Someone New

--Written August 30, 2013--

It wasn't until this year when I understood what change meant.

My school year began in chaos, having grandma over from China, and having family friends sleeping over. I felt as if the few days before school started this year were the days where I finally understood the family I was born into, as I took a journey down history. Not only did I take a peek into the days of my mother's childhood, but also the days of my grandma as a child. My grandma would tell stories, scary stories such as eating tree bark due to the lack of food;where sometimes, even the tree bark would be all taken. One of my mom's best friends as a child also came to visit, who, let's just say, I called Auntie.

I started my sophomore year of high school this semester, and I felt as if my life had undergone a transformation. Now to understand this transformation, I will first need to introduce some of the major characters in my life before. I moved to the city of Santa Clara back in 2005, when I met a kid named KX in a summer camp, who became my first friend in the city. After two school years in Santa Clara, I then moved to a neighboring city called Cupertino, where I currently reside. When I attended 4th grade at Lincoln Elementary in Cupertino, the only two people that I knew in the whole school were KX, and his friend, ML. From KX, I knew ML, from ML, I knew others. And with that, my list of friends grew exponentially -- or so I had thought. See that's one of the major changes in my life: the realization that there were true friends and friends that were not.

Throughout middle school, I had little contact with ML as well as the others I had met at Lincoln Elementary, because they had all gone to another middle school. By fate or luck alike, my best friend in middle school became DM, someone who today, I can still lean against. I met EZ, who had not gone to Lincoln Elementary, in a summer camp in 4th grade. During that same summer camp was where I strengthened my connection with DM. DM and EZ did not know each other.

Sometime during the first few weeks of Freshmen year, I met Jim. I don't remember what had quite happened, but we had some special connection. By the first sight of his smile and before I had spoken a word, I felt like Jim would play a major role in my high school career. This may seem impossible, but my instincts were right. Jim became one of my closest classmates who I would talk with on a daily basis.

But equally significant or maybe more so was getting to know someone called Penguin. I had known him by but his full name for the entirety of freshmen year. This semester was when I really got to understand his character. I don't even know why it took so long for me to do so. You see, JP and another freshmen friend of mine, KK, were great friends with Penguin, yet I had rarely talked with Penguin last year. I believe maybe taking this long was because I felt lame after our first conversation. I remember it being something like: Me: "Hey [Penguin], what are those people doing over there?" Penguin: "I don't know. Go look for yourself."

What makes Penguin such a special kid is that after getting to know him, he became the first person that I would emotionally connect with. I felt comfortable telling him my opinions on things, or how badly I really scored on a test. I didn't hesitate telling him what I was jealous of nor tell him about the lugubrious day I was having. Penguin was the first person that I would spill out my feeling to, without having to think of what consequences may ensue.