I'm extremely shy and introverted and have trouble making friends. The only friends I made were back in middle school and high school.
Best Friend: Matt - Lived across the street from me in middle school and high school. Stood up for me when some bullies were picking on me, having just moved to town and being the "new kid". After that, we would do everything together, play games, share written stories and confide in personal secrets. Sadly, Matt died a few years ago. His dream was to be a Marine, and he was a sniper in Afghanistan, where we was killed by an IED.
Wisecracking Friend: Sarah - Met her in summer school where we worked on a few class projects and developed a shared sense of humor. She helped me develop the confidence to use my own sense of humor, instead of recycling funny quips from TV shows in real conversation. She also was from a more down-to-earth background, so she wasn't as high and mighty as most of the other kids from rich families in the neighborhood. In senior year, though, she was hit by a drunk driver and killed while driving from the grocery store.
The Popular Friend: Jessie - She was one of the most popular kids in high school, able to move between the cliques and social ladder rungs. She was also valedictorian and even was a frequent interviewee on local news stories in our town. Despite being so busy, she always welcomed me when I tried to make my way into the circles of high school. I doubt I would have ever seen myself as a fellow student if it hadn't been for her welcoming attitude. In her freshman year of college, she had some fish that might have been tainted with peanut oil, and she was found dead the next morning.
Crazy Friend: Jon - We met in the Japanese Anime Club in high school and we shared a similar wacky off-the-wall sense of humor. Despite being from different political persuasions, we didn't let that affect our friendship at all and we would often debate about things while remaining respectful and civil. More than once, we took a few trips up to the lake with his family and would get up really early to go waterskiing on the lake, followed by a big breakfast. We're still in touch to this day, with him writing and drawing a small comic series and me editing and proofing it, even with us living a long distance from each other.