or my crazy, ridiculous messed up family(which she has become part of), she has always been my biggest silent cheerleader. She was the one who pushed me to apply for the NHS when I didn’t believe I would make it in. She helped me with my college search when I was feeling overwhelmed and stressed out. She is honest with me when we go shopping and I pick something out that is hideous. Although my best friend has done so much for me and is always there, it has been especially true this year.

We had many things planned for senior year, like many other best friends duos do. However, the Covid-19 pandemic hit and everything changed. All of a sudden we were expected to complete our last semester of high school at home with no prior exposure to online classes. At first it was a matter of checking in with each other constantly to make sure we still had our heads on straight while hearing all of the alarming news and statistics of the virus. As we came into May and realised it was our last month to get our stuff together, we relied heavily on checking in with each other to make sure we were on track. We knew we are both extreme procrastinators, like seriously, if there was an olympic sport for it, we would win the gold medal. So we knew it was important to support each other so we could move onto college. We made lists of our assignments and celebrated with each other when we completed one of our tasks. 

Although we have always been each other’s support with academics, we have also always been each other’s emotional leaning post. There have been many times when I call her and she lets me vent, rant, cry or just laugh whenever I feel like I need an outlet, and visa versa. 

The emotional toll the quarantine is having on me has been really hard to deal with but she has been here for every minute of it. Whether it be a facetime call to talk through our emotions, or a text saying, “I miss you.” The other day we were both feeling the feels of being in quarantine so we had a “distance dinner” outside and ordered delivery. We sat by the campfire for hours eating s’mores, talking about life, and imagining how our future would be. My best friend has always been my biggest support and someone I could always turn to, and I couldn’t imagine my future without her, telling me I’m making a mistake, but most importantly, to tell me I’m doing good in life, in my studies and that I am important to her. Even if we never say it out loud, our actions always speak louder than we could tell each other in words. She is the most important friend I have met.

Photo by Brunna Peretti on Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND