“There has to be something wrong with her.” I could hear my mother speak from the living room; her hushed voice proved to me that she did not want me listening in to her conversation. I could hear a huge sigh from my father and an equally huge sigh from my mother. I knew what they were talking about; they’ve had conversations like this before so it was to be expected. I went to therapy every Friday after school I would get the same looks from my parents every night at the dinner table and even when eating breakfast in the morning.

There was nothing wrong with me, I swear.

I just had the best imaginary friend in the world and he meant the world to me.

I pulled away from the door to my bedroom and looked over at him; he shrugged like he usually did and sat on my bed as if nothing was wrong. They couldn’t see him, only I could see him. He had short light brown hair, brown eyes to match and the cutest smile you’d ever see. He always wore something different; today he wore a plain red t-shirt with some jeans. He was always smiling when I was around and he always knew how to cheer me up and how to make my day.

He was my best friend; my only friend.

His name? He introduced himself the day I met him back in second grade, he was in second grade as well because he is always the same age as me. Lee Sandeul was what he wanted me to call him, his real name he revealed later was Jung Hwan, but he insisted that I called him Sandeul no matter what. We came up with a birthday for him, March 20^th and even gave him a background. We spent all day wondering about his career or what he wanted to be when he grew up, in conclusion after hearing him sing along with me one day we decided that he was a singer in a band, the main singer to be precise.

How old are we now? I’m in the fifth grade and so is he, but he doesn’t go to school so instead I teach him what I learned at school so he’ll learn right beside me. He never wanted to go to school, always insisting that there were too many people or not an empty spot next to me in my classes.

Not like it mattered since he was just an imaginary friend.

But sometimes I forget that, actually all the time I forget that. There have been multiple times where I’d try to introduce him to one of my friends, let’s just say they never stayed my friend after that. But don’t be sad I have the best person ever as my best friend, I don’t need anyone else.

“Want to play a game with me?” He asked sweetly, nudging me slightly and pulling me to my TV to play one of my many games. I don’t see how they can’t see him, he plays alongside me all the time but they insist that I’m still only playing a one-player game. Maybe they’re the crazy ones, not me.

Life couldn’t get any better than this…

“We’ve decided as a family that the best thing to do is move.” My mom explained clapping her hands together as if she was the happiest person in the world.

“Why move?” I asked politely, looking up at her from the kitchen table. Sandeul sat beside me like always and watched the scene without saying a word.

“Because you need a chance to meet new people and your father asked for a transfer for his work so we can move to a whole new state.” She replied. I glanced at Sandeul with a worried expression before looking back at her. “You’ve never had a single friend May, why not use this chance to make some friends. You’re old enough to know imaginary friends don’t count, right?”

I remained silent for a moment or two looking at my food absentmindedly.

“Right?” She repeated as if almost begging for an answer.

I looked at Sandeul with a worried expression and he looked back with the same look. What was I going to say to her? I couldn’t possibly say that Sandeul didn’t exist when he was sitting right beside me. It wasn’t my fault that they couldn’t see him.

Taking my silence as a bad answer she sighed and seemed a lot more depressed. “Look this is your chance to finally make some real friends; I never want to hear about this Sandeul guy again.” She then walked right out of the kitchen and ended the conversation there.

“Real friends?” I asked Sandeul, he shrugged in response. “But I like it here, don’t you?”

“Of course!” Sandeul agreed with a nod and took a handful of my food from my plate and ate it in one bite. He had a rule about not eating when other people were around and I knew he wanted some from the beginning.

“We’re moving and that’s final!” My mother shouted from the living room hearing what I had just said. I shrugged and sighed.

“Guess it’s time to start packing my bags…”

When I entered my bedroom Sandeul instantly sat down on my bed and looked around the room as if he were remembering everything about it and missing it already.

“I’ve never moved before.” He muttered absently, looking around the room one last time and then looking at me. “You think I can?”

“I hope you can, if you’re not with me I think I’d go insane.” I answered sitting beside him and grabbing ahold of his hand. “You’re my best friend Sandeul, without you life wouldn’t be the same.” He was real to me, he was everything to me. A friend, a sibling, a crush, he was life and without him I wouldn’t be who I am today.

“I’ve always been in this town, I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t in this town, I don’t want to leave and I don’t want you to leave.” Sandeul responded holding my hand tightly, tears were forming in his eyes and his voice became more rigid and weak.

It took a total of two weeks before the entire house was packed and ready to go. Sandeul stood beside me as I stared at our now empty house and held onto my hand for support. I had to grow up, I was going to have to grow up. I’m seventeen years old now! But if growing up meant forgetting about Sandeul then I’d rather be a kid forever.

“I have a feeling you can’t come.” I spoke softly making sure my parents couldn’t hear a word I was saying. “I’m going to have to leave you now.” Tears were streaming from my eyes now and I started to hiccup from the lack of breath.

“I’ll never forget you, May.” Sandeul responded with equal sadness in his voice, I dared not look at his face or else I might cry even harder.

“You will always be my best friend.” I hiccupped and continued to cry.

“Please don’t cry, May.” Sandeul whispered softly turning to face me and wiping the tears from my eyes. Just seeing his sad face made me want to cry harder. “Always be happy, always be yourself and I have a feeling we’ll meet again.” He smiled sweetly, held my hand and kissed me softly on the lips. “Grow up to be an amazing girl.”

And just like that he disappeared from my eyes.

It was time to grow up.

 The drive itself took weeks to cross the entirety of the United States, from Florida to California. Quite a move, right?

I cried for the first few days, but by the time I was looking at our new house my sadness melted away and I instantly ran into the house to find my room. The house was a sky blue color and two stories high! It had one bathroom upstairs and one downstairs. The master bedroom was downstairs and my room along with another empty bed room were upstairs. The kitchen was huge compared to our old one and we actually had a dining room!

After claiming my room upstairs it was time to start the dreaded unpacking. I tried to mimic my room from the old house but it didn’t quite look right so I ended up rearranging everything in the room to fit a new style. I was seventeen so it was about time I acted my age. My parents seemed so proud of my decisions, but they didn’t realize the reason why I was so happy was because Sandeul wanted me to be and wanted me to grow up to be an amazing girl and I was going to prove him right!

I’ll make tons of new friends, have a good time for the rest of my high school and the best part is I’m the new girl so they’ll know nothing about me! And how can I miss my old friends from Florida if I never had any, but deep in my heart I knew I will always miss Sandeul.

Instead of enrolling me in High School during the first week of school my parents decided to tour around the state for the week and enrolled me as a new student after we finished having fun as a family and for once it was fun and not irritating like it was in the past.

Now I was officially the new student and it was time to make the best first impression in the world!

Dressed up in my school uniform, which was a red and black plaid skirt and a nice white button up top, it was time to blow away the rest of my class.

That is until I accidently bumped into someone when walking into my class making all my books and papers fly everywhere and embarrass me in front of my entire first period class.

“I’m so sorry!” I exclaimed and quickly picked up my things without looking at the person whom I had bumped into.

“No no it’s okay, it was my fault.” A familiar voice rang through my ears and I instantly looked up at the boy whom I had just bumped into.

“Sandeul?”