Miz
Administrator
- Reaction score
- 424
Accomplishments
"So what was it that you wanted to ask me?" I asked my friend Rebecca who was sitting on the hot pavement of the sidewalk that was placed outside the gated perimeter of my middle school.
"Nothing much, I was just thinking about stuff," Rebecca answered back to me with a large grin that.
"Thinking about what exactly?" I responded to her, as I removed my baseball cap from the top of my head.
"Oh, just memories," she replied back. "Memories about when I was still in school, like you."
Rebecca was a high school drop out with long brown hair that went down to about the middle of her back. Her hair was also partially red, especially in the front with bright red streaks on her bangs. Giving her reputation of being a recluse some foundation, as she would often disobey the orders of adults around town, her boss and even her own parents, that is if she still had parents.
On days like this, it wasn't that unusual for me to meet her here, near the middle school gate, late in the afternoon. Actually, I would normally find her here, as she would be smoking her 'last pack' of cigarettes, or that is what she promised me. If I let her smoke that one last pack, she said, she would be done with smoking forever. However, that promise was shortly kept, because it was only a matter of time before that 'last pack' would be empty and it would be replaced with a new one the next day.
Like many things, Rebecca was bad at keeping promises almost as bad as her issue with obeying orders, because along with her smoking habit, she often dyed her hair something new every other day, as an attempt to gain even the tiniest amounts of attention. Even, I, a Seventh Grader in Middle school knew this, and I was pretty sure that everyone else that knew her name also did too.
"I also am remembering a long, long time ago," Rebecca told me, while she wiped the fresh sweat from her forehead. Obliviously it was uncomfortable for her to be sitting here, in the direct sunlight but she still stayed for reasons I didn't understand. Only to let her face get redder and redder until her entirely face was that same color from heat exhaustion, "When they told us and all the other students in grade school that we could become whatever we wanted when we're adults."
"Yeah, so what?" I retorted back.
"That's what I came to talk to you about." she quietly told me, almost whispering it. "I am fed up with the way things are and I want something new."
"You don't mean..."
"Yeah, I am leaving this hell whole of a town; I am going north to a big city. Where no one knows my name, and I can just lay low. I was hoping maybe New York. City, that's where true dreams are made,. Not in a tiny town like this, where every judges you about decisions you made in the past and nothing ever changes."
"That's not true!" I shouted back interrupting her. "That's not true, no one judges you, we all make mistakes in our lives. It doesn't mean..."
"You're wrong; I know you're lying to me, Max. I may be failure, but I am not stupid. Everyone judges me; to them I am just a simple example of how cruel real life can be; a reference to other kids that they should stay in school and not smoke and not go against their parents' wishes and all the other basic rules of childhood that I simply broke. So, my decision is final. I am leaving this place, and never coming a back."
"But, how are you going to get to New York without a car?" I asked her, pleading to make her stay.
"I don't need to drive; I will find a bus, or hitch-hike, hell I will even walk hundreds of miles to get out of here."
"But... what if I need you?"
"Sorry Max," she said turning her head towards me, the large grin was replaced with a frown and watery eyes. "But, I am going. Hopefully, we can meet each other another day, some day, far from this place."
"You can't leave!" I commanded back to her, almost ready to grab her hand and never let go. "You said that; we would hang out in High school."
"Yeah, you're right, I did say that, but I told you many times that I would quit smoking, and I am still on two packs a day, with no end in site. However, this time, I want you to promise me something." she claimed, as she got back up to her feet and started to walk away. "Finish school for me, hold a diploma in your hands, its something I never got to do, no matter how hard I wished for it, and when that day comes that you will receive that document, I will return to see your smiling face on that graduation ceremony. I promise you, for real this time. That I can at least manage to do that." she said to me before she continued to walk away, out of town, leaving for a new life and abandoning the old.
I wanted to say something to her, something that would make her stay here, with me and the town she hated but I simply couldn't, because sometimes its just too hard to say goodbye...
