Daniel once told Betty that, when he was a kid, his primary purpose in life was to make his sister laugh. Now Betty has inherited that purpose, too. Daniel always described Kimberly as an extraordinarily kind person, with a sensitive heart, strong convictions, and an abiding devotion to her family. Betty quickly learned how true this characterization was. The first time they met, Kimberly brought a bag of thoughtfully chosen gifts. She is the kind of person who remembers everyone's birthday and always sends well wishes, who checks in to see how you're coping with whatever stressor, who asks how your parents are, and who pairs it all with a well-curated meme. Daniel was always grateful to have grown up beneath the warmth of his big sister's affection, and Betty now feels equally lucky to call Kimberly a sister, too.

Anna Christina, Kelsey and Betty met in middle school gym class, hiding under the ping pong tables so they wouldn't have to exercise. They quickly formed an exclusive clique called "The Shibbyettes" (a la "Dude, Where's My Car?"), though others tried to pigeonhole them into the "Nerd Herd." Anna Christina moved away to Texas in eighth grade, but the trio's friendship has never wavered. And after graduating college, Betty and Anna Christina moved in together in San Diego, where they ate a lot of soon du bu and Betty often failed to clean the dog shit off the patio in a timely manner. Now Anna Christina is the shibbyest mom to the shibbyest toddler, and Betty is for sure the shibbyest aunt.

See also: Anna Christina, Shibbyettes. In middle school, they filmed skits for school wherein Kelsey played Oprah and Betty played Dr. Phil. In high school, Kelsey always gave Betty the crusts of her Pop Tarts. And for many years, whenever they would try on clothes at the mall, the dressing room attendants would ask Kelsey, standing about a foot taller than Betty, "Are you her mom?" It was a preposterous question, but even still, there was a kernel of truth underlying it, such is Kelsey's abiding maternal energy. Later, they both moved to Austin at the same time, where they swam in Lake Travis and Kelsey went on lots of Tinder dates until she met her now-husband. At Kelsey's wedding in Portland, video evidence will show that nobody blubbered harder than Betty.

Betty met Meredith working at quirky, chaotic, Montessori-adjacent school with a global history focus in Austin, Texas. Their days were filled with Diet Coke; snot; lessons on emotional intelligence; and medieval torture devices lovingly hand-crafted by seven-year-olds. Meredith and Betty quickly trauma-bonded in the trenches, and from this creative partnership sprung another collaboration: a zine printing press, where they married their feminist sensibilities with their love of writing and art and each other, and FedEx Office became their second home. They left Austin at the same time -- Meredith to the West Coast, Betty to the East -- and their friendship continues to grow and evolve, with Daniel and Meredith's now-husband (Will) becoming ensnared in a fiery bromance. She and Will have now embarked on a creative project of their own, due in April, so this next season of friendship is set to grow a little bigger and ever-deeper.

Stephanie and Betty were randomly assigned roommates freshman year of college. Betty was mortified at the thought of living with a stranger, but her parents encouraged her to try out the dorms — and what a blessing that turned out to be. "So, like, are you a virgin?" Betty asked Stephanie as soon as they began unpacking their belongings in their shared 12x18 room. And thus began a friendship for the ages. They soon became surrogate parents to a rodent living in their radiator, whom they named Calvin Jamal. Betty introduced Stephanie to Louisiana cuisine; Stephanie taught Betty how to use anti-chafing cream as a makeup primer. Together, they spent many an evening dancing to funk music and peeing their pants (from laughter, not a medical condition), and encouraging each other to write. After college, they both left Baton Rouge — Betty to the West Coast, Stephanie to the East — but remained close year after year. One year they met up in Asheville, and within 24 hours of arriving Betty came down with a virus. Stephanie brought her to the doctor, picked up her medicines, and laid in bed with her doing crosswords and eating Indian food. The surest sign of their enduring friendship is that (sneezing aside) they enjoyed every minute.

Legend has it that David and Daniel were placed into the same crib as infants and have been best friends ever since. Growing up, the pair shared a love of scary movies (which they watched at far too young of an age), one-on-one driveway basketball (of which Daniel never won a single game), and video games. The two were college roommates at the University of Maryland together, where they rushed two fraternities they never ended up joining, and despite David’s eventual relocation to London, the two have remained thick as thieves. Their friendship, inside jokes, and secret handshake are alive and kicking to this day.

It was politics that initially brought Tony and Daniel together — middle school politics, to be specific. The two both decided to run for class president for their eighth grade term. As part of their preparation for positions in student government, they both attended Maryland Leadership Workshop, a week-long summer camp at a local college. But let’s be serious — they were more interested in workshopping how to pick up girls than parliamentary procedure. It was at that camp that Tony encouraged Daniel to sing. Perhaps it was his plan all along to add a singer to the renowned T.S. Cubed. Daniel sang “Dream On” by Aerosmith (not including the really high notes, you know the ones) and it was enough to garner Daniel an audition. The two shared rhythm and lead guitar and Daniel sang along with Tim on drums and Lewis Kim on bass. They never quite won the talent show, but that’s probably only because their friend Steve, who prepared a rapping cameo with them, had gotten rip-roaring drunk backstage and ushered all of the high school seniors on stage, subsequently disqualifying them for creating a potentially catastrophic collapse of the auditorium stage.

Russell and Daniel’s friendship began in their early years of elementary school. Almost every Friday, from then until high school, Daniel would end up sleeping on the couch in Russell's basement. The two shared (and still share) a reverence for all things creative. They made countless home movies and songs, shared their drawings, and eventually bonded over a deep love of skateboarding. Russell and Daniel would spend countless afternoons and evenings until sunset learning new tricks, building ramps and obstacles of questionable structural integrity, falling down and getting back up. They still send each other skateboarding videos. And Russell, whose construction skills have come a long way (while Daniel’s have not) now shares them with his son Atlas.

Daniel met Tim in the sixth grade when he moved from San Diego to Daniel’s neighborhood. Daniel's mom encouraged him to ride his skateboard over to the new kid’s house and introduce himself. It wasn’t until about a year later, however, that they finally became real friends. Tim, and two others who all had the same first and last initials, were in a rock band together called T.S. Cubed. Then Daniel came along and ruined the name — but he did give them a vocalist. He didn’t really know how to sing, but he knew the clarinet wouldn’t give him an in. By the time eighth grade rolled around, The Dregs were born, and throughout the rest of middle and high school, Daniel and Tim shared an identity and a musical bond. They also began skateboarding with Russell, and spent countless hours jumping off loading docks and staircases. About 10 years after their final show as The Dregs, the pair formed a new group — just the two of them, called Airplane Man. They still make music and go on annual snowboarding trips together every winter.

Adam and Daniel have been friends since they shared a school bus from the same neighborhood to their elementary school. Adam, being a grade younger than Daniel and David, had to earn his stripes to break into the friend group. Through snowball fights in the winter, water gun battles in the summer, wrestling matches in the spring, and Halloween antics in the fall, he did indeed carve his place amongst the elder friend group. Adam and Daniel would jam, watch movies, play street hockey, have sleepovers, and go on snowboarding trips together. In college, Daniel flew out to see Adam at UC Boulder. They spent their days snowboarding through the Rocky Mountains, and spent the evenings at his frat house. Soon Adam was helping Tim and Daniel shoot music videos for their Airplane Man, and their collaboration and friendship continues to this day.