When I was in eighth grade, I had a lot of trouble with friends. A lot of people changed and I wasn't expecting it. It wound up being one of the hardest years of my life. I thought that something might've been wrong with me or that something I had done had driven them away, but it turns out that they had just changed.

For the longest time I can remember thinking to myself why did they do this, why did they leave me, did I do something that would hurt them? My self confidence went into a downward spiral and I never thought I would recover. I had my soccer teammates but we bonded over soccer; we didn't really have much else in common.

One day I was running in PE and this person runs up to me and asked me if I was dating their friend. She introduced herself as Anastasia and offered to run with me for our "Mile Monday." Little did I know that was the first conversation I would share with my best friend and running together in our beat-up converse would be the first inside joke and a promise of so much more to come.

We became a lot closer during the school year, and by April we had become best friends. We were inseparable. She made me a lot more talkative, and helped me come out of my shell. I had been so afraid to talk to people, but she changed that. She was that kind of person who was always cracking jokes with teachers and making sarcastic comments about everything.

I found myself becoming more and more like her, willing to speak out in classes instead of simply sitting there shyly with my nose in a book. She made me, me again, not the quiet person that I had been for most of the year. She brought out the better version of me, the me that I had always wanted to be. She had helped me see the fun in everything that I didn't see before. She also made me "punmaster" that I have become, and even though she says that she hates it, I know deep down that she actually loves my jokes. Unfortunately at the end of eighth grade she moved, but it didn't change a thing for either of us.

We've been best friends for almost two years now, and we still text and call every single day and are as inseparable as ever.

Even though eighth grade was a really hard year for me, the reality of the situation is I wouldn't change a thing, because I met my best friend. My life changed for the better and I wouldn't change a single moment of it for the world.

So to everyone out there who is going through a hardship, just wait. I can guarantee that someone will come along and change your point of view; and to my best friend, my Taco Bell, and so much more, thank you for coming into my life. I hope I never know a day without you.