Unlikely Friendship

A cold sensation spread across my face as I leaned against the window in attempt to look outside. Muddled and blurred images of houses passed before fading into the blank scenery of the highway. Wisps of black and grey filled the sky; behind them was the faint glow of the sun trying to break free from its imprisonment. The picture triggered something in my mind as I was taken back to a vacant memory. I thought back to 3rd grade, the good old days, as I liked to call them. 3rd grade was some of the best times, when imagination was rampant and kids were so gullible that even the most ridiculous of theories were thought to be real. It was at this time that I met my best friend Tyler.

Tyler alienated most of his classmates just because of the way he appeared. He was a stocky child standing at 4’10, complied of mostly legs; he towered over us like a mountain. Most people, including me were afraid to talk to him as they feared that because Tyler was so big he would push us around like a bully. Little did we know that by spreading rumors and ignoring him, we were being the bullies. In actuality behind Tyler’s frigged exterior was a child just like us, begging for a friend.

Tyler was a boy of few words and even fewer expressions as he managed to keep the same exterior through out the day. His expression only seemed to falter when he did math problems.  His eyes and forehead would crinkle in deep thought as he would wordlessly stare at the page until finally, as if hit with an epiphany, he would jump in excitement and quickly write down the answer. This was one of the first things I noticed about Tyler, but I also saw that he was always alone. Wherever Tyler was, there was only Tyler. It was as if there'd been some kind of special barrier keeping everyone away from him, but the worse part was that kids encouraged it. Sometimes it almost seemed that if students could, they would see to it that they spread themselves nearly a whole galaxy away from Tyler.

I, on the other hand, would always find myself feeling sorry for Tyler. He seemed so misunderstood, something I could very well relate to. My friends weren't the nicest of people back then. It was almost amazing that somehow, even as young as 3rd grade, there was a such thing as the perfect barbie bitch.I'd never wanted to be the prettiest or better than anyone, not that I could be, but it wasn't me. I always found myself opposing their opinions and rules. However, I could never get up the courage to actually do what I wanted and not what they wanted. Sadly I always found myself wordlessly sheilding myself behind their judgement, never really okay with speaking on my own. It was the beginning of the ever long battle against myself and the thirst for acceptance, one of the only things keeping me from talking to Tyler. However there were still rumors, the stupid rumors. I always found myself thinking,

 “What if it was true?”

“What if he could throw me all the way to Texas? What would I do then? Lord knew I couldn’t survive in Texas heat, even if it was for a day or even just an hour. I was sweetly southern and only southern for a reason.” From just those thoughts I could always swear it off until a few days later when I saw Tyler again and came to the same conclusion.

It wasn’t until one fateful Monday in November, after going to church the previous Sunday had I gotten real courage to talk to Tyler. At church, our preacher had talked about not judging a book by its cover. He preached about how if the disciples had done this to Jesus, that the bible wouldn’t even be the same or possibly wouldn’t exist considering they were the ones that wrote it. He reminded us of the impact of meeting Jesus, such an amazing man, and how it so greatly affected the lives of the disciples. If they’d truly judged Jesus and not believed him they would’ve missed out on an extraordinary friend. I related this to my issue with Tyler.

“What if?” I thought to myself.

“What if by ignoring Tyler I was missing out an amazing friend? What if he wasn’t so bad after all? ”

So on Monday, with courage in my heart and the perfect excuse in my back pocket, I was ready to do it. It was during lunch. I took a few profound breathes before finally stomping over to Tyler’s table and sitting down. The whole lunch room became silent except for the quiet whispering.

“Did you see that?” Some asked.

Others exclaimed, “ That girl just sat down with Tyler Wilson!”

The only unasked question going through everyone’s heads was why, an answer even I, the culprit, couldn’t give. Tyler looked up at me, his penetrating blue eyes flashed from disinterest to wonder finally settling on confusion. His voice was stalled, almost as if he was too overwhelmed to say anything. He leaned over the table and asked,

“What are you doing, Alice? Why are you sitting here?”

At first, I was surprised, perplexed really. Not only had I’d never heard Tyler talk, but I had no idea that he knew my name either. I answered his question anyway.

“I’m eating lunch with you.” I replied.

“ But, why? Were you dared or something?”

“No.” I replied nonchalantly, “ I just wanted to sit with you. Is that so bad?”

Tyler’s blue eyes widened in amazement before deflating back to their regular size. For a second I saw something change in his eyes, but it was gone before I could decifer it. He began to nibble on his lunch, but not before he murmured a reply.

“No, its not.”

It was a few days until Tyler finally saw that my attempt was in good faith. We started to make conversation and I found we were both very alike. We both loved soccer, video games and the color green. Tyler, somehow, was different from all my other friends. Whenever we had differing opinions on something he was willing to try my way before coming to a conclusion that his was better, something my old friends would never do. It was things like this that made me love having Tyler as a friend, despite being alienated by the rest of the class. In the end I was happy I’d made the decision to become Tyler’s friend because it was worth it.

A few years later when we all reached 5th grade was when everyone else finally accepted Tyler and me. Tyler had stunted his growth and became normal size. Finally everyone else was seeing what I’d seen all along, that he was just like everyone else. Gradually Tyler began to make more and more friends and by high school he was one of the most popular boys in the grade. However, Tyler always regarded me as his one true friend because I became his friend when no one else would. Thinking back, if I hadn’t of learned that lesson in church and become Tyler’s friend I had no idea where I would’ve been. Most likely I would still be friends with the same group of girls from 3rd grade, always wondering what they thought and trying to stay in their good graces. If I’d never stopped caring what other people thought and stopped judging people I wouldn’t have ever gotten what I wanted, a true friend.

I jump when I feel someone’s hand on my shoulder.

“Are you alright?” asks Tyler. He’d been driving me home after school and apparently I’d worried him because I’d been silent for so long, something that was very unusual for me.

“Yeah, I’m fine”, I replied.

“Hey, Tyler.” I began, “Do you remember 3rd grade?”

“How could I not? That’s where I met the girl of my dreams and my only true friend.” My cheeks blazed red as I squirmed to cover my face from his view. I didn’t want him to see that I was embarrassed. I shyly reply,

“You don’t have to flatter me, you know?”

“I know, but I just like seeing you squirm in embarrassment.” he jokes.

I laugh, “Just drive.”

He showed me a toothy smile before returning his sight back to the road. I smiled back as I stared at him. He had shown no indication of being the same boy I became friends with 7 years ago. He was different, but I'd known for a long time that Tyler was changing. I just only hoped that no matter how many changes he went through that his longing gaze never ceased to be so warming and inviting. I just hoped that he never stopped loving me as much as he did now, but sadly it was highschool. Things were bound to change.