An Unlikely Friend

Friendship can be complicated to say the least. Sometimes it is just to achieve a common goal and other times, it is a bond that can last a lifetime. After dealing with both, it is safe to say, the trickiest friendship is accomplishing a common goal with each others assistance. Going back in time to my Junior year of high school, I overestimated my own work ethic and took a class that never should have crossed my mind. When all hope was lost for me, I found a friend I had long forgotten. We both needed to get by and with failing not being an option, we chose to trust each other and work together to succeed in dark times. It was a journey from start to finish that I personally wouldn’t want to be done any other way.

Within first few weeks of the class, it was apparent that I didn’t want to do that work to save my life. My grade was already down the drain and the teacher was trying to convince me to drop the class. Being as stubborn as I am, I powered on just to ignore the workload coming my way. Luckily, the boat I was sinking in was occupied with another kid. We had been friends in the past but went our separate ways due to complications. Despite the past, we both needed to start doing stuff before the point of no return. We began working together and sharing ideas along with the workload. Whenever he needed something, I would provide it to my fullest extent and vice-versa. It was a bit bumpy at first because the trust wasn’t entirely there, but as the year raged on, our co-dependency became just that. It was truly what I needed to get motivated for the end of the semester.

As the end of the semester approached, we were tasked with a presentation about a chapter of the book. It was our job to teach our fellow students about the info within the chapter for the test. As usual, we both waited until the last minute to start and finally, it came time for me to present. Although I was about to bomb, I saw it as an opportunity to buy time before he presented next so he could throw something together. Using my skill set of stalling, he was able to finish a rough draft and despite not receiving a great grade for it, he didn’t get the zero. It was moments like this that highlighted the friendship we had created. With our combined efforts, we somehow managed to pass the first semester in its entirety.

The first half of the battle had been conquered, but the war was far from over. Semester two hit us hard and there was no slowing down. With each passing assignment, we continued to fall down into the hole that was failure. We continued to work together on everything which gave way for the summatives being decently done so we were treading not finishing the semester. One day, out of the dark, our teacher let some light down upon us and gave us a chance to fix our undoings. Like the dynamic duo, we both powered through assignment after assignment until we were a couple of points away from a beautiful passing seventy. The year was winding down and we had both come through for each other in ways only a handful of people would be willing to do. When that last day came, and we both had a grade of seventy-five, we were both ecstatic and relieved that no longer would we be going through such tortures.

A summary of the year boils down to failing, making a friend, and using each other to accomplish one major goal. When we needed one another, differences were put aside and a beast was slain together. Since then, we have stopped talking for the most part and no longer share any classes. Some may say that is too bad or that it wasn’t a true friendship, but in my mind, we had each other’s backs when we needed it the most and if that isn’t true friendship, than I don’t know what is.

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