I’m not exactly the popular girl but I managed to find myself a few close friends that I enjoy spending my time with. One is my best friend Michael. Being around him was so comforting for me because I felt I could truly just be myself. Around everyone else I would be typically shy and reserved. I constantly struggled with inferiority and confidence issues, but around him I could just really let loose and he would accept me either way. He’s a 5”7 Vietnamese boy who has a rather built body and frequently wears tight shirts to show it off, which I like to poke fun at. Because of his built body, he was always really healthy. You would almost never find him with junk food in his hand. We had almost all our classes together and he would always be the one helping me study while I was the one entertaining him during our study breaks. He wasn’t exactly the class clown, but at the same time he did things in class that showed he really didn’t care what the teacher thought of him. For example, when we were in history class, he likes to randomly yell out things that make the teacher really annoyed and he would just laugh it off with the rest of the class. Looking at his actions, you get the impression that he’s not exactly the smartest person you’d meet, but ironically he probably is. Michael is a hard worker when it comes to school. He was the top 5% of our class and one day inspired to be a dentist. He just has that natural smart thing that some of us unlucky ones lack.
Although it seemed like he was pretty outgoing with his classmates and generally well rounded as a person, he always seemed a little reserved when it came to girls or meeting my friends. I remember I asked him to come over to my friend’s house one night and when he arrived he just secluded himself to one side of the room. It wasn’t the same Michael I seemed to know in school. It was like once he stepped out of those walls, he suddenly became this shy boy whom I’ve never met. Most of his friends that I knew of him hanging out with were typically guys. There were a few girls here and there but he met them all through his older sister. I’ve never actually seen him with a girlfriend and the only girl I’ve known him to even really get close with was me.
