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My Best Friend and I

I can still remember the first day when I
met my best friend. She had just moved into
the neighborhood and her grandmother who
also lived in the neighborhood brought her
down to meet me. I hid behind my mother
and she hid behind her grandmother, scared
to look at each other. Soon, we lost the shy-
ness and started playing with each other,
bike riding to each other's house and having
sleepovers. In 7th grade, I first lost touch
with her. She was going through family prob-
lems and I deserted her to be with the "cool-
er people". None of my new friends liked her
as much as I did because they knew she had
"problems". However every summer we
would always sit at each other's house and
watch soap operas, eat Doritos (or whatever
junk food her mom had bought) and talk
about everything we liked.
It was last year when I noticed the prob-
lem. I guess I was just to catch up in high
school to realize she needed someone there
for her. Well, she made a new "best friend"
and so did I. Then I didn't know why, but she
started cutting herself!
She was diagnosed with clinical depres-
sion, and had to go to a hospital during the
day. I was very upset at first but with the late
night calls, and meeting each other halfway
up the street at midnight. We still stayed in
touch. I wanted to be there for her since her
new best friend basically deserted her since
people were calling her crazy, and I knew I
still cared about her like a sister.
Yesterday she came to me and said this:
"I never knew what a best friend was until
you were the only person that would stop me
from cutting; the only person that ever made
me feel better about myself and my prob-
lems. You don't know this but I was trying to
kill myself this one night you called me and I
was crying. I owe you so much, and you did-
n't even know you were helping me."
We both cried. And I guess a kind of les-
son from my life so far is to never give up on
your friends. Even if they aren't as cool as
others, or people think they are crazy, they
need someone there. If you desert them, you
will only be miserable yourself. So if a friend
needs you, and you care for them, you can
never desert them.