[ WP ] An excerpt from the most cliché young adult novel

I never saw it. He never allowed it. 
 
 I suppose if I had tried harder – If I had been a better friend… 
 
 Hindsight is one of life ’ s greatest ironies. It paints the clearest and simplest truth only when it ceases to have any use. Like the cry for peace and morality emerging after a genocide of millions. 
 
 I remember when he was a kid. Shy. Weird. Awkward. Poisonous words to a young mind. I didn ’ t mind; he liked Dragon Ball Z and that was good enough for me. 
 
 Grade school was rough till he learnt how to make fart sounds with his armpit. The teachers were horrified, but the class laughed. He smiled, perhaps for the first time since I ’ d known him. He ’ d keep that smile on his face for years to come. I should have known. 
 
 We drifted away in middle school. I read books while he told jokes. He was effortlessly funny. It was his nature, his identity. Everything was a joke; everyone a walking punchline. 
 
 It was but a crust covering his inner core. 
 
 He used to talk to me, though we were no longer friends. He would be sober, serious – not like he was with everyone else. I took offense; I didn ’ t like to be treated differently. Turns out, neither did he. 
 
 Then came that day. Everyone was shocked. 
 
 “ He was always so cheerful! ” 
 
 Everyone thought they knew him. No one did but me; during those talks when he felt comfortable enough to drop the act. 
 
 I was his only friend and I never saw it.
