It was the summer of ’07. I was taking summer school for world history. I took it so I could get ahead with my credits. Eryca was in this class too, she was new to the district and taking summer school to make new friends. Luckily we met. We would hang out everyday and slowly became really close. It was amazing how much Eryca and I had in common.

I think I was the first one to start up a conversation between the two of us. I had asked her about her nails. They were painted bright orange and had a crazy neon yellow design with glitter. She told me where she got them done and how much she paid. She even told me about some other cool designs she had gotten in the past. That was the first spark that lit up the fire of our friendship.

When Eryca and I first hung out, we were eating lunch at summer school. We ate together and after, we were both craving ice cream sandwiches from the vending machines. Eryca said “Kelli, an ice cream sandwich sounds so good right now”.
“Oh my goodness it does,” I said. So we decided to buy some. They were the kind that had chocolate chip cookies with vanilla ice cream in the middle. They were frozen solid. We could barely bite into them. The next day at lunch we wanted to eat together. We came up with a plan that if we got our ice cream sandwiches before we ate then they could melt a little bit. By the time we were done eating our lunch they were perfect. We could bite into them easily because they were so soft and creamy. While eating our lunches we talked about our lives and got to know each other. It was amazing to me how comfortable Eryca and I were with sharing our secrets.

Eryca and I have a very unique friendship. We are very weird when we are together, sometimes the things we do and talk about would shock others. We are 100% ourselves when we are together. I know Eryca would never judge me, so I’m open and honest about everything. She knows everything about me, all my deepest secrets, and she still likes me. Eryca and I are okay with staying in on the weekends. We do not have to go out to parties to have fun. Sometimes we stay up all night just talking, not once is there a moment when we don’t know what to say.

We were inseparable, until the day Artie came along. During our sophomore year Eryca began to date Artie. Artie had a reputation to be a cheater. As a best friend, that worried me. I did not want Eryca to get hurt, only I thought that this time Artie would change for her. Eryca was crazy about him and made him her number one priority. This really affected our friendship, because Eryca always put him before me. Artie took up all of Eryca’s time. This made me feel really sad. I was losing my best friend. Eryca was in love with him, and thought he was too good to be true. I understood that she wanted to spend time with him because she loved him, but she could have squeezed me in. Sending a text to me every so often just was not enough. Then Artie did some horrible things to her. He betrayed her trust, and his past caught up with him. He cheated on her. Even though I had been placed “on the back burner” I was the one who was there to pick up the broken pieces of her heart. I am her best friend, and that is my job.

After the break up, I was slowly brought back into the picture. I went to a family dinner with Eryca and everyone was there. Her parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, grandparents and even all her cousins were there. The whole family I had once become very close with before the Artie situation was there. Her older cousin Marina had asked me where I had been. I had no idea how to answer, it was so awkward for me because I wanted to say that because Artie was in the picture, I was pushed out. Later on that week Marina messaged me on Facebook and told me she had wanted to see how Eryca would react, when she asked me that question. She understood why I had not been there, and she did not agree with it. Marina was so happy that Eryca and I were re growing our friendship again. I am so happy that we did too.

Eryca and I have literally been through everything. Each bump in the road of life and friendship has made us stronger in so many ways. Eryca was the one who stayed by my side when everyone else was walking away. She is the one there for me through everything, whether it is up or down. Eryca listens to me when I am rambling off about dumb things. She understands me and everything I am going through. She makes fun of me when I make stupid comments, but I know she would never judge me. I am a part of Eryca’s family. I am blessed that Eryca is back in my life, and she always will be. Never again will she put a boy before me. We are going to be best friends forever. We pinky promised.