Believe it or not, but everyone desires the feeling of belonging. No one truly wants to be alone. We all want a family or a group of people you can turn to whenever. For me, I have two families: my blood family and my friend-family. My friends are a bunch of weirdos, but we love each other. This is how I found my second family.
When I was a senior in high school, I had two set best friends. I thought we would be friends forever. We spent our whole high school careers together. However, thanks to one of them being petty and rude, we no longer speak. This left me alone half-way through my senior year. Who would I hang out with? To make memories with? Trust? Talk to? This is how I entered my group of losers.
I won’t use their real names when referring to my friends for their privacy, but they’ll know who they are. I met Julia when we were kids: playing on the same basketball league. We went to different schools until high school, but we had always been friends. We had some classes together and got closer over time. Next, I met Marta. By fate, we met in homeroom in 9th grade thanks to our last names being right next to each other. We hit it off right away. We saw each other everyday for 4 years in homeroom and in classes. Thanks to these amazing ladies, I found my family.
Now, of course I wasn’t a complete stranger to this friend group. I had classes with most of them and known of them somehow, but they were never people I had considered close friends. By the grace of God, I ended up having lunch with Julia and Marta and sat with them everyday. This is where we meet most of our friend group in this story because they sat at our table. First, there is our “yee yee” boy, Marc. The four of us would play Uno almost everyday. The intensity and the fights that would come out of Uno were crazy. We would stack our cards to mess with Marc and he would freak out. Next, there’s the smart-one of the group, Rita. She almost killed me by putting chilli flakes in her mac and cheese. Next is Bodey who is the most optimistic and kind guy you will ever meet. He is also one of my dad’s favorites of all my friends. Joe is our little pure, soft boy. He is always cracking jokes and making faces, but we love him. Riley is our rebellious spirit, who is open minded. Daniel is the life of the party friend who always wants to show he ass for some reason. Trish is our loving, free spirit. Mike is the jokester who would do anything for his friends. Collin is the youngest of us, but probably the smartest, nicest and going to be the most successful. I am his best friend even if he doesn’t like to admit it. And then, there is Max. Every friend group has a Max. He’s the one we always pick on and make fun of, but we still love him in his own weird way. And if you are thinking that your friend group doesn’t have a Max, then you might want to look towards yourself.
I started hanging out with this group more and more as time went on. We started by going to Applebee’s after every football game. It then turned to more games of Uno at lunch and celebrating birthdays together. As the end of the school year came around, it was the end of the year activities and summer where we really got closer. Mike and I played tanks in class cause we finished our projects. We went to prom on a float together and partied together, where Collin watch me fall and laugh at me. I got to graduate next to Marta. I got to star in Julia’s vlog. Bodey drank all the milk in my house one night. Daniel tackled me for no reason. We went to Six Flags, where Mike got soaked twice on a ride and it was great and Trixie found a poop emoji hat. One night at my house, all the boys jumped out of my parents’ window into a bush for some reason. There are millions of weird stories and memories I have because of these people.
We now text in a group chat everyday. None of us go to the same college and we are hours away from each other, but our bond is just as strong as ever. We are weirdos individually, but together, we are each others’ emotional support, confidants and family. I love you party people. Thanks for becoming the family I never knew I needed.