How long have we been friends?

I was out today with Dominic and Mjelva. Sometime during our time out we met up with Mjelva's brother's friend for coffee cuz Mj had to pass something to her. So we were just talking aobut stuff when she asked, "So, how long have you been friends?"
That's when i realised - I don't really know.
That's a pretty difficult question.

See, with some people, it's simple. I've been friends with Ritika, Sheila, and Jennie ever since i started school at UWC which is about 4 and a half years ago. They were in my tutorgroup. I met Shobana in my French class in grade 9 and she was really helpful since ive only done french for 1 year and i sucked pretty bad. (i still do... :P) Then she was also in my geo class! and that made me very happy. in the 4 years of UWC geo and french, Shobana was my buddy :) I've been friends with Amy since she started at SFS in grade 8. I've been friends with Jas Min, Mae Bel, Meg and Azlin since i entered MGPS in primary 4 which makes that about 9 years plus. I've been friends with Doreen, Claudia, Justina and the other St Mary's girls since Primary 1.

But for other people... the time between knowing of each others existence and becoming friends is quite... whats the word... hazy?

Steph lee, michelle angela, esther, jasmin- (steph, michelle- is it because of math with mr bush?) (michelle- english :) )
I remember M2M when we went to michelle's house supposedly to come up with a dance routine :P and lana's farwell party, and the hotel sleepover after grade 10 formal. but i never really hung out with them at school... or did i? how long have i been friends with them?

Swati- i think we started being friends in grade 11 when she ended up in my french class and she's ritika's friend. i think. i remember i spent my grade 11 with the taiwanese girls under the tent and i dont remember being very close to swati...

The taiwanese and other chinese girls- well, they were in the taiwanese UN night thing. which is how i got to know them in the first place. and because of that i ended up spending my breaks and lunches with them. I stuck with them for the rest of IB. I don't even have any classes with them. a bit strange.

There's a whole bunch of people i'm unsure about. But going back to the first two:

I've known of Dominic's existence since Grade 10. I met him and had my first conversation to him sometime in Grade 11 when we ended up in the same geography and biology class. I guess we started being friends then. That makes about 2 and a half years...
Mjelva's been in my tutorgroup since Grade 9. During my 4 years at UWC the only class i had with him (apart from ttg) is TOK where he sits at the other end of class anyway. I don't remember ever speaking to him in grade 9-10. I had a brief conversation with Ritika about mjelva and I and she said i spoke to him sometime in grade 11 and that's when we started to be friends. Maybe so. But it had to be sometime late in grade 11 cuz he was quite a stranger in TOK class. (:

I guess in the end of the day it doesn't really matter how long we've been friends for(that applies to everyone). What matters most, is that right now, we're friends. And no matter what happens i trust i'll always have someone to turn to for comfort, help and advice.

That said, with the number of people we meet in the future and the many new friends we will make, i wonder how many of our old friendships will last?