Scholar-Journalist
My best friend!!
By: Akriti Bhardwaj, Class XII, Apeejay School, Panchsheel Park
I believe being best friends about clicking 257 pictures, recreating Insta trends, getting matching bracelets, wishing birthdays at exactly 00:00, etc. (cause my bestie can barely commit to mall plans), rather than genuinely appreciating that person who stuck with you in the times when the world felt so overwhelming. They didn’t call it dramatic when you cried over things others don’t understand and call it ‘small’.
Real friendship can’t be ended because of an emotionally unavailable teenage boy, or because y’all ghosted each other- if it worked that way, mine would’ve broken up 4 times a day.
It’s rather bullying each other, but in the same second? Deep into real talks, seriousness, and no bs (except the other one can’t control their laugh, even if they’re being told about their 68-year-old grandma’s stories).
The type of love where your actions just make you laugh. The look you both give at the same time when something happens, thinking the same thing, knowing you’d gossip about it later? Their mom screaming, “WHO CALLS AT THIS HOUR?” at 2 am? Unplanned teenage dreams of sharing nyc (I prefer Edinburgh) apartment tgt?
None of this hits the Insta grid. Not the 10th grade squad that ruled the back benches—now reduced to hallway ‘hey’ or less, because sections split and life happened. But for a little while? You were that group. The kind people lowkey envied.
The kind that felt like it’d last forever.
Ain’t talking bout those freaks who left school, leaving behind WhatsApp chats you can’t bring yourself to delete. The loud hallway laughs, bunks, sports practice, etc. But it still lives, hits when you find an old screenshot or accidentally open the chats you both never really said goodbye to.
But here’s the deal, you miss them in little things, like when something happens in class and you instinctively turn to where they used to sit, giving a silent look only to laugh until the teacher separates you both, or when someone mentions London (because NYC was your dream, but they always argued for Scotland). You’re ranting about the future, but they’re already in a uni somewhere you can’t even pronounce.
If it’s you, it’s time to break the no-contact-awkward-phrase and wish them today, telling them how much you miss the time they used to beat you enough to leave bruises lovingly.
Because some things don’t need to last to matter.
Childhood, therapy, etc., friends are golden, but the epic ones are when your bsf, whom you met in random gc is in Toronto, and you’re in India, you master the art of asynchronous communication. The real test of friendship isn’t surviving a fight. It’s surviving time zones and distance.
No cap, but no distance can kill any friendship y’all got.
Bonus: To the miserable folks who survived ‘girls and boys can’t be friends, ’ I see and feel you. Tell them you’ve got what Hermione and Harry have.
So no, you don’t need aesthetic stories and captions to prove your bond. Your friendship lives in the embarrassing places you sat, awkward pics, and gossip in the study call, where you never studied.
To you—the one who’s seen me at my unfiltered worst and still sticks around, simping the same Targaryen—you’re the real LOML, my platonic wifey in the end. Because who said you have to date and marry to be soul mates?
And to everyone still searching for that person—trust me, they’ll show up when least expected. Cause how most tough wars are fought alone, in silence, and the person you meet through that phrase?
Divine.
PS: Those ‘you don’t need one best friend’ people? Psychotic. English grammar rules—THE best is singular. But let’s be real: your ‘bestie’ would be your alibi + the one who’d bail you out of jail, not just post your bail selfie.
