She goes to a different school.
No one had ever heard of her before I mentioned her. She’s not really a secret, I’ve told people about her, but it feels like she is to me. No one else that I know gets to share her wonderful presence with me. Being such an important person in my life that people only know a small fraction about, she feels like a secret.
The funny thing is that she hated me at first. We met through our sport. Horseback riding brought us together. We were at the same level and training together, and since we didn’t know each other, she saw me as a rival. She didn’t tell me until later in our friendship that she hated me because she felt threatened by me. That made me laugh.
Her mom, who is now like my second mom, forced her to talk to me. We were the only two our age, so it only made sense for us to be friends since we were training together. That was six years ago.
Everyone describes us as a package deal. Two peas in a pod. They’re not wrong. We do everything together, go everywhere together, and have grown as both people and equestrians from sixth grade to the present. We have remained rivals, but only because we compete against each other at every competition we go to.
At this point, she is practically family. She’s the only friend that I have where I don’t have to let my mom know she’s coming over. We spent so much time together over the summer that we practically lived together.
She is my best friend. But no one knows her. Even though I know it’s not true, sometimes it feels like I have her to myself. Having no common friends other than each other means that when we hang out, it’s just me and her against the world.
Don’t get me wrong, I love all of my other friends, but she and I have the deepest connection. It doesn’t matter how bad of an argument occurs or who wins the blue ribbon and who doesn’t; nothing can tear us apart. I literally don’t know what I would do without her.
We are best friends for eternity. I know this for a fact. Yes, I know people say this and then they ultimately end up not being friends, but this is a life-long friendship. We both know it. It’s one of those friendships that you don’t question and just know is going to last until death.
We have our differences. Some dramatic, some slight. But having a similar interest is what sparked our friendship and built the bond that we have today. Now, it is so much more than just seeing each other at the barn twice a week. It became five days a week. For hours a day.
Since we’ve known each other, we moved to another barn together. That was three years ago. About a month ago, I had to move back to the barn where we met because of my horse’s medical issues that could not be addressed properly at the barn we moved those years ago.
Of course, that didn’t stop us from seeing each other at the barn. She meets me at my barn a couple of times a week; her house is only two minutes away. I go visit her and her horse sometimes too, but it’s a bit of a longer drive than she has to come visit me and my horse. And, of course, we hang out whenever we can outside of the barn too.
No one besides my family gets a look into my friendship with her. She’s my soul mate in best friend form, but none of my other friends have the privilege of having her play a role in their lives.
Anja is my magnificent and somewhat secret best friend.
