Ernest, a best friend, celebrated his 17th birthday a while ago.
When we were in first year, he was the first friend that I had in class. After lunch, he'd try to annoy me by sitting on my chair and refusing to leave, until the teacher enters and there I am standing up, chairless. He loved the look of desperation on my face.
The year after, some funny force made me greet him "Happy Birthday" every single day for almost a whole month. He'd giddily say thank you every single day. And whenever I'd bully him, he'd say I can't do bad stuff to him 'cause it's his bday. Oo nga naman.
And he cracks the corniest jokes and you'll laugh because, well, it's Ernest.
And we never talk about negative things, for us it's always about enjoying being a kid.
Now whenever I see Ernest in school, being one of the great guys running his org, going home real late, and hanging out with tons of girls, I see that Ernest has grown up. And become a chickboy. Ha. And he's still pretty corny like in the past. Sometimes I think about that young Ernest who'd get my seat all the time and I miss that, 'cause now we talk about mature stuff, like things in the real world. But I'm glad to see Ernest like this now, from the looks of the people around him, I'm pretty sure he's got a long way to go.
