She was ten years old, and was still in her first year of middle school. Classes were easy; studying wasn’t needed yet. As always, her best subject was math. It was straightforward, no inferences or debates needed, just one answer, either correct or incorrect. So unlike life, where she had no idea who her friends would be by the end of the week.

Like any other day, she came in, sat down, and started taking notes. She looked up for half a second, exchanged a smile with the kid across from her, and continued about her set of math equations. Following the formula she had memorized the day before, she filled the paper with a clumsy scrawl somehow legible to herself and her teachers.

After the bell rang, she left, along with everyone else. They were all in a hurry; it was lunch by this time, and no one wanted to stay in their classroom when there was food to be consumed. Doing homework while her best friend ate lunch beside her, they exchanged the occasional word about how this teacher gave too much homework or that kid that wouldn’t stop making comments during a boring lecture. It was this way yesterday, today, and for the foreseeable future as well.

Her routine did not change until school let out, and even then there wasn’t much to be said about her. Like any other 10 year old, she dreaded going back to school, where she would have to obtain a new routine all over again. Change was something she learned to detest instead of welcome.

It wasn’t that far into the school year when she recognized him. The one she had exchanged a smile with that one day in math last year. It was only then when she realized she still remembered that, although as far as she knew the moment had nothing significant to add to her memory bank. Yet, for some reason she could not fathom, she couldn’t remove the memory from her mind.

Seeming to be thrown in with him for every class and a project now and again, it was inevitable for them to talk. Every so often she would remember him smiling at her, and she couldn’t help but wonder if she had missed something back then when it happened. She didn’t recall much conversation between them; however there must have been something, for it was odd for such a random memory to be saved so prominently in her mind.

By the time school let out, she could certainly say she had found a friend in him. But ‘friend’ wasn’t exactly a strong enough word. Without ever voicing her suspicions, she could already tell more was going to happen, but exactly what she wasn’t sure of yet.

It took two years this time for anything to progress. Yet, at the end of those two long years, both of them had no trouble picking up right where they left off, progressing faster in a few months than any of her other friends had in years. With nothing more than a smile she was sure he didn’t even remember by this point in their lives, she had found her best friend.