I first meet her when I was in elementary school. I don't remember what grade exactly. I just remember the day she moved into my neighborhood. I found out that she was two years younger than me and her brother was one-year younger. My parents wanted my siblings and I to go over and welcome them to the neighborhood. I didn't want to, but I did anyway. We walked down the street until we saw a big move in truck. We saw two kids standing in the drive way, and their parents were moving boxes. We walked put to the kids and introduced ourselves and said, “Welcome to the neighborhood.” After a bit of small talk amongst kids, we all went home. That was all I could remember of that day. After that she and I became good friends. Her brother and my brother also became good friends. The rest of my elementary school life was us having fun playing together with other neighborhood kids. It was fun. When I started middle school, our friendship started to fade without us knowing. At the time, we didn't care. My middle school life was rather dull. I didn't have any friends, but I was okay with that. My grades weren't bad, and I didn't give anyone a hard time. I went through middle school as a shadow, and I was a content shadow. Then she showed up again. I was in eighth grade when she was in sixth grade. We talked a bit more than before, but defiantly not as much as we used to, and nothing more than small talk. Before I knew it, my third and final year of middle school was over, and it was time to head to high school. I started my freshman year of high school the same way I did with middle school. I did however make a few friends. My first semester went by quickly. Near the beginning of December, my mom was talking to her dad about volunteer hours we need to graduate. Her dad told my mom about her and her brothers volunteering and offered to take my brother and me. So, I started my volunteering with her. At first, we talked a little. But as time moved on, we started talking more. Before we knew it, two years passed. She became a freshman when I became a junior. She hung out with her group of friends, but always came to me to say hello. Sometime during my junior year, we got a lot closer. I would go to her house every weekend and I would spend the entire day there. Near the end of the year, she invited me to do a summer break work out camp which was held three times a week. I thought it would be fun, so I decided to participate. This led to us spending time together every day. On the days we didn't have camp, I would go to her house and watch movies all day. When my senior year started, we both started to sit with each other in the morning before school started. The first half of the year was just us talking and hanging out. In January we started going to kickboxing. This led to us hanging out even more. The next thing we knew, I was graduating and getting ready to go to college. The only thing that changed that summer was the fact that we went swimming occasionally. Summer passed to quickly. She is currently a junior in high school while I'm a freshman in college. I go to college two hours away from home. I miss being able to go over to her house whenever I wanted. I miss going to kickboxing with her. I miss going to the pool with her. I miss our playful arguments. I miss her. Every time I go home for break, I know I will end up spending most of my break with her. I know that we will be watching movies or going to the pool. We might decide to go on a walk or go to kickboxing. I know that we will never change. She made my life a lot better, and I don't think she realizes how much. Before, I was just passing the time. Feeling like life was boring, and that there was nothing I could do to change it, so I just accepted it. Now I'm passing time with someone else, someone who makes my life a lot less boring. That probably sounds really weird, but that's who we are. We also joke about how we didn't actually become friends until around the beginning of my junior year. To be honest, neither of us knows when we started hanging out. I kind of just happened. She went from being a neighbor I didn't want to meet, to Jess, my best friend (which I feel is putting it lightly). Some people look at us and say we are like sisters. I agree. She is more of a sister to me than my own blood related sister. I know that she and I will always be friends. We will always have movie days. We will always go to the pool. We will always joke about how we met. And most of all, we will never let our friendship slip away from us again. When I look back, I regret not caring more about our friendship. I now know better than to let a good friend slip away. I'm looking forward to making ever lasting friendships, although I know no one will ever replace Jess.