By means of the school’s groundbreaking seating system known as “alphabetically by last name”, I was seated in front of Julianna Nerrissa Zhao in sixie year math, art, and even Middle School Math Team. Absolutely insane. We talk a lot about how we met because, well, who knows what the first impression was. I really think that I met the three sides of Julie.

Math class Julie: quiet and studious. She’s a math whiz that’s going places, meaning she works hard in class, but doesn’t pay attention to the worksheets being passed down our table row. For my impatient self, I had no idea who sat behind me, but I just wanted them to take the papers faster. Art class Julie: helpful and talented. Those who’ve been in my art class will know my skills are passable at best. I don’t know if anyone’s failed sixie art before, but without Julie, I might have been the first. She helped me with every assignment, explaining and showing me what to do. I very much liked art teacher Julie. Math Team Julie: loud and talkative. It was supposed to be a silent test. Math Team Julie was great.

At some point, I realized that these three people were all the same person, and that’s when I attached to her completely, especially after forming the Diabolo club. If you’ve ever seen giant plastic yo-yos flying on stage, it’s something the two of us scrambled to pull together the week (or day) before. Not because we didn’t plan, but because I had decided to switch the song and choreography right before the show. We are a great duo. I’m the planner, and Julie puts all of my ideas, thoughts, and Google Doc notes into action (I’m simply helping her hone her mind-reading powers). Clearly, the world fears our connection because we haven’t shared another class since sixie year.

Julie’s an amazing friend and has accomplished way too much in these past six years to describe, but I’ll list a few: Argo Editor-in-Chief, Class Valedictorian, Public Dec (and Prize Dec) speaker, most importantly, my best friend.

Finally, I would like to apologize for 1. Spelling your name as Juliana when you annoyed me and 2. For exposing your middle name. But also, sorry not sorry, I’ll annoy you in an hour!