The happiest moments of life can only be described with the words of true freindship. I never knew what that really was until I smiled and settled back in life, not knowing what is ahead, but expecting the journey to be worth while. 

The regular cafeteria buzz of a middle school surrounds me. Kids of all ages walk past me with their friends, talking about their own lives and their own worries. The smell of processed meat and applesauce fills the air. I have been staring down at my crossed legs, bored with nothing to do, and I look up to see a boy my age sitting across from me.
His hair is gelled down so it's flat, and he's wearing a blue shirt with an Avengers logo on it. The cargo shorts he is wearing reach just past his knees, and by the looks of it he hasn't slept well.
"Hey Eric," I say. "How you doing?"
"Okay," he responds. "Do you know if Declan is here today?"
"No, he got dismissed."
"Oh," Eric says. "Well, I guess it's just me and you for lunch today."
"Yep," I say with a sigh,"I guess so. You want to play truth or dare?"
"Yea, why not," he responds. Truth or Dare is one of the many games Eric and I play at lunch. The challenges reach from telling the lunch lady she smells bad to sitting with a group of high schoolers who have no idea who we are.
"So truth or dare?" I ask my friend.
"Truth"
"Alright." I think for a moment, trying to come up with the best question possible. "Um, what was your first impression of me when we first met?"
The question must have hit him by surprise, because his face stops at a confused squint, almost as if he was try to decipher codes that reveal terrorist bombing locations. In a split second I thought about how many terrible answers that could come out of this boy's mouth. Things like, “I thought you smelled like two rotting tomatoes that were deep fried in pickle juice,” ran through my mind, and looking back on it at this point in time, I realize that Eric was too true of a friend to say something like that, even if it was true. But in the moment, that fear arose from me, but I didn’t want to let it show.
"At first I wasn't sure," he responds, "but I soon learned that you were one of the most intelligent, generous people I had ever met. And I am lucky to be your friend."
I sit in my slouched position, thinking about what my friend had said. Suddenly, I feel the world hit a pause. I blink, and get the strangest emotion come over me. I have never experienced something like this before, and I don’t know why I feel it then because that moment wasn’t anything spectacular. Nevertheless, I straightened my back, paused, and gave the biggest smile of true friendship the world has ever seen.
I can’t describe what true friendship feels like, because it’s too hard to explain. I just hope that everybody can at least experience it once, because that is what life is worth living for.