Michelle and Ella

Michelle, Ella and I were silently sitting at the table, and as they reflect on what I experienced as a young girl, I looked back at how these two women transformed me and became my lifelong confidants.

Michelle is 21, a rich, young Filipina-American lady who grew up in an affluent neighborhood close to my unit. She is considered to be a tough-as-nails, physically imposing woman, at a tall 6 feet 2 inches. Michelle has been my classmate since first grade, but at first I felt hesitant to befriend her.

Then one day, when I was taunted by one of the bullies in school, Michelle suddenly stepped in and resolutely defended me. She talked eagerly like a local thug but never acted as one.

"Why do you cruelly treat such a defenseless lady?" Michelle shouted furiously. "If you have any personal business with her, deal with me first!"

He then grinned by saying "Bring it on. I'm not afraid of you,"only to hear Michelle scream, "See you at the principal's office, if you dare."

In the end the bully retreated. Michelle resolutely turned to me and said, "Don't worry, I'll be here for you no matter what. I'll constantly have your back."

From that point on, we were intimately acquainted and became lifelong friends and study buddies.

Michelle joined the basketball team in fourth grade and became the team's leading scorer. She played power forward and showed exceptional athleticism and court sense for a girl her size. Unfortunately, her longstanding commitment to the school basketball squad forced her to skip classes on a few occasions, and I became an easy prey for bullies when she was not around.

In one notable instance, a bully taunted me and said, "Where is your buddy now? You're helpless without Michelle."

His buddies joined in and shouted some derogatory words, even going as far as poking me in the eyes. That is where my other classmate Ella came into the picture.

Ella, now 22 and a fellow Chinese-Filipina, was a transferee from a school in the provinces and possesses short, black hair and a pearly white complexion. She can be boastful at times but other that, she displayed a cheerful and brave disposition.

Like Michelle, Ella is unafraid to step in against the bad guys. She once advised me that "If they came and harmed you, I'll be here to help."

And she did, oftentimes daring my enemies to confront her or be summoned to the principal.

I promptly introduced Ella to Michelle during a visit to her basketball practice, and the two girls immediately clicked. Michelle and Ella shared similar traits: they are both strong, fearless and lovely ladies who can stand up to anyone.

But unlike Michelle, Ella became interested in dancing, having enrolled in the school's ballet club shortly after her arrival. For Ella, joining the ballet club was not an easy choice; Ella naturally wanted to enter the hip-hop club since she appeared to be a tomboyish person. Sadly, there was no such club in school, so she reluctantly joined the ballet club to remain interested in dancing.

As it turned out, Ella excelled as a ballerina, immediately learning how to tiptoe and perform a 360 in midair. Deep down, however, she still intended to join a hip-hop dance group one day, but with the way she was thriving, it appears as though she provided an appropriate outlet for her skills.

After all, not every ballerina is meant to be nice and pretty.

"As long as you have the abilities and the youthful bravado to be a ballerina, it will not hinder you," Ella assured me years ago.

Michelle and Ella's busy schedules have at times affected their studies. But they are grateful to have me as a study buddy because they always get catching up to the missed lectures and exams whenever possible. This is what I undoubtedly owe them for standing up to me in times of trouble.

We all graduated together in both elementary and high school, and Michelle and Ella even shed tears of joy when I finished valedictorian and summa cum laude respectively. They also received special awards for their loyal service to the basketball and ballet group respectively.

When it came time for college, all three of us took entrance tests together and chose the same degree which is mass communications. Luckily all of us passed and are once again in the same school, except that we only see each other occasionally because of our hectic schedules.

Michelle again joined the varsity basketball team in college and was declared the MVP in her second and fourth years. She even led the team to two league championships.

After six years with the ballet group, Ella finally found a hip-hop and street dance group in our college and immediately signed up to join. Her group has since won three medals (one gold, two silvers) in the world street dance championships.

As for me, I joined the college newspaper to hone my journalistic skills. At long last, I finally found the time to make good use of my writing abilities.

As we sat down looking back at our accomplishments, I wasted no time looking keenly towards the future.

"We're not yet finished," I exclaimed joyfully to Michelle and Ella. "We still have many work to do. One more year remains before we can say 'excelsior'."

They immediately nodded in approval, after which Michelle proclaimed, "We can do these guys."

And so we placed our hands together at the center of the table, raised them high up the air and waved left and right, knowing it could be our last year as a group.