Clare and me

Her name is Clare. I met her in Primary Three. I had missed the first week of school, since I had been admitted into hospital. By the time I returned back to school, everybody had settled in comfortably. I felt out of place.

The teacher seated me in the back of the classroom but I could not see the board well, as I was kind of short back then. Somehow, my teacher knew this and changed my seat. She moved me near the front, next to Clare. Sure, I had known her since Primary One, but this was the first time we had ever been in the same class.

During the next few weeks, my first impression of her was that she was very proud and self-centered. She would tell me how to do my work, compare marks with me and she would tell me,” Jill, if you ever need to spell anything, come to me, I’m the best at spelling.” As you can see, my first impression of her was not a very good one.

However, we still ate together at recess along with a girl named Cheryl. We actually became quite close since we were the only ones taking Malay in our class. I learned to put up with her constant bragging and actually kind of got used to it. One good point about Clare though, was that she made me laugh a lot. She was very funny and was a natural comedian. I could go on for hours and hours laughing at her antics.

Slowly and slowly, my impression of her began to change. I guess that’s because she began to change too. She lost most of her self-centeredness and bragging. My impression of her got better although she still had some of that self-centeredness.

I have been in the same class as her since Primary Three and look at us now. We’re in the same class in Secondary School and sitting near each other too. She’s still as funny as ever and I’m as irritating as ever. She also makes me laugh just as hard as when we were younger. I just feel grateful that I found the time and effort to make her my friend all the way back in Primary Three.