The Best Of Friends .

He and I were the best of friends,

We shared our lives, we shared our thoughts,

We were in inseparable,

Neither could do without the other.

Memories were created and memories were shared,

With him I felt I could dive into the ocean

And find the prettiest pearl

Or climb the highest mountain

And pick a favourite star.

He was the only one who didn’t mind when I snorted

Or if I had a cabbage stuck between my teeth

Or if I had picked a fight with the hairdresser

Or probably made the tailor angry.

That’s why I could hardly believe when they say that a boy and a girl

Cannot stay best friends forever.

I felt insulted at the revelation

Thinking, “Ha! I’ll prove it; we’ll be best friends to the end.”

But time floated

And I began to understand why.

Love came into my life,

As if it forgot to knock on the door

And crept quietly from the window.

That was when I started looking at him in a different light.

When he walked into the room, it was as if nobody else in the place mattered.

After a while of a mind debate on whether I was,

or whether I wasn’t

It was confirmed: I was head over heels in love with him.

After that debate, another one came along

On whether I should tell him or whether I should not tell him.

That was an easier game.

Being a little way too low on self-esteem, I picked the latter as the motion of my feelings.

I stayed happy.

Just having him by my side was enough to keep me smiling for the rest of the

years of my life.

Or so I thought.

She stepped into his life as if Queen Elizabeth has decided to go strolling down the streets

With no bodyguards – just her. And her crown. And her jewels.

That was how she was like.

The best thing that could ever happen to him, and the worst to me.

My heart was threatening to explode like a nuclear bomb,

Whenever she was in sight, and worse when I saw them talking,

Or when she did a teeny-weeny-little gesture like touching his arm,

I mentally slapped myself and reassured that he will never forget about me.

Those were his exact words.

“I will never, ever, ever forget you”

Those words were like a pillar, and I was desperately clinging to it.

But I was slipping day by day, whenever I saw them together.

It was painful at first.

But he would always come around and make me forget.

“When I win the basketball match, you’ll be the first one I’d call.” He told me.

I smiled weeks after that, waiting for his call.

He’ll always call. He will call. I know it.

I patiently waited, nothing could ruin this.

But he never called.

…I had to hear the news from her the next morning.
Oh.I wasn’t in his number one list anymore.

The next sharp turn I took was when I was playing football in school.

He was there. She was there.

They were the current inseparable duo.

I twisted my ankle, and lay spread-eagle in the middle of the field.

I didn’t want the coach to yell for first-aid.

I didn’t want my team mates scurrying after me,whispering their concern.

I didn’t want the crowd to grasp.

I wanted him to come to me. I wanted him to help me.

But he never came.

I was sick, I had fever.

I didn’t go to school.

I clutched my cell phone tightly,

Waiting.

Just waiting.

Waiting for him to call, waiting for him to visit.

Like he used to.

But he never visited.

When I flipped the book of the pages of my life,

The next chapter was a sad, sad story.

I was shocked at the fact that he could just pass me by, not saying a thing.

I was shocked that we drifted from being the best of friends to two people

Who just happened to be in the same spot on Earth,

Unrecognised, unintroduced, unnoticed.

Words couldn’t leave my mouth, my eyes wouldn’t blink

When I saw them walking around school, hand in hand, I just couldn’t think

The world changed as if it were mute.

The only thing I could hear was the faint sound of his laughter,

And the sound of my crumbling heart.

Week after week, month after month.Graduation.

And I was still lurking in the dark corner of what was left of my heart.

I thought that if I had given him my heart earlier,

I would rather he threw it away than give it to me.,

But still that couldn’t justify my ache.

A little ray of hope ignited at the back of my heart – telling me that he will remember me.

It was just a silly mistake humans make.

That was when I started to prove myself right,

And felt as if my heart started to glue its pieces back together,

When....

“Since it’s Graduation Night tonight, save a dance for me?

“ He grinned lopsidedly.

“Wh-what?” I said, with a smile, thinking that I didn’t hear him right.

“Best friends forever, right? Dance with me. Tonight’s last dance.”

I dressed up. I made myself up.

I put on those high heels Mum begged me to wear.And I waited at the door, smiling.

A friend picked me up, and we went.

Dance after dance…

Finally, the DJ announced it was the last song.

I waited for him to look for me.After all, it was better to have him by my side, than to not have him at all.

Tonight … would be a tribute to our friendship, I thought happily.

But he never came.……………………………………..

I didn’t cry.

I couldn’t cry.

I was still believing that he never forgot me.

He just forgot to remember me.
FIN.

-Kathlyn, ex St Cecelian .