Too Lucky

My friendship with Anthony had an unusual beginning. Back in eighth grade, we had five out of six periods together. Everyone but fifth. At first, I annoyed the hell out of him. Having similar last names, we sat next to each other in every one of those shared classes. Eventually, like an untreated fungus, I grew on him, and he me. Going through the throes of initial puberty, we bonded through perverted interpretations of everyday speech. If the teacher said something that could remotely relate to something sexual in a different context, you could bet that we were laughing. We also were great students without having to try. Naturally gifted, him more so in math, and myself more so in English or languages in general, we prided ourselves in each other's intellectual superiority.

Like every year, we began in our homeroom. From there, our class schedules would be given. Anthony and I have been fortunate enough to have the same lunches if not the same classes in previous years, but this year, I didn't have my hopes up. I elected to have an easier class load, whereas he remained on the track to an advanced honors diploma.

Anthony and I chose a seat near the back of the class where we could pass jokes and judgements with a decreased likelihood of being overheard. Strike one for repeating past immature behaviors, or two if you count the middle finger from earlier. He shared with me some of his summer ventures with girls, and I shared with him mine. Girls are always the number one topic with guys, and from my experience in hanging out with girls, I think the same goes for them but vice versa. Our conversation halted abruptly with the shrill sound of Ms. Gorski's voice.

"I only have about thirty minutes before you leave to your first classes, so I wanted to share some wisdom with you. Senior year tends to be the hardest, even if you choose an easier schedule. As you become adults, and certain decisions begin to feel like an option instead of mandatory, you have to learn to assume responsibility. You're all approaching the point in your lives where you get to make decisions for yourself, and that's something that not everyone may be ready for. You might find that having to do things for yourself lacks urgency now that having the option not to is available. It may be very easy to ignore a homework assignment due to a test balancing out your grade. I want you to think of this. Everything you ignore, whether you're thinking about it or not, is a choice that will harm you. Every choice has consequences, even if their effect is not immediate. Something on that homework assignment you missed may come up on a mid-term, or a final. Each piece of work saturates your heads with information that needs to be there to succeed, and neglecting the importance of that will lead to failure. Rethinking how you approach your work can be the very difference between success or failure. If you do something simply because a teacher requires it, it won't be as important. If you do something because it is one small step to a good future, then you're less likely to resent the work. Some of you have this figured out by now, most may not." she eyed Anthony and me during this line.

"I urge you to take this year to figure out how to make plans and execute them successfully and with good purpose! College is coming up, and professors will not give you as much leeway as high school teachers. There will be no makeup tests, no excuses, and every little thing you ignore can hurt you. Please think about this not for me, but for yourselves, so that you can have the best possible future". Ms. Gorski said. The tone of her voice reminded me of someone pleading. I wondered if she really cared, or if this speech was out of obligation. She returned to her desk, and the class used the last minutes of homeroom to chat. None of the conversations had anything to do with what she said. I checked Anthony's schedule and confirmed we had our last period with each other for A days (today), and our second to last class on B days. Those teachers better watch out, because our antics rival Fred and George Weasley's. On top of all that, we both had our last periods on A days free, so we could leave early together and get into trouble. The possibilities were endless.

We departed to our first period, walking together as far as we could before our paths diverged. One custom handshake later, and I was off to my first period alone. My first class was physics, one of the hardest classes I anticipated having. As I entered the room, a sense of relief overrode my anxiety as I saw my friend David waving to me near the front of the class. I have misgivings about being in the front, but since David was there, I felt I had no choice. If worse comes to worse, I could use someone next to me to copy off of. And he's a good friend, too, I guess.

The rest of the class filed in, then the bell rung. When the ringing stopped, the class continued a hushed chatter.

"EXCUSE ME!" shouted the aged, portly and bespectacled teacher with an air of practiced authority. He waddled to the center of the whiteboard like he had an immense phallic object lodged in his rear. Based on his mannerisms, I assumed this was not far from the truth. Or maybe he had a back problem, not sure.

"You can address me as Mr. Warren" he said, writing his name in all capitals on the whiteboard.

