Significance of You

XX

I met her my eighth grade year. She was not the kind of girl I wanted to be friends with. She was outgoing and friends with everyone. I was scared of that. But when we got stuck in the same algebra class, I ended up being her partner for most of our assignments. After a month or so, the school decided to switch the entire class with another class. We got a new teacher for the remainder of the school year. She was amazing in that class. She sat next to me and I always asked her for help.

Beyond that, we bonded over the fact that algebra was hard and we needed help. We cheated on some of these tests that we had to take. She was a good friend to me. We grew so close that she would tell me who did this and who did that in her life. I would do the exact same for her. We told each other everything. There's a bunch of pictures of us from in that class and none of them looked good. Or at least I didn't look good in any of them. She did. She always looked beautiful.

After we got to high school, we faded away. Slowly at first but then a lot faster once we got to the second semester of high school. We just stopped talking. I wasn't proud of it but we grew apart. It wasn't something I liked or something she liked. It just happened. We were parts of two different crowds. All that stuff about how high school cliques change it all is true. It happens. Not all the time but it does happen. We did stop and say hi to each other in the halls when we could though.

Sophomore year was different. We ended the day in the same area. I would stop her and talk to her for a little bit. Give her a hug and catch up with her. In the halls we stopped and said hi to each other often. I'd come up behind her and wrap my arm around her shoulder and say "Hey beautiful." like I've been doing for years. We grew closer during sophomore year and we still aren't as close as I would want us to be but we will get there. That's something she and I will work on.

Being her friend made me more outgoing. When we were super close, I had a lot more friends. I was able to communicate with people so much better than I do now. I was friendly with almost everyone. It made me feel so great about myself. That's why I liked her so much. She made it easier for me to break out of my antisocial shell and I haven't been able to do that as much since she and I have drifted apart. That's just not something I do on my own. I love this girl, whether we are close or not.