"So what was it that you wanted to ask me?" I asked my friend Rebecca who was sitting on the hot pavement of the sidewalk that was placed outside the gated perimeter of my middle school.
"Nothing much, I was just thinking about stuff," Rebecca answered back to me with a large grin that.
"Thinking about what exactly?" I responded to her, as I removed my baseball cap from the top of my head.
"Oh, just memories," she replied back. "Memories about when I was still in school, like you."
Rebecca was a high school drop out with long brown hair that went down to about the middle of her back. Her hair was also partially red, especially in the front with bright red streaks on her bangs. Giving her reputation of being a recluse some foundation, as she would often disobey the orders of adults around town, her boss and even her own parents, that is if she still had parents.
On days like this, it wasn't that unusual for me to meet her here, near the middle school gate, late in the afternoon. Actually, I would normally find her here, as she would be smoking her 'last pack' of cigarettes, or that is what she promised me. If I let her smoke that one last pack, she said, she would be done with smoking forever. However, that promise was shortly kept, because it was only a matter of time before that 'last pack' would be empty and it would be replaced with a new one the next day.
Like many things, Rebecca was bad at keeping promises almost as bad as her issue with obeying orders, because along with her smoking habit, she often dyed her hair something new every other day, as an attempt to gain even the tiniest amounts of attention. Even, I, a Seventh Grader in Middle school knew this, and I was pretty sure that everyone else that knew her name also did too.
"I also am remembering a long, long time ago," Rebecca told me, while she wiped the fresh sweat from her forehead. Obliviously it was uncomfortable for her to be sitting here, in the direct sunlight but she still stayed for reasons I didn't understand. Only to let her face get redder and redder until her entirely face was that same color from heat exhaustion, "When they told us and all the other students in grade school that we could become whatever we wanted when we're adults."
"Yeah, so what?" I retorted back.
"That's what I came to talk to you about." she quietly told me, almost whispering it. "I am fed up with the way things are and I want something new."
"You don't mean..."
"Yeah, I am leaving this hell whole of a town; I am going north to a big city. Where no one knows my name, and I can just lay low. I was hoping maybe New York. City, that's where true dreams are made,. Not in a tiny town like this, where every judges you about decisions you made in the past and nothing ever changes."
"That's not true!" I shouted back interrupting her. "That's not true, no one judges you, we all make mistakes in our lives. It doesn't mean..."
"You're wrong; I know you're lying to me, Max. I may be failure, but I am not stupid. Everyone judges me; to them I am just a simple example of how cruel real life can be; a reference to other kids that they should stay in school and not smoke and not go against their parents' wishes and all the other basic rules of childhood that I simply broke. So, my decision is final. I am leaving this place, and never coming a back."
"But, how are you going to get to New York without a car?" I asked her, pleading to make her stay.
"I don't need to drive; I will find a bus, or hitch-hike, hell I will even walk hundreds of miles to get out of here."
"But... what if I need you?"
"Sorry Max," she said turning her head towards me, the large grin was replaced with a frown and watery eyes. "But, I am going. Hopefully, we can meet each other another day, some day, far from this place."
"You can't leave!" I commanded back to her, almost ready to grab her hand and never let go. "You said that; we would hang out in High school."
"Yeah, you're right, I did say that, but I told you many times that I would quit smoking, and I am still on two packs a day, with no end in site. However, this time, I want you to promise me something." she claimed, as she got back up to her feet and started to walk away. "Finish school for me, hold a diploma in your hands, its something I never got to do, no matter how hard I wished for it, and when that day comes that you will receive that document, I will return to see your smiling face on that graduation ceremony. I promise you, for real this time. That I can at least manage to do that." she said to me before she continued to walk away, out of town, leaving for a new life and abandoning the old.
I wanted to say something to her, something that would make her stay here, with me and the town she hated but I simply couldn't, because sometimes its just too hard to say goodbye...
, but really, thanks for the critique. 
