Like him

Note: This short story is a product of our 10 minute writing exercise in Writing Boot Camp with Jessica Zafra. We were asked to write about our childhood best friend and since I don't have one, I invented him.

My surname is Manicad and his is Manlapas. We were seatmates since first grade and we remained as close as our armchairs until second grade.

Ian was okay; not good nor bad. He was not the best student in the class but he consistently passed our exams.

I remember that our first talk was about his crush Jaina who happened to be my close friend. At first I thought he was really keen on being friends with me but then I found out that he was more interested in Jaina. It's okay, I told myself. Come second grade, Ian's infatuation for Jaina faded and we started to bond like brothers.

He would bring cards to school and we would play them during recess. Sometimes he would ask me to go with him to the rest room but we will just end up in the hallways - walking to the museum, canteen, and rows of classrooms.

Ian was definitely fun to be around with. It was nice knowing him for two years.

Two years only because in third grade, his parents transferred him to a better school in the district. If Facebook and Twitter were available then, or if we had mobile phones, I wouldn't be writing about him today.

I didn't get to say goodbye to Ian formally because he was gone before the school year 1999-2000 opened. I had Ian's pencil from Grade 2 until I graduated in grade school.

I didn't know how I lost it.

Perhaps because Ian owned it.