Andy's Circle - 2. New Beginnings

(Fall of 2011)

Ahead of my first day of the new school year, I was on edge almost all the time. All kinds of embarrassing scenarios kept popping up in my head and I had trouble deciding if I wanted to avoid new people entirely, or try and talk to someone so I could actually make new friends. Looking back, it all seems silly, but it sure didn’t look that way at the time. I was almost eight, and for a boy my age, that was some real life drama!

Of course, my parents tried their best to explain to me that I’d have no trouble without Rex, but I’d like to see you try explaining to a boy my age that his world wasn’t completely shattered by the departure of his best friend.

“Sweetie, don’t worry,” my mom sat down on my bed next to me, trying to reassure me. “You’ll do just fine,” she said with that gentle, positive tone of hers.

“How do you know that?” I asked, expecting a genuine explanation.

“Because you already know lots of kids from school, you’ll make friends in no time, trust me,” she replied.

“I hope so,” I said, not entirely convinced, but not as scared either.

Luckily, things just resolved themselves in a very simple manner. No sooner had I walked out the door and headed to school, than I was joined by two boys – Bobby and Shawn – with whom I had some classes last year.

“Hey, Andy! Wanna join us?” Bobby waved me over.

“Hey, guys,” I said, kind of guarded, but mostly relieved that I would have some company.

“We haven’t seen you all summer!” Shawn said, looking sort of hyperactive. He must’ve been really excited for school for some reason.

“Yeah, sorry about that… I wonder if we’ll have any classes together this year?” I quickly added, more to myself than to them.

“I hope so!” he replied energetically. “We get our schedule today, so we’ll see!”

“Hey, is it true Rex moved away?” Bobby asked, knowing we were best friends.

“Yeah, he went to Canada.”

“I heard it’s winter all the time over there!” Shawn said as if he were revealing some huge secret.

“No way,” Bobby said, looking surprised.

“Imagine what it would be like going sledding every day!” I wondered aloud, imagining just how much fun that would be.

“Or having snowball fights!” Bobby added.

“Man, that would be amazing!” Shawn nodded, pretending to make a snowball with his hands and throw it at a cat across the street.

I didn’t even notice when we arrived at the school. The endless sea of children, noise and laughter was almost overwhelming, but somehow I didn’t feel so bad about the new school year anymore. By the end of the day, I had talked to a bunch of new kids and even had a bit of fun – in between classes, of course.

However, during the first few weeks, I couldn’t help but wonder what Rex was doing. Was he having a crappy time at school without me? Did he miss me at all, or did he already have new friends and forgot about me?

This didn’t last long, though. As much as I hated to admit it, my parents were right. Not only did I survive, but I also managed to meet some cool and fun kids. As a result, my circle of friends grew, although I still considered Rex to be my best friend, and no one was even close to dethroning him. At least not yet…

What surprised me the most was that my friendship with Rex didn’t just vanish as I thought it would after he had moved away. As it turned out, his parents were still rather attached to their hometown, so they would all come back several times a year and stay a few days, or sometimes even weeks! Sure, the first several months were awkward and took a lot of adjusting, but after the first few visits, Rex and I got into a steady rhythm of seeing each other three or four times a year. We would especially look forward to our summer and winter breaks, since that’s when we were able to spend a lot of time together, and we learned to appreciate every single minute of it!

Also, it turned out that my fears of Rex forgetting about me and our friendship were completely unjustified, as proven on our first encounter after he moved away.

It was about four months later, just in time for Christmas. I guess his family got homesick and they all decided to come here for the holidays. My happiness and nervousness was through the roof – I honestly don’t know how my parents put up with me those few days. This escalated the night when the Lewis family was to arrive to our place, as I just couldn’t sit still for a minute.

“Hey, what time is it?” I ran into Mark’s room and asked him. I think he was almost startled by my abrupt entrance.

“Uhh, almost six, why?” he said, looking at his watch and then me. I jumped on his bed and looked around to see what toys I could grab.

“When do you think they’ll get here?”

“Who? The Lewis family? No clue, ask mom and dad,” he said calmly.

My brother was pretty much indifferent about Rex and his family coming over; for him, Rex was nothing more than his brother’s friend.

I went over to the living room and sat on the couch next to my dad, waiting for the guests to arrive. Well, not so much sat as bounced around impatiently.

“What’s the matter, buddy, you seem restless?” my dad chuckled and tousled my hair with his fingers. He knew very well why I was excited.

“Yeah, I’m restless,” I replied, smiling, not even sure what that word meant.

Once I heard the doorbell ring, I jumped as if I was catapulted from the couch and ran to open the door. I thought my face would burst with how hard I was grinning when I saw Rex’s face, beaming with happiness. He rushed toward me, took off his jacket in a second and shouted: “Hey! Let’s go to your room and play!”

I didn’t need any convincing; we rushed off, leaving our families behind. Just like that, it was as if nothing had changed. It felt like he was still living here and we were still seeing each other every day. In less than a minute, we were back to our old routine of playing together and having fun. Nothing else mattered.

“Wow, you’re finally back!” I almost yelled.

“Yeah, and we’re gonna stay for a whole week,” Rex said, looking very excited at the prospect.

“So, what’s it like in Canada?”

“It’s alright, I guess. A lot colder than here, though. And I started learning French!”

“Cool! Is it true that it’s winter all the time?” I asked, both because I was curious and because I wanted to have some interesting news to share with Bobby and Shawn.

“I don’t know, we’ve only been there for four months, remember?” Rex shrugged.

“Yeah, right.”

“So, what do you wanna play?” he asked, almost completely unfazed by the fact that we haven’t seen each other in months. To him, the situation seemed very simple – we just continue where we left off, until he’s gone again. At that point, I was too excited to have him back, so I just went along with it.

“I don’t know, I have some new computer games? Wanna try them out?”

“Sure,” he said, looking through the games I was showing him. “Oh, I already played that one at home,” he pointed at one of the icons on the desktop.

“Ok, let’s play this one!” He finally picked one of the two-player games and loaded it. I had an unfair advantage because I had already played it, so I let him win the first few rounds. Besides, I knew he was a bit of a sore loser and I didn’t want to spoil our time together.

“Who’s gonna keep the score, you or me?” he asked. “We gotta see who’s the best!”

“Ok, I’ll do it, I guess,” I replied, shrugging. I’d learned to live with his competitive side by that point. In the end, the score was tied, which was probably for the best.

The evening was over in a flash and before we knew it, Rex’s mom was calling him from the living room.

“Rex, baby, come on, it’s time to go!”

Needless to say, earplugs were needed for what was to come.

“But mooooom, we just got here!!!” In a matter of seconds, he rushed over to his parents. “Please, just ten more minutes!!”

I stayed in my room and couldn’t help but chuckle at hearing him plead, and his mom having to gently turn him down. I had to admit, it was good to see that some things didn’t change. Our friendship seemed intact, and I was wishing it would stay that way. Of course, the fate had entirely different plans…

In the next chapter, we'll see how the boys' relationship progresses as they get older.
Thank you all so much for reading and I hope you enjoy the story!