Kindergarten Buddy

"It's her, it has to be," I said to anyone who would listen.

To my mother, "Ma, do you remember her?" My mother laughed.

"Of course I do. She was your best friend for an entire year of your life."

"Do you think it could be her?"

"I don't see why not."

To my brother, "I think I just found my friend from kindergarten." He shrugged. What did he care? Still in grade school himself. His friends were his friends from kindergarten.

I looked at the picture again. All these other kids were flashes in my memory. Possibly created my imagination. But not her. She was different. I remembered her.

I had to find out if I was right.

The next morning i stood in the gym for homeroom. She sat on the bleachers with some of her friends.

Things were so different now, being in a new school. Our class was made up of three schools worth of seventh graders. Maybe more. They gym was packed. I pulled the photo from my bag. From a folder deep inside.

Took a few deep breaths and walked over to the bleachers.

"Hi."

"Hi."

"Is this you?" I asked, shoving the picture in front of her. She studied it. Nodded. "I knew it. I knew it was you." We exchanged smiles. "Because that's me," I motioned, moved my hand to the opposite side of the montage of portrait shots.

She made room for me to sit with her. "Wow, that's you?" We laughed. We'd come a long way from pigtails.

She started looking at the rest of the kids. Pointed to a girl on the hardwood floor, and back to the photograph. "That's her." She introduced me to a few people. This continued for a while. Before long I had met about half my kindergarten class.

The bell rang. Our homeroom/gym teacher started yelling. We gathered our things and climbed carefully down. Still surprised. Still unsure. We walked to our next class together, somewhat awkward, and yet connected somehow.

And that's how I found my kindergarten buddy again.

** This week's memoir prompt for The Red Dress Club was to write about Kindergarten. I took a different spin on it and wrote about what Kindergarten brought into my life. My best friend who I have known since 7th grade (and K, before that) and is one of the most important people in my life. If you'd like to read a little bit more about her, check out this post about Best Friends! I hope you enjoyed. Constrictive criticism is always welcomed.**

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