Where Did We Begin?

I was in the car with my mom one night when she turned to me and asked, “How did you all become friends?” I told her I didn’t know. Is it weird I couldn’t answer her? What I do know is, when it comes to Michelle, Chris, Kevin, Nyck, and Manny, the friendships we share are never-ending. I know that there are memories from our beginnings, but no, “Aha! That’s when we became friends” moment. Maybe it’s because our relationships took time to build so it’s more like a collection of interactions instead of just one distinct incident. I really don’t know.

We all went to high school together, but that’s about it. While there, we hung out, but that was in class. It was less frequent outside of a room and practically never off campus. It’s funny to look back at. It’s even funnier when you look at the word “friend.” As for Michelle and Kevin, they were classmates of mine. Chris was an online friend. Nyck and I shared mutual friends. And Manny, well, let’s just say, we pretty much never even saw each other. They weren’t my friends.

They all knew each other though. Michelle, Chris, and Nyck went through many years of school together. Chris, Kevin, and Manny played on our high school football team. Once I grew close to one, the rest sort of fell like dominoes. Still, I don’t credit any one of them as being the reason I became friends with the next. Even more so when I’m not exactly sure as to how we became what we are today.

Going in the order it all happened—one of the things I do remember—Michelle was first. We had been in numerous classes together since freshman or sophomore year, but we never spoke. It wasn’t until senior year, in Ms. Nakano’s Spanish 3 Honors class that we shared words and laughter. Our funniest moment was when she talked about farts with our teacher and another student chimed in with a scientific explanation. That, like many others, was a class where we got nothing done. Every time we had to do group work, it was us and 3 other girls. Always. If you were to ask us how we became friends, she and I will say all we know is we didn’t start talking until that class. Sometime there, or after, she became my twin.

Chris came next. Our first interaction was on Facebook in April 2007, late senior year. I guess you could say that’s when we became friends, but that was “Facebook friends.” There were many times we talked, but no significant interactions. He did end up asking me to prom—no, not on Facebook—and we went. Afterwards, things didn’t go as he planned so we agreed to be friends. That still isn’t when it happened. It came later, I just don’t know when later. It doesn’t matter now though, he is like Michelle, but a guy. He’s my BFF.

Now, I knew Kevin before Chris, but that was because we had classes together. I remember him coming in halfway through junior year as the new kid in school. I also remember I didn’t like him. I couldn’t stand him (Sorry Kevin). We had 2 classes together senior year. I guess somewhere in there he won me over. How? When? You tell me. It wasn’t until closer to prom that I found out he was friends with Chris. That still didn’t bring us together. Later, there were a few times I saw Kevin because I was with Chris, but we took time out on our own too. That was a while after we graduated I think. It’s sad not knowing, but I don’t care. Now he’s my Lakers game buddy.

Although Nyck was friends with my closest friend in high school, we had very little interaction. Even as Chris and I rode with him to prom and took many pictures, there was no distinct moment. Later, he ended up moving away and then came back. He decided to move away again and in the few months before he did, during the couple occasions we hung out, it happened. I guess we could say it was during my 21st birthday where we made “Tie Me Down” by the New Boyz our theme song for the night, but that wasn’t it. I feel like that was just additional fuel to our friendship fire. That wasn’t the “we did this and knew we would be friends forever” moment. Somewhere before that he became my sweetheart and always will be.

Last up is Manny. This only started happening early last year. And I could be wrong. Neither of us really knows when it began. He has been friends with Kevin and Chris since high school. With me, not so much. I think his going away for college had a lot to do with that, but he’s home now. In seeing my interactions with Chris and Kevin, he became jealous (Love you Manny). He doesn’t say that though. I remember getting a text from him one day. How did he get my number? Your guess is as good as mine. We started talking, but that wasn’t our beginning. Then one day, he said let’s hang out, just me and him—jealousy?—because I did that a lot with Chris and Kevin. You may think that’s our beginning, but from our interactions leading up to that, it’s a bad guess. The talks we had before that day show that it’s not an accurate beginning. But now, whenever my Steelers beat his Ravens, I know who to call.

And that’s them. Those are the bigger stories, not exact moments. It doesn’t mean we are anything less than friends though. We may not be able to remember seeing a start, but we all definitely know that there isn’t an end in sight.

~Michelle Mitchell