Unexpected Friendship
Photo by Natalya Khartukova on Unsplash
It all started with the firetruck parked across the street. I was walking home from school that day when I saw it. There were no houses on fire, but the truck was parked in front of the Johnsons’ old house. If I didn’t have chores to do, I would have looked around.
“Mom, why is there a fire truck parked across the street?”
“Well, good afternoon to you too. My day was great, thank you for asking.”
“Sorry, good afternoon, and I’m glad you had a good day.”
“We have new neighbors that moved in today.”
“That doesn’t explain why there is a fire truck.”
“Right, it broke down and just so happened that the older son is a mechanic, so he’ll be working on it once he gets it towed to his shop.”
“How do you always know so much about everyone?”
“I’m a mom. Now, take this pie over there and introduce yourself. They have a daughter your age, and I told them you’d come around and visit.”
“Okay, fine. She better not be weird.”
I put my bookbag away in my room, went to the kitchen, and grabbed the pie. I checked the mirror at the front door before leaving to make sure my hair was still in place. I’ve never been a people person, so meeting new people always made me nervous. My mom always said, “Kendra, you have to learn to be a little social to get through life.” I don’t know how true that was because I was doing just fine in middle school so far.
As I got closer to the house, my heart started racing, and I got a little lightheaded. I had to stop to breathe. It was good that it was a beautiful day. Not too hot and not too cold. I turned to stare at the massive mountains partly covered in green. Whenever I started feeling like this, nature always helped. Once I felt normal again, I started back. I picked up the pace because I knew mom would want me home on time for dinner.
I knocked on the door, and a girl answered.
“Hello, my name is Kendra. My mom wanted me to bring over this pie she made for you.”
“Hi! I’m Anya Pavagi! Come on in the house. I love pie.”
“Nice to meet you, Anya. I love your accent. Where are you from?”
“Northern India, but I’ve pretty much lived in America for most of my life. We moved here when I was in second grade.”
“That’s pretty cool.”
The inside of the house was set up like our house. We had to walk through the living room to get to the kitchen. As we walked, I saw that they had already started putting up family pictures on the walls. The closer we got to the kitchen, a vibrant scent hit my nose.
“Wow, what is that? It smells so good?”
“Oh, my mom is making dinner. It smells like she’s making Chole Bhature. You’re welcome to stay for dinner if you’d like.”
“Thank you, but I would have had to ask my mom ahead of time so she’d know not to make dinner for me. I’m sure she’s halfway through dinner.”
“Okay. Maybe another time. Hey mom, this is Kendra from across the street.”
“Hello dear! It’s nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too, ma’am.”
“Her mom made pie, and I wanted to drop it off in the kitchen and show her my room.”
“Okay, sweetheart, just put it over there on the counter.”
I sat the pie down, and Anya motioned for me to follow her. She was a lot friendlier than I expected. The one difference in their house than ours was that they had a staircase to exit and enter the kitchen.
Anya’s room was the complete opposite of mine. My room was covered with posters of space and my artwork. From what she already had started to decorate, her room was pink and white with gold accents. I mainly had black and grey in my room. She had a large poster of Tom Holland and Zendaya. The main photo in my room was a copy of the 1893 “The scream” artwork I liked so much.
She showed me the different things she planned to decorate her room. She was the total opposite of me. After that day, we spent every single day together. I learned some Hindi words and had my first taste of Indian food. She got a chance to try Nigerian food.
Where you saw her, you saw me, and where you saw me, you saw her. I went from being a loner to having the best friend anyone could want. We did everything together. We stayed at each other's side the rest of middle school and throughout high school. We even applied for the same colleges, but we went to different colleges in the same town.
We weren't roommates in undergraduate like we wanted as our parents wanted us to live on campus. However, we still made sure to see each other as much as possible and even study together. We became roommates when we both got accepted to NYU. I went to law school, and she went to medical school. I used my art degree to become an entertainment lawyer. We had always talked about living in New York together. She would be a big-time doctor, and I would be a big-time lawyer. She was studying to be a pediatrician.
When I got the call that night, my heart dropped. I was shaking when I had to call Anya's mom and dad. I then called my parents as well and let my tears flow. Medical students have to do rotations in different disciplines, and this was the night Anya was to do a rotation in the psychiatrist ward. She was excited because psychology fascinated her, and she wanted to try and find a way to use it in her practice.
We were always each other’s emergency contact since we lived so far from home. That night a patient somehow got a hold of a pair of scissors, and as Anya and the others were trying to talk him down, he rushed her and stabbed her in the chest. She started bleeding so fast that they didn’t have time to control the bleeding.
Over the next week, I helped her parents plan her funeral, and I opened our apartment for people to stop by and say their condolences to her parents. On the day of the funeral, the temple was packed. I never realized how many lives my best friend impacted. All of her professors and classmates attended.
Anya was such a special person. I met Anya at a time in life when I didn’t know I needed her. We grew together and helped each other through the hard times in life. I will never meet anyone like her. I can only hope to be half the woman she was in life. Anya was my unexpected friendship.
Have you ever had an unexpected friendship? Tell us about it in the comments.
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