This is my Maya. We've known each other since I was about seven-years-old, and we've been best friends since sixth grade. We had a big fear that we were going to lose touch with each other when we went to high school (she goes to school in San Jose), but I still talk to her several times a week.

I don't want to bore you with details about our friendship that aren't very interesting to anyone besides us. However, I do want to say that if I were a cliche person, she's the friend who would fit the saying "my best friend is better than yours." I won't say that though, because I dislike stupid teenage sayings like that.

I could also go on to discuss how she's always there for me etc., but I think you get the gist of this.

This is Laurel. Laurel goes to Los Altos High with me. She's really good at math and science. I don't understand that. Some other interesting things about her: She rides horses a lot (See: photo), and will never turn down gnocchi pesto.

She, much like me, is a big Sharks fan (though she can be a bit of a wet blanket about it sometimes), and is easily embarrassed by me when I sit with her. I don't mind too much, I cheer enough for the both of us.

This is Hannah. She also likes to ride horses. I seem to have a trend going with friends who ride. Hannah also goes to Los Altos High with me. Some details about her: She has a horse named Z, who is quite adorable (pictured), she likes peanut butter sandwiches, and she goes to the movies a lot.

She and Laurel have both become the thing that has made high school bearable for me. For the first year and a half of my high school career, I was practically miserable. When I started spending more time with them last year, high school started looking up for me. I'm not sure if they know that, but after reading this, I guess the cat's out of the bag on that one.

Juliet (affectionately known as Jules) is a freshman at Paly this year. I know her from many years of fun and ice skating together. What I love about my friendship with Jules is that our age difference doesn't matter. She's one of the funniest people I know, and it's really handy that she watches all the same shows that I do, so I can discuss them with her. Though I wanted to tell a story about how we broke a life preserver in our Gilligan's Island number a couple years back, I realized after writing it out that it really didn't sound as funny on paper (or screen). Anyways, Juliet is pretty cool, and definitely makes skating a lot more fun.