Love, Loss, and Life

The New and the Familiar

I remember before Harvey
most of my teachers.
But my classmates?
I barely know the majority of them!

My fifth grade teacher, Ms. Bart,
wasn't lying when she said
with multiple elementary schools shoved into one middle school,
there would be loads of unfamiliar faces in my classes
and not much of friends I've already known.

I mean, I saw plenty of people I knew-
much more than I would expect
but you know that feeling
when you're stuck in a classroom
full of people that are strangers to you?
And the feeling of that fear
that those people won't even talk to you?

But hey, most of my classmates
ended up being pretty nice,
and if they weren't
as least they were funny at times.

I've made and rediscovered some friends,
both the new and the familiar
Pedro was my first new friend-
Short, kind, funny, and sometimes stupid, not gonna lie.
He was the first of the bunch
to be my actual friend.

I've also met some old friends
such as Vy who I've talked to for years,
and Andy whom I've only known as an acquaintance.
Then there's Eder-
the more I've gotten to know him,
and more I've realized how dirty he really is!
And Christian?!
He's the (no homo) adorable cat lover
who's also pretty short and has a personality of his own!

Others like Cecilia, the girl I met because of flying poop sausages,
and Abdul, a familiar I also knew as an acquaintance,
plus Karen, Nicole, the other Nicole, Sam, José, Minh-Thu-
I could go on and on and on and on!
The new and the familiar have made middle school easier for me.

What I was disappointed by
was that by hanging out with the new and the familiar,
I would distance myself
from some of the other familiars.
It made me sad that we wouldn't even know each other anymore,
but then I realized...

The new and the familiar
that I've met in this school
has treated me better than they ever did.

I guess the other familiars
were the ones that made me feel like a loner,
and the new and the familiar,
who are the ones that make me laugh;
who are the ones that brighten me everyday;
who are the ones that made me feel included;
are the ones that make middle school
worth going through.

I wouldn't trade my experience
with the new and the familiar
for anything...

...well, I would,
if it was an opportunity
to be a better friend
with the first of the new
before he left....