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“Do you think he’s our age?” the older girl said.

“No,” the younger girl responded. “He looks like he’s a sophomore.”

After seeing the ‘Justin Beiber haired’ boy and his friends, the older one laughed. ‘Oh yeah, ew. Never mind.’

It was a rainy Tuesday and STA students Samantha Scheuler and Jordan Berardi sat in Panera eating lunch. Eating soup and talking about their life, the two could have seemed just as close as the other groups of friends sitting throughout the restaurant. But the one thing that made this pair different from the rest was one was a senior and the other was a freshman.

Flashback eight months and this friendship was just beginning. According to Scheuler, the two met through varsity volleyball when Berardi managed the team and Scheuler played.

“I think it was Sam’s outgoingness that originally got their friendship started,” junior Kathleen Vogel and varsity volleyball teammate said. ‘Sam would start the conversations and over time Jordan got more comfortable talking to her.”

Both Berardi and Scheuler had their own first opinions upon first meeting.

“At first I was scared of Sam because she was a senior,” Berardi said. “Obviously, I’m not scared of her anymore. I can tell her anything. I trust her.”

According to Scheuler, she first thought Berardi was a freshman that she could take under her wing and give advice to.

“But no [I’ve learned] she’s mouthy,’ Scheuler said. ‘She gives me advice and tells me I’m crazy.”

This friendship eventually progressed from the volleyball locker room to the front office of M&A where Berardi’s mom, Julia Berardi, works as an administrative assistant.

They soon started going on weekly lunch dates. According to Berardi, the two left campus to get food almost every Tuesday during first semester. During second semester, Scheuler’s schedule became busier, so the two started going whenever they could find time.

“We’ll spend ten minutes, at least, figuring out where to go,” Berardi said. ‘We order, sit down, and talk for 45 minutes about whatever comes to mind.”

Senior Cele Fryer would sometimes accompany the girls to lunch.

“It was always so much fun,” Fryer said. ‘We talked about what’s going on, what classes were hard lately, just your typical high school stuff. We definitely spent a lot of time laughing.”

Besides going out to lunch, the two find different ways to hang out.

“If we see each other walking, we’ll say hi or hug,’ Berardi said. ‘During frees, we’ll sit there and talk or do homework.’

Moodle, STA’s website for homework and messaging, helps with communication between the two.

“We Moodle message each other constantly,’ Scheuler said. ‘We also text and we’ll text each other like ‘ËœWhy didn’t you respond to my Moodle?”

The pair also spends time together outside of school. According to the girls, Berardi helped Scheuler ask her date to prom. She also attended Scheuler’s pre-prom, where seniors took pictures before the dance.

“Pre-prom was glorious,’ Berardi said. ‘I got to stare at Sammie’s date for the whole minute they were on stage. Don’t get me wrong, she was gorgeous. But her date was just so ‘¦ you know.”

According to Vogel, with graduation approaching, Berardi gets teary eyed talking about Sam leaving. Both Fryer and Vogel believe graduation will not affect this friendship.

‘[They] just have this relationship where they [won’t] talk for a week but then they come back and it’s as if nothing’s changed,’ Fryer said. ‘It’s a friendship that will remain forever.’