After spending every day for almost four years around predominantly fellow Royals, 99% of my friend group could be classified as Rosary students. But then… there’s that 1%. When it comes to brunches, dances, and get-togethers, Andres Urrea ’23 makes up that 1%. I met Andres around the same time I got to know Morgan Brkich ’23, which was during the 2021-2022 Red and Gold season. We became close throughout the period leading up to the performances until that fateful week came and we spent quite a bit of time at Servite. Consequently, Morgan introduced me to her boyfriend, Andres, and the rest was history.

Andres quickly fit in with our friend group with a similar sense of humor built on sarcasm and obscure media references, so we decided to invite him to our annual brunch following the PSAT. At first, we were concerned that he might feel out of place as the only Friar in the Rosary-filled brunch, but he quickly dashed our anxieties with his good-natured reception of our teasing and being unafraid to tease right back. Morgan never doubted that we’d all become friends: “Our group and him are literally the same. He would talk to me about things our group had talked about during lunch, so I knew everyone would get along.”

We were delighted and hopeful for our future as a group: perhaps the introduction of a Friar into our small brunch group would mean more diverse friend-making habits for the rest of the year! That hope was in vain, however, because Andres remains the only boy in our brunch circle as we continue with our last semester of high school.

Nevertheless, his uniqueness in our group makes us all the more grateful for his presence, though his entrance into our group continues to confound us all. Chloe McNamara ’23 and Andres love to bicker back and forth and to an outsider, they might appear to be at odds; however, it’s all in good humor, though Chloe does find their relationship to be unexpected: “I was surprised to find a friend in Andres because I feel that it’s not that common for girls to like their friends’ boyfriends. But Andres turned out to be a really nice guy, just don’t tell him I said that.”

As for Andres’ feelings on being the only Friar in our group, Andres that he “doesn’t really mind it at all.” He continued, “Throughout middle school, a big part of my friend group was mostly women, so it wasn’t really all that new to me.”

He quickly found a place in our group, much to our delight. Senior Charlotte Jordan‘s favorite memory of Andres’ presence was our group’s experience at homecoming: “He caught onto our jokes pretty quickly and matched the ‘girly-pop’ energy well, so there were many giggles that night.”

Though Andres fits right in with our group, I asked him if we were very different from his friends at Servite. He said his only change in demeanor is “making an effort to treat everyone with the utmost kindness and respect” because feels like he’s “known us all forever.” As for our differences compared to his fellow Friars, he had a favorite characteristic of ours to share: “I think my favorite part about being around you guys is the constant bursts of energy you guys get for no reason whatsoever. And of course, hearing the drama occasionally piques my interest. Taking part in those discussions is always a fun time.”

Our friend group is extremely grateful for Andres’ good humor as the lone Friar and looks forward to our future brunches where there will hopefully be more dishes than just the food we’re eating!