I was going to write about this awesome "Birthday Party" that me, Rolf, Sam, and Timler had today...but then Kelly told me she's moving. The awesomeness that was today was forgotten instantly.
Sam and Rolf may understand certain things about me that Kelly may not be able to comprehend...but she is my sister from another mother. We've been friends for fifteen years; we complete each others' sentences and we have our own language and patented sense of humour.
I first met Kelly in Mrs. Kuehm's kindergarten. She had moved to Vernon from Paterson and was the shyest girl in class; she didn't talk to anybody. That was soon to change. My first memory of Kelly is from the Harvest Festival (my school's substitute for a Halloween celebration) when she refused to dress up in the Indian costume her mother had brought for her.
I began to talk to her one day when Mrs. Kuehm stood up and exclaimed to all of us "KELLY FINISHED HER MILK!" See, Kelly was lactose intolerant from when I first met her until about two years ago, so she would drink about 1/3 of the carton of milk, and then throw it away.
We became fast friends. During the field trip to Space Farms, we were in the same group, and to this day we have memories of a goat eating our chaperone's map while she flipped out. She had a Polish accent.
Kelly and I made our Communion together in second grade, and that same year we were not allowed to work together in math class because Mrs. McGovern knew that if we did, we wouldn't get anything done because we'd be too busy laughing at everything. To this day, we know it's true.
We became extremely close in fourth grade when we were together in Mr. Careccia's class. We walked together during Walk-Run, hung out together during Lunch, and started a Swing Club during Recess that is still our favourite thing to talk about because at the time it seemed like the most important thing ever. Me and Kelly were the only permanent members, and everyone else was disposable. We had sleepovers and we stayed up all night producing fake interviews where she pretended to be Dan Rather (it was great cos she said "I'm Dan Rather. Did you know I'm Dan Rather? Yes, I'm Dan Rather") and I pretended to be an anchor from our New York news named Len Berman on a tape recorder and listening to the weird pre-recorded songs on her brother's keyboard and dancing around the house. After school, I'd go to her house and we'd watch Pokemon and pause it randomly because anime characters have a tendency to make the weirdest faces.
Kelly transferred to Catholic school in fifth grade, and didn't make friends easily. She was a shy, plump girl with long, thick dark hair and big glasses. She was very, very cute, but she was made fun of terribly at that school. She used to bring me to her school dances. This was the year Kelly moved from down the street and around the corner...to three houses away.
She came back to my middle school in sixth grade. In sixth grade, all the kids went to camp for three days. If a student didn't want to go, he or she would have to find a student on the other "team" (the grades were divided up into two "teams" in my middle schools) and shadow them for three days. Of course she chose me. We had to fight to contain ourselves during class the entire three days because everything was funny. That's how it is with us.
In seventh grade, Kelly left public school again to try a Charter school. She went there for half the year, and then transferred to a Christian school. That summer was possibly the best summer ever. She came over nearly every day and we would dance around the house to the song "Tequila" after we watched the soap operas "Passions" and "Days of Our Lives". By this time we had developed our own language, ending words with "ness", "eth", and "ly". No one understood it but us, and we liked it like that.
Kelly and I lost contact in eighth grade as she returned to her old Catholic school, but we needed it.
In ninth grade she came to high school with us...and she left Sophomore year after her home life began to go down hill. Kelly was my best friend all through high school and though time does not permit us to spend much physical time together anymore, we have a bond that no one will break.
Through it all...through every f***ed up thing that has happened in my life...I have had a best friend that has stood beside me and has never turned on me or made me feel like shit. And she's always lived down the street...
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