We really don’t give much thought when we make life altering decisions. We really don’t understand its importance until the moment has passed.
The same happened in the first day of my sixth grade. As always, I was overthinking about how my brother told we would be treated differently since it is a new grade. I was also thinking why my best friend or my arch enemy (the title depended on the situation) had not arrived yet. Steve was never late to class. They were calling the names for attendance and they never called Steve. I was too proud to ask his other friends but I just assumed he went to another school.
How was I so calm and fine when I found my best friend won’t be there anymore is still a mystery. I was always like this. I never had so much emotion. I was always on a neutral with no emotion. But anger is another chapter. I cry when I get angry and go on with my life like nothing happened.
It was then I saw the new girl. She looked like a nice girl sitting at the last bench. I don’t know why but I wanted to know her name. So when the teacher asked for all our names, I listened very carefully when she said her name. Lily. I like Lily. But I never actually talked to her.
“Steve went to another school”, said Harry. Harry was the short of Harriet - the popular girl of our class. The reason why she was popular was because of her grades. She was always the first in the class which kind of made me jealous but I didn’t give it much thought. We had gangs we had girls who didn’t talk to each other. And I was one of Harry’s friends. Harry said she wanted Lily, the new girl to be in our gang. I don’t know why gangs made sense for me at that age but I was the first one to volunteer. I told her I can make her our friend.
We had our boring classes and scary teachers and then by the end of the day, we had our physical training. It was just us randomly playing or in today’s case, sitting in a straight line, separated by genders. Steve would have definitely loved this class. But I was fortunate enough that Lily and Me were of the same height. So when they made us sit by ascending height order, I was right after her.
I don’t know how, an always shy human, scared to talk to even my dad, had the courage to introduce myself to Lily. “Hi, I’m Cassidy” I said. We introduced each other and we talked about her old school.
Lily was so sweet. She told about how she spent most of her life in hostels and this was the first time of many years she got to go to school from her home.
I was so happy talking to her that I almost forgot I was talking to her sitting in sand on a windy day. And Lily did something. She tucked my hair behind my ear. She did it as if it was normal. As if this is something everyone does. But not for me. Not for someone who never had a proper friend. Yes there was Harry but she just wanted to have many friends compared to others. Then Steve, god knows where he is. But Lily was special. I knew she was.
And I knew she was going to be my best friend. But little did I know that that exact moment would change my life completely. That exact moment would make me take drastic decisions that changed my course of life.
I knew Lily was going to be important in my life. But god I underestimated how much.