Moving on

By: Young Person

A Story About Friends

In high school I was always surrounded by a huge group of friends. I had two best friends who I was extremely close to, and the three of us were part of a larger group of eight. The eight of us used to hang out all the time at school and on the weekends, having video nights at someone's house, going to the movies and doing all that sort of stuff together. My best friends and I were really close though, all we had to do was ring each other and say "Hi, it's me" and we knew who it was. We were in all the same classes at school and used to do everything together. One of our science teachers even used to call us Huey, Dewey and Louie! My friend Sarah even used to write me anonymous notes and put them in my locker when she knew that I was stressing out about school.

At the end of year twelve we remained close throughout the holidays as each of us found out what we would be doing at University and TAFE the next year. They were there for me at midnight when I got my year 12 results and then again when I decided to move interstate to go to uni. The eight of them had a going away party for me when I left and my two best friends even came to the airport to see my plane off. For the first couple of months I was away all eight of us stayed in touch, writing e-mails and letters and talking on the phone when we could afford it. They would keep me up to date on all the gossip from home and I would tell them about all the fun I was having living away from home in a different city and all the new people I was meeting.

When I got home after my first semester at Uni, we had a birthday party for one of my friends. But instead of all eight of us getting together like we used to, there was only three from the original group there. When I asked how the others were, I was told that no-one had heard from them for a while, even though I'd heard from all of them at one stage or another while I was away.

The next time I returned home to visit my family and friends I found that some of the people within the group were fighting. Two of us organised a Christmas Party to get them all back together and to see everyone again, but the party kind of died after an hour or so because no-one seemed to have much to say to each other.

Now that I live away from home, I have met lots of people and made lots of great new friends. The kind of friends that I can talk to about just about anything, even at three in the morning or just sit down and chill out with. It doesn't mean that I have forgotten about my friends back home or aren't friends with them anymore, but in a way all of us have moved on from our friendship. I think we are all slowly realising that now that we are all at uni, TAFE or working and with our lives all moving in different directions we don't necessarily have much in common anymore. They are all really special people and I will always have really good memories of my friendship with them. I still try and keep in touch with all of them friends, and catch up with them whenever I am home.