The people who you call your friends should be like little pieces of you, embodying your different characteristics. My friends do exactly that. I was reading a friendship fable called The Birds and the Beasts, and I didn’t agree with the moral:






A great conflict was about to occur between the Birds and the Beasts. When the two groups were together, the Bat hesitated which to join. The Birds that passed his perch said "Come with us"; but he said, "I am a Beast." Later on, some Beasts who were passing underneath him looked up and said "Come with us"; he replied, "I am a Bird." Luckily, at the last moment, peace was made, and no battle took place. The Bat went to the Birds and asked to celebrate with them, but they all turned against him and he had to fly away. He then went to the Beasts, but had to leave because they would’ve torn him to shreds. "Ah," said the Bat, "I see now that one who doesn’t belong to a group doesn’t have friends.”






Just like the bat, I can’t say that I have a defined group of friends because I don’t. I know people from here and there, but I can see a little of myself in all of them. I don’t see my friends much outside of school, for various reasons. We do see each other before school, during optas, during classes, and briefly after school. Even in these few minutes that we have together, we have a blast. We laugh, joke, sing songs, rant when necessary, and get help with schoolwork; we all take our grades very seriously.






One morning, I came into school looking for my friend Evelisse. I met my friend Vicky on the first floor and we went to the library in search of Evelisse. We didn’t find her, but we found another friend, Kellan, and a few other people that we greeted. We remained there for a few minutes before we went to our lockers, finding anther friend, Navneet, along the way.



“There she goes,” I said. We walked over to her as I put my arms in the air in a V shape, hands outstretched and palms up.



“I have arrived!!” I screeched as I stepped on Vicki’s foot. I hugged her and said sorry. They erupted into laughter. “Hi!” I said excitedly to Evelisse’s friend, even though I don’t know her well.



“Wow. You’re hyper,” she said.
In reply to my grand entrance Evelisse said, “No. Who cares?”
I stepped to her saying “What?” She replied “What? What? Less go son what?”
As we were shoulder to shoulder, heads in the air, well, mine was since I’m short, they were all cracking up.



Navneet said, “Ha ha you’re so short your head is facing the ceiling,” as the laughter continued.


I told Evelisse, “I stahted de list fuh yuh chunes”.


“De chunes?” she replied.


“Yea,” Kellan said, what’s that for?”


“Fuh she birday fete,” I replied as they chuckled. We began to discuss the songs that were on the list.


“Wait. Can’t play that one,” Evelisse said as she thought of a song. “Why all tha nice ones gotta be gross?” After everyone went to their lockers, Evelisse, Vicky, Kellan, and I linked and began to walk down the hallway laughing. Navneet had to go a different direction. Once I made it to my class, I met another friend, Safiya, and I ranted to her about something on my mind. “Woah” she replied, chuckling in response to my aggressiveness. Through my life, I have learned that even though I am not a bird, nor a beast, I have friends for different things, and as long as all of them embody some part of me, then it doesn’t matter where we are.