The 8 Of Us

I was thinking the other day... I have quite a lot of friends here in Washington. How did I meet them all? How did we become friends? How did I get so lucky?

So here is a blog post that I will section into 2 parts, explaining and remembering 7 specifically wonderful friendships I have. It's a cool little family we've got.

Part I: How the Group... Well, Grouped.

So my sophomore year, right when I moved here, I was placed in an English class with a teacher named Ms. Noonan. Ms. Noonan was not only a teacher, but the coach of the Kamiak Dulcineas Dance Team. Super competitive. Tons of girls. Terrifying. But when Ms. Noonan came up to me that spring and asked if I wanted to be apart of the team, how could I say no? She said it would be time-consuming, but where else did I need to spend my time? Nowhere. I was new. I didn't know anyone.

So I became an assistant for the team. We were like a family. But even though everyone was kind and welcoming, meeting almost 30 girls who at least know a couple other people on the team was super intimidating. This one girl reached out to me. Her name was Annastacia.

 

We had science together which, of course, gave us more time to bond than if we'd only had dance together. 

She invited me over for a sleepover. It was the first one I'd been to in forever. I still don't really sleep over at a lot of  peoples' houses... just those I feel really comfortable with. And we watched Thor and World War Z and ate pizza and wore glow sticks. It was great.

The more I hung around Anna, the more I started to get to know her other friends. By Halloween, I was lucky enough to know Anjelica pretty well.

By the time spring came around, I normally went straight to Annastacia when I wanted someone to go somewhere with me. This is when she came with me to a movie premiere that people from our school starred in!

One of the coolest things that I got to do my junior year with Annastacia was go to Victoria. Our dance team went for the weekend and it was definitely very cool travelling with her.

So the last day of junior year finally came. Annastacia and I agreed that we totally wanted to burn our (specifically chemistry) homework. We invited Anjelica and then Anna told me she was also going to invite people I'd met briefly before.

We hung out and it was cool. They made me feel welcome even though the guys didn't know anything about me. They didn't make me feel anxious or like I was an outcast. It was a really incredible feeling that -to this day- makes me smile when I think about it.

And so that was it. That was our great and wonderful beginning. Just the 6 of us. The Six Seniors. We decided that night that we would be a group and we would take on our last year of high school together. Honestly, I wasn't sure at the time if that promise of long-lasting friendship would last or not. I'm glad it did.

And so our adventures began. We did what we could to meet up with the whole group (which was really damn hard with six people). Even just spending the day outside on trails in the community was better with them.

Now of course there were times when some people in the group were busy. But those of us that were not would stick together. Here, 3 of us went to a family friend's house for the 4th of July. We took what the night gave us and ran with it.

Including singing/playing guitar badly in front of people we knew we would never see again. They made me brave and silly. And I am thankful for that.

Sometimes we would do random things like decide to go to a playground. It was summer and there weren't exactly a whole lot of worries. What better thing to do than act like kids?

In July, we had a family dinner (courtesy of Manny's real family) for Annastacia's 17th birthday. We grabbed whatever and ate on the ground and crouched around a table. It was unorthodox and crazy and perfect. And I felt like I was home.

Summer passed. I was in Michigan. Anna was in Japan. And by the time we were all back, it was time for our senior year to begin.

And a month or two after school started back up again, we had  a new member in the group. Sabrina rocks. Like a lot.

Alone, I could never take on a football game. I would get way too anxious and not have any fun. But with these guys, I genuinely enjoyed myself. They made me feel like a normal teenager.

For Halloween, most of us dressed up (shout out to Ben for not being in the photo). The four of us girls decided to be characters from Alice in Wonderland. The boys were lame and did their own things.

The dance team does this thing each year where we pretty much run a restaurant from inside our school. My junior year, it stressed me out so bad that I fainted. Yep. Just passed out in the school. But this year was different. I had a team of girls I knew I could count on and go to if I was really feeling bad or anxious. But I didn't feel any of those things. I had fun. Like I was supposed to.

One of my favorite things about having 4 girls in the group is that twin day becomes quadruplet day. Coolest thing ever.

We even celebrated Christmas together.

The day of our Secret Santa/Christmas party, another member was added: Keoni! The numbers of genders were even again. (And look how nicely it worked out for this stair picture. Perfection.) Keoni ended up being just another one of us and I'm very thankful that he's in the group.

One of my favorite things about this night was trying to fit everyone (plus Anjelica's boyfriend - hi, Tanner!) into a selfie. You actually have to stretch your hand so far. Harder than it looks.

This was the night that it really hit me how lucky I was. Having this tight of a group isn't normal. Having 7 people you can count on no matter what? I was so grateful. So much had changed since I first arrived in Washington. I still can't believe that I went from knowing nobody to having all of these phenomenal people in my life.

Just after Christmas, Annastacia and I headed to Florida! Together we took on Disney World and the time we spent there... Probably one of the happiest times of my life. (Also, shout out to Anna for sharing a bed with me in Florida and dealing with me being an insomniac!)

And not only did we get to go to Disney World. We got to go to Universal Studios too! 

Which of course meant that she had to see me freak out and cry over Harry Potter. Sorry, Anna.

