Friendship is an essential part of growing up. Having a close relationship with people who are going through the same things that you are through middle school and high school. Someone to stand by you when you feel alone or to help you when you are going through a hard time in your life. In high school, was a quiet person who did everything to stay under the radar, buried my head in a book just to escape reality. I had friends and they were great, but I know that they had people that they liked more, wouldn't want to hang out after school, or there were the friends that spoke to you out of pity. Still having a few real friends, but not having that really close relationship that everyone seemed to have. That feeling of being small and invisible.
Freshman year for me was a nightmare. Having that excitement of starting that next step in life, but awesome having that intense fear as well. Walking down the halls with hundreds of new people and a few familiar faces. If I didn't feel small and invisible then, I sure did now. Freshman year flew by, so much that I hardly remember anything. It was until sophomore year, that I knew things would be different.
To start from the beginning, Sophomore year of high school, I went to Winterfest with a friend of mine. Everything was good until she saw that a friend she liked more had arrived and decided to hang out with her other friend. Not gonna lie, It hurt. I was sitting by myself since I didn't know anyone else there. I was so close to leaving and walking home when two guys that I knew of came walking up to me. One of the boys was I guy I knew because of freshman year lunch who I thought was very rude, and the other was a quiet boy that was friends with a girl that was pretending to be friends with me. They asked me if I wanted to play a dance game that was taking place in the other room.
Long story short, We spent the rest of the night talking and having fun that I even forgot that I came with someone else. I always asked why they came up to me and they said that they didn't do it out of pity, just that they were in that position before and that no one deserves to feel that way. It was the most fun that I have had in a long time, and that was just the beginning.
Over time, I met more people, became more outgoing and independent. As time went on, we all have grown closer, we called ourselves family. In my opinion, it wasn't just that we were all close, it was because we all have gone through bad times. with each other and in our own separate lives. We are like a family because we have drama, we fight, but we also help each other, stick up for each other. I think the one thing that drew us all together was the fact that we have all felt unwanted or invisible at some point in our life, and we all strive to be that friend that you can always count on to be there for you.
We have done a lot together, waterparks, carnivals, road trips, driving to each other's colleges, and so much more. Everyone wonders, if they were hurt and in the hospital, who would be there for them? I know that they would be there for me.
Without my family, I didn't know who I'd be. We have all grown so much together. We all wanted the same thing: to feel wanted, to have real friends. We got our wish.
