my friends

First day of classes. What should I do? Should I go and volunteer to introduce myself? Or should I stay and sit down in a corner where no one can notice me? I can still remember a shy girl in the corner of the 1st yr. Bartlett room. Oh how I really pity that girl. That was 7 months ago. Now look at this girl. Her friends. Their conversations. Their laughter. You can never see a trace of that incident 7 months ago when Bartlett was very quiet, peaceful. In all corners. A month after that, these words mean nothing at all. Do you wonder how that shy girl fitted in the group? Simple. That bashful girl refrained from doing nothing at all. She talked and talked and talked. And she slowly developed the confidence. She got the trust of her classmates. She found a group of friends she was most at ease talking with. Those she was most easy hanging out with. The VIP Delegates, as what they are called, or what they call themselves. Ate Irene, Jurrine, Janelle, Jeny-vi, John Rhey, Gerardo, Rheena and Mia. They are my friends. I talk to them. I tell them how I feel. I showed them how I care. I eat with them. Everyday. I make sure they feel my presence. I always let them know I am a shoulder they can lean on. On my side, I feel that there is no dull moment with them. Others say that I just hang out and do nothing with them. They are wrong. They are really, really wrong. It may seem nothing to the others but I enjoy doing nothing with the VIPs. Far more enjoying than going to the mall with people I am not easy with. It is just like iced tea without ice. Having to study here in U.P.( a school famous because of it’s campaign against mediocrity or patchiness) without these friends would possibly kill me. My friends are my second family. An old man, or should I say an old teacher told us that as students, we need friends. Why? We need friends to help us in our projects. We need friends to help us in our assignments. We need these friends to help us when our teachers award us with heaps, masses and oodles of research work. At first, I thought it was funny. I believed this old man. I believed that we only needed friends for that simple cause. For the projects, assignments, research works and other school works. I was wrong. I was verified wrong by no less than myself. We need friends plainly because we need them. There were times when I needed them not because of projects, assignments, etc.; I needed them as a shoulder for me to cry on. I needed them to comfort and encourage me when I was really down. Indeed the saying “no man is an island” is true. Hey people, we need friends. I can really, really attest to that.