It was 8th grade. I remember entering the school when suddenly my counselor stopped me. “Hey Jimena, we have a new student today. Can you show her around the school and let her know where all her classes are during your first period?”
“Ahh, yes of course!” I said. I was very, very excited. I loved being able to show people around the school, always, specifically because I had permission to skip my first period.
I dropped off my backpack in the office and went straight to the counseling office to meet the new student. I didn’t know if it was going to be a boy or a girl, but that didn’t change my excitement at all. When I walked in, I saw my counselor and a girl! The moment I saw her, I instantly knew this was going to be a new friend of mine. When you know, you just know.
I instantly introduced myself to her. “Hey! Nice meeting you, my name is Jimena, and I will be showing you around the school and letting you know where all your classes will be.” “My name is Sarai. Thank you,” She replied very quietly. She seemed very shy and nervous, and honestly, even though I was excited, I was also a little nervous only because I’m not super social around people.
After we introduced ourselves, I walked her out of the counseling office. I started by saying, “Okay, before I start with anything, I just wanted to tell you that you’re really pretty.” She said thank you most awkwardly. I was a little embarrassed, but I didn’t know how to start a conversation. I didn’t lie, tho. She was very pretty.
We walked around for about 10 minutes, and I was just showing her the basics. The office, the counseling office, the gym, and the cafeteria. It was a little awkward until I started showing her where her classes were. “Out of all my teachers, which one do you think is the best and which one do you think is the worst?” “Mr. Everett is a hundred percent the best teacher that you have there, and you’re lucky, I don’t see any teacher that is bad. You have all amazing teachers.”
We started talking a little about what lunch we had. Unfortunately, she and I did not have the same lunch, but I told her a little about some of my other friends who had the same lunch as her, so she didn’t need to worry about anything. “Ahhh oh my Lord,” I exclaimed. “What Happened?” Sarai replied. “I just saw my crush in his class, my bad if I scared you.” She burst out laughing, then I laughed too.
She questioned me about him. I told her his name and why I had a crush on him. It was May 12th that day, and I let her know that “his birthday was yesterday.” “No way, my birthday was yesterday too!” She happily told me. I was surprised and said happy late birthday to her.
At this moment, I realized that I was not even shy at all being around her. We finished her tour and are just walking around. We were yapping. When I say yapping, I mean YAPPING. She was such a sweet person, and me and her really clicked. We instantly became friends that day.
The next day, we walked together in the morning. I let her know that if she wanted to, she could wait at her class after it ends so that I could take her to her other classes so that she doesn’t get lost. Of course, she agreed. After second period ended, I went straight to her class to get her. “Okay, what class am I taking you to next?” “Science with Mr Everett,” she said. “No way, I have that class too!” I replied. We excitedly went to the class together.
We had a lab project that we were working on, and since I was technically the only person she knew, my teacher let her stay with me and had us do the project together. The project was obviously boring, and we were talking the WHOLE time. We were getting to know each other a little more and just asking a bunch of random questions. “What’s our favorite song?” I asked, “‘You deserve the glory’ by Prestenwood Worship.” She replied. “Wait, are you Christian?” I then asked. “Yes, I am.” At that moment, I just knew she was going to be my best friend. I was Christian too, and that was the first time I ever met someone who was just like me. We were both very excited to know that we were both Christians, as well as both of us being baptized. We talked about our experience of getting baptized, and also just telling each other what our favorite worship songs were.
That’s it. That is how I met my best friend, Sarai. I am and will always be grateful for finding someone like her in my life. We our both now in tenth grade and are still inseparable, and I can’t even imagine how life would be without her.