Once back home, it wasn't long before Michael had a performance (in which he totally rocked out to some JoBros). It was the coolest feeling going to the concert and really supporting someone. The pride you feel when someone you love does something great is really incredible.

It was definitely awesome to have the guys come support us girls at Districts. The dance team hosts it at Kamiak each year and while watching my team perform was wonderful, having most of the group together again was probably the highlight of that day.

The dance team went to state and WOW was I proud of them. Annastacia, Sabrina and Anjelica danced their hearts out and I just sat there for a while thinking about how blessed I was to be surrounded by such talent.

And now here we are! May has come. Prom is soon. I'm really excited because the 8 of us are in the same group. So while the stress of school dances can be scary, I know I'll be able to handle it because I'll be with them.

Soon we'll be graduating and heading in different directions. And as sad as I am that we only got one year together, I know how lucky I am. Seriously. I wouldn't trade these friendships for anything. This group rocks. And I love them with everything in me.

Part II: Meeting For the First Time

Okay, time for the 2nd part. Brief recap of how I met everyone. My memories here aren't super together so I thought I'd try to write down what I do remember before I forget it all.

ANNA

So I've pretty much talked about how Anna and I met so let's talk about some other stuff. Like how she went with me to the Seattle Gay Pride Parade. Or how we always tend to see movies together. Or how we have almost all of our classes together. Or how we both love to do weird stuff to our hair. Or how she's fantastic and I know I can talk to her about anything. To sum up Anna: she's perfect. She dances perfectly; her hair is perfect; her attitude is perfect; her clothes are perfect... I could continue to list things that are perfect about her but... well, it's actually just everything.

BEN

The cool thing about Ben is that when you first meet him, he comes off as quiet. It's so weird because Ben's actually one of the funniest people ever. The first time we ever really talked was at the bonfire and we just clicked. I didn't feel awkward with him or like he was judging me. I just remember coming to the bonfire that night, thinking Ben was going to hate me, and then when we ended up getting along, it was really, really cool.

ANJELICA

THIS IS OUR FIRST SELFIE TOGETHER. Anjelica and I had talked a little bit in dance but not much. When the time came for Kamiak's first home football game of the season, the team had to show up because we performed at half-time. Because I was so excited about it being my first game, I made a point to take a picture with each girl on the team. Anjelica was standing by herself and I was totally intimidated but I told myself: "You need to get a picture with everyone." So in the moment of my need for photographs, I went up to her and asked if we could get a photo. We talked and she was sweet and funny... and after that, I just felt very comfortable around her.

MANNY

Manny and I didn't talk till the bonfire, but we had had one class together before that we'd never talked in. It was Visual Communications  and I just stuck with my partner for the whole class because I knew her from the dance team and I was the only one she knew too. Once Manny and I started talking at the bonfire, though, we mentioned how we'd been in the same class. From there our friendship just took off. Manny's probably the easiest person ever to talk to. And it makes me wish we'd started talking in the class we'd had together. :( But I think everything happens for a reason, and I'm just glad we're such good friends now.

SABRINA

So I have no idea when we first started talking. Obviously, Sabrina and I met through dance team. But when we first really became friends? Who knows. What really brought us closer together this year was having the same lunch! Spending my lunch with Sabrina and Annastacia each day is something I thoroughly look forward to. Sabrina's one of those people who never fails to make you laugh. In reality, I don't think she has any negative qualities. My favorite thing about Sabrina is that her kindness radiates off of her. She's someone that you want to be friends with because it's very clear that she's trustworthy and just completely lovely.

KEONI

I met Keoni the day of our Christmas party. I was a little scared to meet him because he was practically already apart of the group and I was worried that when he met me in real life he might not like me. He ended up being one of the least judgmental people I've ever met. Keoni's friendly, easy to talk to, and an absolutely amazing photographer. Like seriously. Book him for shoots. Get on that. It's funny how at first I was nervous that he wouldn't like me and  now he's just another member of the family. He quite clearly belongs with us. And now "us" wouldn't feel like us without him.

MICHAEL 

There was this one day in my junior year when I just really didn't want to go sit with the people I normally ate lunch with. So Annastacia, being the saint that she is, invited me over to her table. And (lol) to be honest, I was kinda scared because she kept saying her friends were weird and that they'd probably be talking about video games or other things that she had no idea about. So by the time I got to the table, I was expecting evil glares because these people sounded so different from  me. When we arrived there, Annastacia introduced me and told me their names. Before I could even get a word out, Michael got up, gave me his seat, and then got himself another one. Not sure I've ever been that surprised in my life (except for this one time that I got dragged into going to a haunted house). People back home were never that nice. And he didn't even know me. He was just a good guy. Weird. And funny how a simple gesture has stuck with me this long. And how an awesome friendship has come out of it.

OKAY THAT'S EVERYTHING SORRY FOR SUCH A LONG POST. 

I was just feeling really grateful. And blessed. Because I know I'm blessed. And I don't ever want to take advantage of that. I'm lucky. 

6 became 7 and 7 became 8. And together, we're a weird little family. Weird, but good. Definitely good.

-Jordan xx

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