High School NEVER Ends

 

“Your College friends know who you are but your High School friends know why.”

 

FRIEND.

* a person whom one knows, likes, and trusts.
a person whom one knows, an acquaintance.
a person with whom one is allied in a struggle or cause, a comrade.
* a friend is someone who cares, someone who is always there. a friend is someone special, someone who you can tell everything. a friend is someone who will never betray you, no matter who doesn't like you. a friend is someone you can trust, someone kind of like you.

 

Lots of definitions and interpretation. Allies. Acquaintance. Blah blah blah. So easy to say. And all definitions always seem to emphasize the “perfect” image of being a friend. Always being there, ready to help, a shoulder to lean on. Are friends always as ideal as the books said it? Or would you still call them a friend if at some way they did you wrong. How would you really define a friend , or is there such thing as a definition of a genuine friend? Or, what would be your criteria in choosing a friend? Do you need to have to share the same interests? Does he/she has to be good looking? A good influence?

And then I go back to where it all began. Where I truly appreciated friendship. HIGHSCHOOL.

I DID have a criteria in choosing friends. Should be focused/driven, goal oriented, and a good influence. I did find them at the beginning. They were good but all of a sudden I felt like I am in a competition. It’s like we’re competing for something I don’t even know. I felt pressured and stressed. And I was not happy but I stick with them because they were my friends. I was so stuck with the idea that friends won’t leave friends ever. That we we’re supposed to help each other and not pull each down. And then I drowned.. and I had a wake up call.

I was an only child anyway. I’m used to being alone. I can survive this. I don’t really need friends anyway. I have seatmates. I can talk to them and ask for their help in case I’ll be needing one. I’ll be okay.

And it started with seatmates. Mostly guys. Guys cause they were more easy to talk to. More fun. No pretentions. What you see is what you get. BAM! I had friends again. And then the girls, with hesitations at first but as time passed everything went perfectly fine. I had a BARKADA.

We were all different. There were the studious, the quiet/shy type, the chickboys/babaeros, jokers, tomador. A combination of people with a variety of characteristics, likes and dislikes but the common denominator is all were CRAZY and SO HAPPY together. We were there for each other, and that was enough.

We have done thousands of FOOLISH things before and now that we’re older, it’s always fun to reminisce and realize how immature we were. How random and irresponsible we were yet, here we are, years strong laughing together at all those wonderful memories we have made together.

I couldn’t write every single detail about our friendship. What I know is, WE ALL LEARNED IN THE END. And now that we’re older and have different lives to live, we will always find time to laugh at our silly mistakes and together reflect on what has happened along the way. I love you APD. Thanks for everything. You have made me the way I am now. You were my foundation. You helped me stand through all the odds and you knew me, the real me, the damaged and broken and weak me.