"If you call me anything else, you can head straight to the principal's office. If you ask something that I have already discussed, I will dock participation points. In my class, there is such a thing as stupid questions, and you will lose participation points for them as well. If you do not turn in your assignments, you will lose points on your tests. If you are not here for your assignments, you better hope one of your classmates was paying attention because I will not help you to catch up." I eyed David nervously at this suggestion. Mutual understanding passed between us. From the first few minutes of class, I could tell this teacher would be the bane of my existence. The rest of his speech followed the same pattern as the beginning, which was a load of crap confirming he's a grade A schmuck. He immediately went into his first lecture, which blended seamlessly with his introduction. I wrote notes furiously, not even taking the time to eyeball my paper, hoping against hope that it would be legible by the time I looked down. This guy spoke way too fast for a comfortable learning pace, and disallowed the use of electronic recording to make reviewing his information easier. During the pauses in his speech, I turned around to see a mutual look of horror and anxiety among my peers. Someone had his heads in his hand, ostensibly studying his paper. Looking closer, I noticed he was half-asleep. I envied his blissful ignorance, and great fortune for not getting caught. The lecture ended with everyone being handed a thick packet of problems relating to what was just discussed. We were allowed to work on it with other students during the last thirty minutes with the condition of reasonable talking volume.

"I think I'm screwed" I said to David as quiet as I could.

"Me too, dude. I think we're going to have to help each other out on this one. Do you have a free period at the end of the day? I do. I'll be in the library if you want to finish this together" he offered.

"I have a free period, too, so I'm down. Your handwriting's better than mine, so we may have to use your notes more. Sorry for relying on you so much" I said, dismayed at the sight of the polydactyl chicken scratch my notes resembled.

"It's okay man. I honestly learn better in groups anyway, so you'd be helping me out more than you think. I'll text you after third".

"Thanks David".

The last period of the day was biology, and I had that with Anthony. Mr. Warren may have been a hard-ass, but my biology teacher was more full of himself than a thanksgiving turkey stuffed with turkey. The guy's name was Dr. Brown, and reminded the class repeatedly that he was an MD and was to be respected. What I'm wondering is how someone with such a pedigree ended up at a teaching job. Regardless of the reason, I conspired with Anthony to spread a rumor of his malpractice. Every other sentence coming out of this guy's mouth was something bragging about himself. "I am the only medical doctor at this school. My kids are all in college. Us heavier people have an evolutionary advantage. All of my favorite students have ended up in medical school" et cetera et cetera. The stick in this guy's rear was practically pushing his shit through his mouth.

Even though there was assigned seating, it was by last name, and I got to sit next to Anthony. Unfortunately, an ex-girlfriend of mine shared our table, along with one of the biggest purveyors of gossip in our year, Allison. She was popular, and generally nice, but you had to be careful around that one, and never get too close. She lived the real-life Hangover movie, and people around her had a tendency to get in trouble, or have their words twisted and become the gossip of the day.

My ex Courtney was the person I least looked forward to seeing. I'd been fortunate enough to avoid her since we dated freshman year, aka the year of my peak apathy. The poor girl was too naïve to understand the kind of person I was back in the day, and I broke her heart. Then I dated the girl she was most insecure about within a week after the breakup. Even then, I toyed with her emotions by hooking up after we were done, then ghosting her. The summer after that year, she messaged me asking what she meant to me. Being the little psychopath that I was, I did not, or rather could not, take that attempt of communication seriously. She is a good girl, but I don't think I'm at the point in my life where I'm mature enough for such a person. Now she hates me, but I have bigger priorities than an old flame.

Dr. Brown went on a tirade about him being an INTJ, and implored the rest of the class to look that up if they wanted to know how to please him. At this point, I felt compelled to make it my job to make his job as miserable as possible. Whatever senior prank was going to happen this year, I made a mental note to have a separate prank prepared for this schmuck.

The bell rang, and Anthony wasted no time in offering me a ride to his place to meet with some of his friends from the football team. I was glad to go, and nearly on my way out the school with him, until a text from David reminded me of my prior obligations. I will admit, it was tempting, and I almost ditched David, but it was the beginning of the school year, and I'd have to be a special kind of idiot to not learn my lessons from last year. Reluctantly, and with every ounce of will I possessed, I told Anthony that I had to do homework in the library. After teasing my responsible choice, he left. I couldn't help but feel I would be missing out on a fun time. Then the burgeoning adult within me reminded me of how there were more important things in life. Decisions like the one I almost made could lead to more bad decisions that will end up with dropping out. My dad encouraged me to drop out in the last year, saying that he would sign whatever papers were necessary because I was too much of a dumbfuck to be in school. The memory strengthened my resolve. I've got to be the adult in my life, because my dad is clearly incapable of being so. I feel like I'm not mature enough yet, but I'm going to at least try.

The library session was more productive than I could've hoped. David and I finished the packet with plenty of time to spare before the buses arrived, and I felt I completely understood the concepts we went over. We killed the last twenty minutes by playing one of his first-person shooter games he saved on a flash drive. If I'm being honest, it was the most fun I've had in a long time. A moment of candid realization occurred while it was David's turn to play. I realized I am too lucky to have a friend like him. We played until the last bell rang, and I left school that day with a powerful sense of optimism.