St' Marys Sr. Sec. School Sikar

Dear School Best Friend,

It's been a while since we talked, but I know that if I send you a text today, with only gibberish and pronouns, you would know exactly who I'm talking about. And you would giggle.

To say that you know all my secrets would be an understatement- because you know ME. You know who I used to be, and who I've become. You know how I slept on the third desk from the window during history lectures, and how I failed every single math test. You know the boy that made me stammer each time I looked at him and the teacher that made me wince with her sarcasm. You know what I looked like with hairy legs and a unibrow in the seventh grade, and you stood right beside me when we looked gorgeous in our matching farewell sarees.

No matter how many times the teachers changed our seats, we always found a way to talk- from conspiring to meet near the dustbin for 'shaving our pencils', to being a part of the same 'activities'- we've done it all to spend time together. And yet, the moment we reached home, we would call each other up on the landline. I don't remember what we talked about, but I remember the comfort that embraced me- the feeling that none of my friendships now provide.

I found a copy of your biology test that you hid in my bag the other day- and it reminded me of how we were each other's support system under the 'Hi**er rule' of our principal. Two plaits may have forcibly framed our face, but nothing could take away the mischief from our eyes. My friends have a much better understanding of the word 's*x' now, but it will never beat the moment when we sat under the banyan tree, looked up its meaning for the first time and sat there, scandalized.

With skirts that were exactly two inches below the knee, we mapped the entire town on our cycles. You still owe me seventy-two rupees in samosas and colas, by the way.

How about catching up someday? You can then pay in nostalgic, laughter filled conversations - because like we wrote on your grade twelve desk- we're 'B.F.F.s 4eva!'

~ Khushi Bajaj

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