I sit down with Gwen Albert and Amber Richard in the English wing hallway. There’s a moment of silence between the three of us before I turn to Gwen and ask, “So what was your first impression of Amber?”

            Without missing a beat, Gwen answers, “I thought she was weird.” She goes on to say that in Freshman year they shared an English class with Mr. Ruland. “Though we just never talked,” she says.

For a moment I wonder how they could become friends if they didn’t talk much. Looking at them now, they seem like great friends. They’re happy together, and foil each other in personality. The only way they could be better friends is if they finished each other’s sentences. I turn to Amber and ask what her first impression of Gwen was.

Laughing, Amber says, “She’s one of the shortest people I’ve ever met.” Somewhere in describing her stature, she throws in the word ‘Hobbit.’ “She always wanted to sit with Thora [Fink] and Shannon [Sands in Mr. Ruland’s class,] so she’d grab a desk and move it to sit with them. I always wondered who this short person was, dragging a desk across the room every day.”

“Then how did you become friends?” I ask. It turns out they met via a mutual friend, a senior named Maddie Scott. Eventually they got to know each other, and Gwen is quick to point out that, “Amber threw pens at me since it was funny when I flinched. She basically bullied me and we became friends.” Laughing, they both agree that was how it happened.

“Gwen would come over and play video games,” Amber says, “She once came over and played Grand Theft Auto IV.” Gwen played first and drove according to the law, stop signs, red lights and everything. She later accidentally runs a person over, freaks out and calls the cops on herself. However, since you’re not allowed to do that in the game, the cops just drive by, so Gwen drives off a bridge.

Both of them take a moment to collect themselves after recounting this event, and mention the girlfriend in GTA IV, Michelle, and how Gwen drove off a bridge, got out of the car, and left the girlfriend to drown. On another “date” she tried to kiss the girlfriend and wound up punching her.

The two take some time to think of other events they’ve had. Breaking the silence, Amber says, “She brought me flowers for homecoming. Fake flowers.” Amber goes on to say that she still has them somewhere.

To contrast Gwen’s playing of GTA IV, Gwen recounts that “Amber runs over everything. And in another game, Bioshock, she finds a glitch in which she punches a doorman and creates an explosion. Her reaction? To repeatedly punch him.

Amber says, “I fangirl over this voice actor and Gwen has to deal with it every day.” The two laugh at that, and Gwen agrees. It seems as though neither has a problem with that. Truly the mark of a great friendship.

After a moment of silence, Gwen mentions “I had a dream once that the apocalypse was coming. All of my friends were going to leave except Amber. She’s like ‘We all die anyway. I wanna die here with my games.”

Amber added, “That’s something I would do, too.”

They go on to mention how, “Amber’s Dad is a Dad.” In short, her dad is the stereotypical dad. Suspenders, being a mechanic and all. Gwen mentions how they bond over Amber’s Dad Dad.

To conclude the interview, Gwen says she’s making Amber a pillowcase for Christmas. The pattern? Christmastime male strippers.

The two have had a remarkable friendship at Pentucket. They even mentioned how they sit in the same spot in the lobby before school every day, which they’ve been doing for three years.

Gwen Albert and Amber Richard have a true friendship. They get along well, and if you’ve got someone making you a pillowcase featuring Christmastime male strippers, what more could you really ask from a friend.