When I was in the fifth grade, I had a best friend named Michelle Larsen. She and I did everything together: we played on the playground together, we went to each other’s houses on the weekends, and we talked on the phone constantly whenever our parents didn’t need the landlines. She was my first really close best friend, and I was grateful—I’d seen how lonely recess felt when Michelle was sick, and not having a best friend was like, totally uncool.
