Relationships — Unit 3, Pre-intermediate to Intermediate English

My best friend Nina and I have known each other since secondary school, when we sat together in maths and walked home past the same bakery every afternoon. We **get on well** because we share the same sense of humour, but we also **fall out** occasionally when we are both stressed about exams or too tired to be patient with each other.

Last month we had a small argument about a boy in our class, and for two days we did not speak or sit together at lunch, which felt strange because we usually share everything. I felt **guilty** because I knew she was only trying to help me. When I apologised, we **made up** immediately and promised to be more **honest** with each other. True friendship, I think, means you can disagree, say sorry, and still **trust** one another when life gets difficult.

What surprised me about that argument was how quickly two days of silence started to feel permanent. Neither of us wanted to be the first to speak. In the end it was Nina's mother who solved it: she rang me and said, "She is miserable, you are miserable, and I would like my kitchen back."

We are very different people, which is probably why the **friendship** works. Nina is loud and decides everything in ten seconds. I think about a decision for a week and then change my mind. She is the one who **makes friends** with everybody at a party while I stand near the food. But she is also the person I **rely on** completely. When my grandfather died last year, she came to the house every evening for a fortnight and mostly said nothing at all, which was exactly right.

Next September we are going to different universities, four hours apart. Everybody warns us that we will slowly **lose touch**, and I know that happens: my mother has an **old friend** she has not seen for eleven years, although she still talks about her.

We have made a plan. We will **keep in touch** by video call every Sunday evening, and we will **get together** at least once a month, in her city or mine. Nina says that is far too organised and that we will do it anyway without a rule.

Maybe she is right. But I would rather have the rule and not need it than need it and not have it.