In a room full of fidgety and nervous sixth graders, one girl stood out as the only confident one with a bright smile. She sat next to me and placed her Harajuku folder on the desk. I continued to see that folder as she sat next to me in every other class. As the days passed by, our simple polite “hellos” turned into friendly “heys” and messaging each other on Facebook. We continued to talk more and discovered all our similar characteristics. We began forming codenames for people and thought of inside jokes. We didn’t care that people stared at us while we laughed hysterically over a blueberry.

When seventh grade arrived, we were placed into different clusters. At first we were devastated, but the distance only made our friendship stronger. We cherished the moments we were able to talk or see each other. We also found other people who shared our ridiculous sense of humor as us.

As seniors of Mark Twain, our relationship remained strong and persistent. Our conversations over Facebook lasted hours as we were always distracted by cute shoes or juicy gossip. As graduation approached, a bittersweet feeling swept across my mind. I was starting a new chapter of my life and was going to experience amazing things in high school, but I would have to leave my best friend. I would have to leave the best thing that happened to me during my middle school years. Nostalgic memories flashed through my mind as I reminisced about the multiple lunch periods spent belting out our favorite songs and the random doodles we drew on each others’ classwork. I wasn’t ready to embark on this new journey and leave behind the feeling of familiarity and warmth. However, it had to happen. Hopefully, our bond will continue to be strong and we will somehow find ways to communicate and never lose touch. It’s not goodbye because she will forever be etched into my brain as the funniest, coolest, and most relatable person I’ve ever met.