FRIENDSHIP

When I was two years old, I figured I had it all. The year was 2003. I lived in Pleasanton, California. I had my best friend, Sarah Jeffery, who could come over whenever she wanted to my house. She had basically been my friend since birth. Sometimes, my mom would take us to school with my brother, and since he started earlier than we did, Sarah and I would play on the playground until it was time for us to go in. But then, when I was three I caught wind that Sarah would no longer be going to my school. Since I was only three, I didn’t really get this. I didn’t understand what was going on when she didn’t show up at school when I started preschool. But then, from across the room, I spotted her, the girl I would be spending the next 9 years with: Chloe Gipson.

Chloe quickly became my best friend, and then my chosen big sister. I say “sister” because she would lie to me, we would fight, and as we got older we grew out of that, like all siblings should do.  And I say big sister because I basically did everything she did, like a mindless zombie! As it turns out, my brother, Eric became friends with her brother, Nate, as well as our dogs, and our parents as well. And pretty soon, my family moved to a house down the street from the Gipson’s.

We had the best of times. When we were seven, we pretended to be twins. We would wear the same clothes, or we would just say that we were sisters, but our parents got divorced, or whatever. Our mothers would have carpool, and when Chloe’s mother, would drop my brother and me off at my house, we would all get out of the car and bow down in front of my mom kissing her feet, and begging her to let Nate and Chloe stay over for a playdate.

But the golden days didn’t last long, and soon my parents announced that we would be moving to Tennessee. I was heartbroken, but what could I do? We were only supposed to stay for the summer, but then it turned into a year, then three years, then, nope, just two years. But during the two years that we stayed I managed to make new friends, making it rather hard to decide whether I really wanted to go back to California or not.

But I did not hesitate to insinuate that I did want to go back when I was told that we would be moving again. But instead we moved to North Carolina, and I will probably be living here until I go to college.

But even now, I so want to go back. I believe that our relationship will never change, no matter the distance. I need to hug my friend again. I need my best friend back. I need Chloe Gipson. Because, I believe in friendship.