Almost Okay

If life handed out medals for “most use-and-throw friendships,” I’d probably have a whole shelf by now. Not the shiny kind you’d proudly display, but the cheap plastic ones they give in school sports day just to keep kids from crying. The sad truth? I’ve never really had what you’d call “real friends.” I don’t mean every single person was fake, but most of the people I thought were my friends didn’t exactly see me the same way. For them, I was just a classmate, a convenient homework helper, or someone to laugh at when they needed a new joke. And me? I was the fool who thought maybe it was my fault. Maybe I was too boring, too introverted, too obedient to my parents. Maybe if I were more outgoing, they’d actually include me. School Days: The First Disappointments In school, there was one person I thought of as my best friend. We were in the same class for nine whole years. I always looked out for them, cheered for them, shared everything I could. But it took me years to realize they nev...