“You were quiet and sweet,” she said in response to why we were talking now. I could see she wasn’t lying, but they were words I always heard so often describing me. As if they were descriptive words for everyone by default.

I became slightly flustered. Having lunch with a high school classmate, I had intended to prove for once that one can’t expect a friendship just because two people went to the same high school. In high school, she was part of the outgoing crowd, the water polo team, the in crowd. I was a loner, quiet, antisocial…and almost an outcast, but not quite.

But I had insisted that we meet in person after she added me on facebook and then emailed me asking whether we could exchange birthdays because she loved sending handmade cards (and her birthday was in 2 weeks and we both know that our birthdays are posted on the facebook profile). I needed to figure out this friendship then pretend that we were always friends.

And after lunch, I found myself warming up to her. Sometimes they say with time, you forgive. For me, I think I have forgiven, but it’s impossible to forgive when I haven’t forgotten.