This tale of two schoolboys is absolute friendship goals

Jack took Rani from Syria under his wing when he moved to the UK.
 By 
Rachel Thompson
 on 
This tale of two schoolboys is absolute friendship goals
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12-year-old Jack and Rani's journey to best-friendship is warming the UK's heart after the pair appeared on ITV's This Morning.

Rani is from Syria, and when he started high school in Salford, Greater Manchester, he didn't have any friends. Jack took him under his wing, and the two have since become best buds. Their story is told in a documentary entitled Educating Greater Manchester, filmed at their school.

"He was in the corner by himself so I thought, he needs a friend. So, I thought, as a person, I'd go up to him and ask him "how are you, where you from?"" Jack told presenters Eamonn and Ruth.

"He said Syria, and I took a step back because on TV you hear bad things about it and I said "come and join us, come join our group" and he did," Jack continues.

"I was alone, I was like, really sad because I don't have any friends. When Jack came up to me, I feel something in my heart," said Rani.

The two of them both love football, and sports in general, and they both enjoy "just having a chat" with one another.

They are pure BFF goals.

Rachel Thompson, sits wearing a dress with yellow florals and black background.
Rachel Thompson
Features Editor

Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.

A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.

Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.


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