Since the beginning: NHS student shares award-winning essay about friendship

Northport High School (NHS) tenth grader Addisen Nock recently won first place in the Huntington Youth Writes contest for her essay “It’s Just Us.” The memoir-style piece of writing reflects her more than decade-long friendship with fellow high school student Lucia Saviano.

“It’s essentially about how friendship will last no matter what,” she said, adding that she was surprised at the Youth Writes recognition and that participating in the contest helped her realize that others could appreciate her writing.

“It was really poetic, and [Addisen] worked really hard on it,” said NHS teacher Allison Coulson. “She revised it multiple times and she really wanted to get it right, not only becauseof the competition but she really wanted to do service to that friendship.”

“It’s Just Us” is shared below with Nock’s permission.

A gust of wind that blows through your life. If you don't pay attention, you might miss it. In the end, all that’s left are the shattered pieces of what was and what could have been. Staring at the shiny pieces seeing your slightly broken reflection blinking back up at you. I’m still all here, yet something is missing. You would never expect something so small could change the path of your life so drastically. But it does. The way you were before will never again be the way you are now. But then she was there. She picked up my pieces and burned them together again. Into something beautiful. 

Ever since I was young, it was always her. She is my other half. Since day one we clicked. 

I'm not good with memories. When someone asks me what my happiest memory was or asks about who I really am or what I’m like, I blank. My mind goes empty. Like I've never really lived a day. Me and her? Why are we friends? I don't really know. But we are. I guess it started all those years ago. Back in Kindergarten, on that very first day. She was there, and so was I and the rest is a mushy blur. A hand reached out and hearts were forever changed. “Do you want to be my friend?” After that day we stuck together. We completed each other. 

Time leads to change. Change pulls people apart. She faded. Neither of us saw it coming, nor really noticed the emptiness of the other missing. We got older and the world I had thought I’d known so well seemed so different. As if I was looking through a kaleidoscope. The colors and sharp-cut glass turning and changing my view. Every time I look, it's different.

Then there was him. He lit me up, like a candle waiting to be relit. The cold wax that once burned bright was ready to be sparked. Inseparable. He understood and felt with me. The dark shadow of real life loomed around like a cloud, but with him there, the sun could still break through. Every night I talked to him. We laughed and lived. He became my window. What I thought I needed to see the world in full. When the world seemed dark on the other side of the shiny glass, his light shined and pushed the clouds away. Best friends. ‘Best friends.’

3:19. The bell blared. Always the same, every day. Kids flooded out of the building as usual. Like a pattern I never wanted to break. 5 minutes would pass then I would receive the text.  And the conversation began. “How was your day, 1-10?” Every day it was the same. “1-10.” What may seem like such a basic question ‘how was your day’ would spark the joy and laughter of our talks. It was the same every day yet the conversations never grew dull. 

People come in and out of your life. But, not really. They are always there, they just aren't present to you. And they never really ‘leave.’ They are still there and so are you. Your worlds just separate.

July 29th. The world was shifting under my feet and I didn't even notice it was happening. Things were changing. Looking out the window I thought I knew, but everything seemed different. The steady image I had known was distorted and out of place. The colors and glass continued to turn. If only I had known. If only I had taken a moment to stop and think. But the past is what makes us who we are in the present. The wind outside seemed to blow harder. July 29th, he was gone.

There I was again. But not the same as before. Not empty, just different. People like him, they enter your life and become important within the blink of an eye. He was always there. Separate from my world but still there. I never really knew him. And then I did. And now I don't.

People are like fireworks, exploding into the sky. The bright colors filling the night. But disappearing again into dusk. Just as quickly as it had come to be, it was all gone again.

Pieces left broken off and missing. The world was dark and confusing. Without a guiding light, you have nothing. You're still the same person you were in the beginning, yet as the seasons pass you change and shift.

Not lost, just hidden. The difference between lost and hidden is that lost is gone. Never to be seen again. Forgotten. Hidden, is still there. Just not visibly present to the eye. It was always there all along. Just tucked away waiting for you. Waiting for you to stumble across it again. 

A hand reached out again. And the rest is a mushy blur. But there she was. She was always there. Others fade in and out and are gone without a trace. But her? She's in it for the long run.

My favorite memory of us? I don't know... One of them? That is the thing with us. Maybe I don't have a favorite memory. Every time I see her it's just as amazing as any other. It doesn't matter where we are, what we’re doing, or who we’re with. When we’re together nothing else matters.

She was my window. All along. She was always right there. It was as if the curtain had been opened and the blinding sun was able to shine through again. The feeling of freedom danced through the air whenever she was around. Our laughter echoed around us. The sound of an unbreakable bond. 2 best friends. She is my light in the dark. With her there, everything made sense again. With her there, I am whole.

Hearts connected since the beginning.