Best friends

 I can bet that half of you ignored the 's' after "Best friend" in the title. That's okay because when most of us think about "Best friends", we usually refer to just one person. But I believe that we can have many best friends, each with a different sense of excitement, humor, advice, and craziness. I'm going to describe what I'm saying here by talking about my best friends.

The Long-Distance best friend: This is the one who I've known from school. She changed school and shifted to Sri Lanka, because of her dad's job in the tenth standard. She moved away and we hardly meet, probably once in two to three years, but our friendship has grown ever since. We share everything over a call and we know all of each other's friends and secret crushes. Our parents say that we are sisters from different mothers. So, in short, it's like an ideal yet virtual friendship.

The school best friend who's always been there with you: We've known each other since the sixth standard. We had been in the same class since then and even though we are in different colleges now and are unable to meet much, we've still got each other back. I would like to tell you how our friendship actually started. So, we were in the seventh standard and our class teacher made everyone sit in a specific order of their roll numbers. His roll number was just before mine, so we were forced to sit together but I think that he turned out to be the best seat partner, I've had in my entire school life. He's someone who makes you want to hold on to this friendship.

The one who helped you survive through the coaching and those horrifying two years before college: She's the one who was there when we enjoyed the eleventh standard like we'll never be in the school again. Well yeah, that was true because after all, who even attended school in the twelfth standard. We would ride in the school bus to the coaching center on most of our school days. Coaching classes would not have been bearable if it wasn't for her. We too ended up in different colleges but she's still my go-to person whenever there is any boy trouble like how to "not" tell your crush that he's your crush, and she'll always be.

The one in your neighborhood who's more like a brother: We've seen each other grow from kids to teens to adults. He's there when I need to vent myself and there when we have to celebrate. As I said, he's more like a brother because we don't even remember for how long we've known each other and how we simply talk about everything so easily without any hesitation.

 

The crazy one you met on the first day of college: She's the one who's always ready for doing crazy stuff. She's my college survival kit. It was on the orientation day that we met because of something stupid that I did. We still laugh out so loud when we think about it and how our first impression of each other has changed over these years. Whether it is about wearing weird outfits and trying all the cafés near our college or about mimicking other hostelers, she's always been there. We started as friends, became roommates, and are surviving this stay at home(because the colleges aren't reopening) in the hope that once this is all over, we will not leave any café or restaurant, in the city of our college unvisited.

The unexpected best friend: Our friendship developed after we went on a college trip as batchmates. We did not know each other much at that time but now not even a day goes without talking to each other. We tell each other almost everything as if we are each other's personal diaries and that's what makes us feel free and attached at the same time. 

The one who you met online: Our friendship grew as we started talking during this lockdown period and were surprised to know how similar two people can be. Not only our habits but also our thoughts seem to match so much that it would have been foolishness to let go of this friendship. So we haven't met even once yet. I know that it might seem weird to be the best friend of someone who you've not even met but there is something which makes us believe that we'll be there for each other for a very long time.

So, these were some of my best friends. Remember, it's not important to have only one best friend. You can have different ones and still love them all. Why don't you think about your best friends too and represent them by a phrase just like I did?