As my time in high school comes to a close, I find that I am incredibly grateful for making it to the other side unscathed. Today, I learned that a friend I’ve known for the last few years was expelled from my school for selling laced carts to other students which caused them to end up in the hospital. No charges were pressed, or so I’ve heard, but it remains unclear if anything is on his permanent record considering that he is 18. This friend, who we’ll call Jack for the sake of the story, is actually really intelligent and has a lot of potential in my opinion. I'd like to think that his transgressions haven’t cost him his future… Perhaps I’ll never know. But now at least I can finally write about him… before I couldn’t. You see, in my head, Jack is my competition. We’re both smart, cunning, intelligent, well mannered, attractive, incredibly social, and well-liked. Ofcouse, being the two most outgoing guys in our grade level, we were bound to become friends, it was inevitable. We weren’t close, but I found that we did share moments when we confided some of our darkest secrets to one another. Jack was always incredibly open with me and I tried eagerly to mirror that behavior. There were some things I simply couldn’t admit to Jack that I wanted him to know, so I allowed him to look through my journals whenever he asked, it was my way of being open with him.
I really liked Jack. There are words I forbade myself from ever writing near his name that also come to mind, but I won’t be admitting them to you tonight. Jack was, in a sense, everything I believed myself to be, but slightly more refined. And I knew that if I ever allowed his name to surpass the covers of my journal he would overtake the pages and destroy me; therefore, his name was barred from my journals… until now. Because now he is gone, and I’m never going to see him again which is probably for the best. Every time I saw Jack my mind was left distorted, even if it was only a simple glimpse of him from afar. His mere presence was enough to distract me for days, it was intoxicating, and I absolutely hated it. I think at some point I hated him too, but I could honestly never really tell.
Jack was smart when it came to his dealing game and was known for his reliable products, timeliness, and reasonable prices. He was the go-to-guy. Even those who had a disdain for Jack found themselves a part of his clientele. He just knew what he was doing, it was really that simple; I never thought he would get caught, and I don’t believe that he did either. He was warned several times of the dangers of what he was doing by different people but didn’t hinder to their warnings, and this resulted in his dismissal.
Today I learned that Jack was expelled from my school…
When I learned about Jack’s unfortunate expulsion earlier today, I took a moment to reflect on the different paths the two of us had chosen. Last (school) year Jack and I were on the same ship, but this year when we landed at shore we choose two very different paths. Jack chose to board the ship and repeat the same voyage he’d taken prior and I choose to move forward and continue to grow professionally in my life. Jack now sits at an unfamiliar school with unknown peers while I sit in a college classroom with my education being sponsored by my school district and city. Jack is going to be fine. He’s incredibly smart and resourceful but knowing that he is prementantly lost from my life is appalling. Had I wished for it to happen? Yes. Absolutely. I couldn’t wait for the day that Jack and I would finally be free of one another; but this just isn’t how I envisioned it going down.
As the day comes to an end and I dedicate some time to reflecting on its events. I find that I’m grateful that I’m not Jack. I’ve chosen to move forward, and I hope that I will continue to do so as time passes. I don’t want to be stuck in the past no matter how appealing it my look sometimes. Tonight, my story with Jack ends, but I learned a lot from it and I’ll remember fondly.
— March
I really liked Jack. There are words I forbade myself from ever writing near his name that also come to mind, but I won’t be admitting them to you tonight. Jack was, in a sense, everything I believed myself to be, but slightly more refined. And I knew that if I ever allowed his name to surpass the covers of my journal he would overtake the pages and destroy me; therefore, his name was barred from my journals… until now. Because now he is gone, and I’m never going to see him again which is probably for the best. Every time I saw Jack my mind was left distorted, even if it was only a simple glimpse of him from afar. His mere presence was enough to distract me for days, it was intoxicating, and I absolutely hated it. I think at some point I hated him too, but I could honestly never really tell.
Jack was smart when it came to his dealing game and was known for his reliable products, timeliness, and reasonable prices. He was the go-to-guy. Even those who had a disdain for Jack found themselves a part of his clientele. He just knew what he was doing, it was really that simple; I never thought he would get caught, and I don’t believe that he did either. He was warned several times of the dangers of what he was doing by different people but didn’t hinder to their warnings, and this resulted in his dismissal.
Today I learned that Jack was expelled from my school…
When I learned about Jack’s unfortunate expulsion earlier today, I took a moment to reflect on the different paths the two of us had chosen. Last (school) year Jack and I were on the same ship, but this year when we landed at shore we choose two very different paths. Jack chose to board the ship and repeat the same voyage he’d taken prior and I choose to move forward and continue to grow professionally in my life. Jack now sits at an unfamiliar school with unknown peers while I sit in a college classroom with my education being sponsored by my school district and city. Jack is going to be fine. He’s incredibly smart and resourceful but knowing that he is prementantly lost from my life is appalling. Had I wished for it to happen? Yes. Absolutely. I couldn’t wait for the day that Jack and I would finally be free of one another; but this just isn’t how I envisioned it going down.
As the day comes to an end and I dedicate some time to reflecting on its events. I find that I’m grateful that I’m not Jack. I’ve chosen to move forward, and I hope that I will continue to do so as time passes. I don’t want to be stuck in the past no matter how appealing it my look sometimes. Tonight, my story with Jack ends, but I learned a lot from it and I’ll remember fondly.
— March
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