Growing up, we experience various types of friendships. From the preschool days where you meet the first friend you’ll ever remember, to the various minor friendships you make freshman year of high school, there are some friends that will always stand out. Out of all the friendships I’ve made, from age five to 18, I consider my high school friends to be the most influential and most deserving of recognition. It is the true high school friends, the ones that have been with you from waiting at the bus stop freshman year, to throwing your graduation caps together at senior graduation, that deserve to never be forgotten.

The quality of high school best friends that I find to be most important is the fact that they have been there for so many milestones. If your friend has been around for over four years then both of you are bound to have witnessed monumental moments in each others' lives. When I think of my high school best friends, I recall how they have been there for so many firsts. These types of friends have experienced with me events such as my first kiss, first heartbreak, first high school party, and many more endless firsts. The fact that these friends have been a part of so much of your life already should indicate how meaningful they have been to it. If you think back and were to remove them, things would be lonely. These are the friends that mean the most, and removing them means you would have no one to share the important moments with, leaving an unfilled gap.

My favorite thing about high school best friends is their loyalty. There was never a time where I ever had to doubt our friendship, or felt like she wasn’t supporting me. If I was angry at someone, she was angry at them for me. If I needed a helping hand from homework to advice, she was the first to offer. Even if we had been preoccupied and hadn’t talked in a while, she was always there for me. Nothing is ever going to compare to the loyalty of your high school best friend, mainly because you both know everything about each other and have created an unconditional love. You view them as second sisters, you know all their family, you’ve stood by each other during the awkward puberty stages, and vowed to never show a soul pictures of each other from it, because hurting them would ultimately be like hurting yourself.

Even though you can have many other friends such as new college ones, or acquaintances from back home, your high school best friend always stands out. Doing things with your new friends makes you remember the special times you have shared with your high school ones. That time you tried out for cheerleading together and quit, the double date you guys had on Valentine’s Day junior year, and driving around aimlessly listening to music when you first got your licenses are all perfect examples of experiences you just can’t recreate. They were the ones who transitioned from childhood to adulthood with you, sharing all these moments and helping you form a sense of identity along the way.

Your friendship with your best friend is often put to the test as you grow older together. Sometimes, life gets in the way and you can feel yourself drifting away from your high school friend. Going to different schools, not seeing each other as much as you used to, or hanging out with new people can interfere with you and your high school best friend’s relationship. Even though you haven’t talked in a while, you know you can still count on them, and that’s the main reason you could never even think about forgetting them. Though you may talk every few months now that you are both away at different colleges, when you see your old best friend’s name flash across your phone, you experience pure happiness at the realization that they haven’t forgotten about you either. The day you forget about your high school best friend is the day that you lose the best friend you’ll ever have. Keep in touch, make time to talk, and never forget about them or the crazy times you’ve shared.