My best friend Val is a year younger than me. She's almost an entire foot taller than me. Her arms and legs resemble twigs. When I first met her last year (December 2010) (I was a sophomore and she was a freshman), I thought she was a pretty cool and chill person. She still is. But the thing is, she used to be bffs with this guy Tony and they did almost everything together. Both were a year younger than me. I thought that they were the coolest thing ever since I never had such a close friend before. They invited me to go out for dinner with them at a fundraising event. I said I would go even though no one else did. I thought it was going to be really awkward since I was basically invading their bff circle. But when we got there, got our table and ordered our food, things ended up not (as) awkward. Some other freshmen a year younger than me were there that I already knew from past middle school sports teams and we talked a little. I didn't know I had the capability to socialize. I had been friends with the same people for so long that I thought I had lost the ability to make friends. My social skills were not to die for and my shyness always found a way out. I do not consider myself a shy person since I've really been working on standing up and not being scared all the time. I always volunteer first to present my speech or project in front of the class because it always gives me that adrenaline rush I crave for. But since my socializing skills haven't reached the level I want to be at yet, I had many difficulties speaking to people I didn't consider "close."
My best friends of the previous years (starting in September 2009) were in almost all of my classes. Naomi, Savy, and I did many things together. One thing we enjoyed was playing G-Switch (a multiplayer online gravity game) in our science classroom before school started. We had chemistry first period. It was always a blast and we definitely were happier throughout the day. Another thing we did together was play lacrosse. None of us ever had experience playing that sport but we all were crazy enough to try it out freshman year. Although none of us were originally star players of the team, we still loved singing songs on the bus and pigging out on fast food snacks like chips and cookies after long and tiring games against other schools. But our friendship started even earlier than freshman year.
In elementary school (starting in September 2003), Savy was one of the girls nice enough to introduce herself to the new girl. I moved from New York to this town in third grade. I was definitely a very shy girl. In fifth grade (starting in September 2005), I was the student known for not doing her homework and always getting recess detention (where you have to sit at the "detention table" while everyone else got to play outside for recess. Savy, two other guys, and I were put into a group to work on a project on some sort of colonial thing. One guy didn't do work for his life, the other guy had too much work to do, and I was just plain lazy so Savy was left to do all the work. I still feel bad for that to this day. I remember commenting on how straight she wrote her sentences on printer paper without guide lines. I also remember her complimenting herself on how straight she drew her line that underlined the title.
During 7th grade(around September 2007), I remember seeing Naomi sitting on the gym floor for the first time in her assigned spot next to me. I thought that her voice sounded very nasally and her nose was big. I also noticed how Zach loved to make fun of her. She had a cool vibe radiating around her. We weren't really friends until 8th grade.
When we got to 8th grade (September of 2008), we all were participating in Cross Country. Savy and I we're already cross country runners in 7th grade even though we both always ended up kinda last we still loved knowing that we worked hard and finished the 1.3 miles. Naomi was one of the star runners. She would always be first in women's races. We weren't that close then, but we knew who each other were by that time. Naomi was bffs with Carol, an almost emo-ish tall girl who ran in black converse. However, once the new track team started, Naomi and I got closer while Savy focused on her studying.
When we all three realized we got into the same Chem Honors class for first period (August 2009), we reached the peak of our triangular friendship. We were almost the three musketeers. Although we didn't hang out together much, we participated in the same sports and communicated online through facebook and aim. This kept our relationship alive.
By the end of the year (June 2010), we said our good byes as we knew we were heading into different directions in our education. Once our schedules for the next year arrived, we knew for sure that none of us had ANY classes with each other. We knew that I would be quitting lacrosse to focus on fencing and Savy would be quitting lacrosse to focus on school. Naomi remained loyal to the originally native American sport and made new friends. Savy got along with all her smart nerdy classmates and also made new friends. I got stuck with the stupid students and was forced to make friends with those who were on the fencing team. So while the two bffs I used to have made new friends, I was left to cry in my bed at night wishing someone would come to me.
The fencing team at my high school (at around December 2010) should actually be called the family club. Since fencing is such a unique sport that is not introduced to many people, getting people to start the sport was quite difficult. The easiest people to recruit were family and friends. And now that all our friends and family were in one team, we all became one huge family of friends. Almost everyone on the team had a sibling on the team or once was on the team. We all had to get along since we all knew each other. The funnest part about the fencing team was going out and having fun almost every day. Bowling was popular with us and we went late nights to get discounts. Not only was this fun, but this brought our team even closer together than it already was. Everyone went to tournaments even if they didn't fence. We all cheered together, we all cried together. And because of how close we all were, this was the easiest way for me to find a new bff. One that stood out was Val. Then that brings us back the beginning of this chapter.
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