I've known him forever. At least, that's what I tell people, because I have known him over half of my life. I have known him since I was five. That's almost eleven years. However, I never really talked to him until recently. He is one of those people. The people we grow up with and are around all the time, but never become friends until we get older. He is one of those people we claim to know, but we don't actually know them. Everyone has at least one of these friends, he just happens to be my favorite out of the three friends I have like that.

I can't remember how we acted towards each other when we were five. I just remember not liking that little boy and on the way home from church I would tell my mom all of the bad things he did in Sunday School that morning. I remember thinking he was the worst kid.

He was the troublemaker and I was the goody two shoes. I memorized Bible verses and he threw tantrums. He was disrespectful and broke the rules. I respected my teachers and always followed the rules. He stabbed chairs with his pocketknife and I made sure every mess was cleaned up. He threw sugar packets at me from across the room and I never threw it back. He was shorter than me when we were eleven and then before I knew it he was a foot taller than me.  We did the church drama team together. I stood next to him for one of our performances. He said something stupid and I remember slapping him across the face. Neither of us saw it coming, because that's something I did not usually do.

We never really talked, him and I. But, when I needed someone to talk to, he would listen. It wasn't until last year, I realized that he had always been there for me. He had always tried to be my friend, but I pushed him away, because we were too different to be friends. Last year, I finally let him in. I stopped pushing him away. Every time we were at church we would play a little one-on-one basketball game. He would either let me win or not let me win at all. He would go easy on me or make me fight to even stay on my feet.

Eventually, I just gave in and we became friends. I didn't think we were close friends until New Year's Eve. I said something about how I categorize my friendships and he told me "Well, it's like how me and you are best friends. I consider you my best friend". I was surprised to hear him say that, because he made fun of me all the time. Then I learned, him making fun of me was just his way of being friends. From New Year's Eve on we have remained best friends. Even through our stupid little arguments, he will always be my best friend.