At 6, I Promised My Best Friend We’d Go to Prom Together—12 Years Later, Mom Set One Condition.

ETHAN AND I BECAME BEST FRIENDS BECAUSE WE BOTH HATED RAISINS

We were six years old.

Our first-grade teacher handed everybody those tiny red boxes of raisins during snack time.

I was trying to hide mine beneath a napkin when the boy beside me whispered:

“That’s smart.”

I looked over.

He was doing exactly the same thing.

“You hate raisins too?”

“They’re old grapes.”

I considered that.

Technically—

he had a point.

“Old grapes are disgusting,” Ethan said.

By lunch, we were best friends.

Dinosaurs made it permanent.

Ethan knew an absurd amount about them.

I liked drawing them.

Badly.