Best Friends

Have you ever noticed in every great YA there is a best friend you can count on? When you're in your teens, and even after, you need that someone who knows you how you really are, who you can say anything to, and who will love you no matter what.

I just re-read Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen -- made into the movie How to Deal along with the book That Summer. Sarah's so good at getting across the complexities of close friendships.

And what about the group of friends in Bridget Jones' Diary? She describes them as her "urban tribal family". Isn't that the total truth? It goes right along with the magnet on my sister's fridge that reads, "Friends are the family you choose for yourself."

I have a few best friends. They seem to fit different areas of my life. I still hang with my best friend from high school -- though it's funny how we became friends.

We both liked the same guy. His name was Chad and he was a junior. T was a sophomore and I was a freshman -- and we both thought Chad was hot. So, when I saw her slow-dancing with him in the cafeteria at a dance, I was determined to hate the girl's guts.

Of course what happened was, Chad didn't like either one of us. And then, we both didn't like Chad. Suddenly, T and I had something in common and a friendship to last the ages was born.

It's weird that I often start out not liking the people that end up becoming my best friends. Maybe it's because they are interesting people who are harder to get to know. Those are the best kind of friends. The ones who surprise you with their true selves. The ones who keep changing and growing into even cooler people.

So, how did you guys meet your best friends?