My best friend in grammar school is still my best friend today. I have two ,but one got with a man about 10 years ago who doesn't allow us to be friends. Mary when I was 9 and Elaine when I was 11, Elaine and I still talk a couple times a week on the phone. We were visiting every few years but pandemic put a halt to that, then age has made trips shorter and closer to home.
My best friend in elementary school (and beyond) was Janelle. Her family lived next door and we did everything together; we are about 8 months apart in age. In high school we spent most weekend nights together at my house or hers, discussing boys and other important events. ♫ "Her heart is true, she's a pal and confidant." ♫ We still keep in touch though she moved away after finishing nursing school and getting married. Now we are both grandmas but when we're together the years seem to fall away.
In first grade, a couple of us did something horrendous on the first day, punishable by death. I don't remember what it was. But when you are 6 and at school for the first time and an angry nun puts you back by the coat area while she attends to letting the rest of the class go, you know you did something unforgivable. We stood quietly, as we were told, shaking by the boots. We knew not what was our fate and we did not know each other. After an eternity, Dottie started to cry. I tried to console her but I could not say it would be all right, cuz I didn't know. But what I DID know was I would protect Dottie with all that was in my little 6 year old body, if it came to that. I was not a scrapper but I hated a bully. Well, we were sent home with notes, of how we'd transgressed, I'm sure. And Dottie and I were friends to the end, which has come to her.
My friends throughout elementary school were three first cousins. While I liked them all, perhaps equally, I'd say my cousin Calvin was my best friend because he lived across the fields (my dad's and my uncle's) from me, while my other cousins were on different roads. Calvin was born the day before me, so we often celebrated our birthdays together. We grew apart in high school as we weren't in any of the same classes, and I was on the staff at a Boy Scout camp during the summer. His parents moved to Arizona when he was a junior in high school. He enlisted in the Army without having graduated from high school and remained in Germany after his discharge. I haven't seen or heard from him since our sophomore year of high school. My cousin, Jerry, I saw when we were in Michigan last July.
I don't recall having a best friend in elementary school. There were so many of us in a big city school, that we all more or less gravitated to a variety of pals.