Friends and Family

Sometimes, two people can seem so utterly perfect for one another, without realizing it. Friends will notice and comment on how the two should just hook up, but most of the time, the two people just don't see it. Sometimes, this is because of their blindness to their own feelings, or their inability to admit them. Other times, however, it's their friends who are blind.

I have these two friends called Emma and Max. They argue like crazy; constantly at each other's throat pretty much every day, with insults flying from both directions. And I don't just mean the harmless insults that don't mean anything, I'm talking about the kind that are meant to sting. Honestly, I don't even know why they're friends anymore.

Well, actually, I guess I do. Max was good friends with Adam and Lucy - they all went to the same improv club together - and Emma was friends with Elly, Liz and Rachel from years ago. I knew Liz and Adam back in middle school and was pretty close to both of them, and Jacob was someone we kind of adopted a while back. And now, all of us hang out in this big group. Quite odd, really. So I guess Max and Emma are really just friends out of habit rather than from choice.

I still think the two are very strange, though. Very annoying as well, actually. At school, they act as if they're on opposite sides of a rivalry gang war, but they're usually the ones to hook up when it comes to parties. Take last Halloween, for instance. The pair had been bitching to and about each other for most of the evening, but as soon as everyone started to think of bed, they snuggled up together and started kissing. They stayed curled up together all night, until the morning came and they proceeded to insult each other once more.

That sort of thing happens at pretty much every party they go to. They fight, they try to ignore each other, but they nearly always end up making up. And making out. And occasionally, more stuff happens. (But I really don't want to get into that.)

What makes the whole thing even more annoying is that they start bitching whenever somebody brings up one of these incidents. After Halloween, Liz asked Emma if she and Max were dating, and Emma immediately threw a hissy fit and told Liz that it wasn't any of her damn business, and she should keep her nose out of what Max ad Emma did together. (Which was particularly irritating since said Halloween party was at Liz's house.) I mean, I understand Emma getting annoyed at everybody bringing it up time after time, but come on, if she wanted privacy that much, surely she should keep what she and Max do, well... private?

Anyway, she can't hate Max as much as she claims to if she keeps snogging him at every party. Since, you know, she can't keep blaming it on drunkenness if she does it when she's sober as well.

Still, I guess everyone has friends who are crazy. And it's not just Emma and Max; the rest of the group have their oddities. All of them mad, most of them drowning in their own hypocrisy half the time.

Lucy, for example, is a contortionist. She really is freakishly bendy. Quite often, in conversation, she'll randomly hook her ankles up behind her neck. I've known her for about three years now, and it still surprises me when it happens. Strange really, you'd think I'd be used to it by now.

Jacob, who moved to the school three years ago, tells some of the most obscene jokes you will ever hear. Honestly, his mind is pure filth. He has the capacity to turn every conversation filthy. (Luckily, he doesn't always fill this capacity).

And yet he wrinkles his nose at comedians who tell lots of sex jokes.

Oh, and he likes books. He has a hell of a lot of books. Seriously, he has so many. He's had to move a load into his attic, and even that's overflowing. His house is like a mini-library.

Rachael is our local drama queen. Seriously, she will bitch at everything. She gets told off for not doing homework? She bitches about it. Argument with her boyfriend? She bitches about it. Somebody bitches about her? She bitches about it. I'm sure you're seeing a pattern here.

Just don't expect her to do anything about it.

Liz is the one who I've known the longest, and the one I get on best with. She is honestly like a sister to me. Sure, we have our fights - what sisters don't? - but deep down, I know it's her I can turn to if I need her. Sure, she's opinionated as well, but I know at least she won't laugh at my problems.

Adam is... to be honest, I don't really know that much about Adam. He's one of these quiet people. I've known him about six years, and I'm still not even close to understanding him. He's a mystery, and I think that's the way that he likes things.

And then there's me. As for me, well, I don't know how I fit in with these guys. I'm one of these very quiet people who just prefers to stay out of things and observe from the sidelines. I don't know, maybe I'm just too damn quiet for my own good. Maybe if I tried to join in with them a little more, I wouldn't be moaning about them so much. I mean, I have all this opinions about these guys, yet I never bring them up. Never voice them.

All I know that in some strange way, we're kind of like a family. A very dysfunctional one at best, but I think most families have their faults. But when needed, we do try to be there for each other, in some ways. And, whether it be by choice or just habit, we're still together as a group, even if it's just for one more year.

And, despite our faults, I'll be sad to see them gone.