5 Chapter 5: The Vices

It was relatively the same life for me when the 1st and 2nd year high came by. Weekends, I will be in the province to be with my grandma and relatives and friends as well. I will visit dad and try to accept the reality that I have othet siblings. I still practice and play the piano and they say I'm getting very good at it. I also began playing the guitar which I honestly think I'm getting good at it as well. Not as good as Hendrix or Page if one may as, but I can say that I could pass as a good rythym player like a Izzy Stradlin. Maybe because of my Piano background, it came easy for me to learn the guitar faster than normal. When I am in the province with my friends, I will bring my Uncle's guitar in our hangouts and there I will play new tunes for them while drinking. Yes, I was only 12 or 13 yrs old that time when I really started drinking heavily with my friends.

At the start of 3rd yr high, I was already gaining confidence with myself performing with other people. I was always on the spotlight when it comes to performinh and occationally singing too. I was getting some invites on birthdays to sing a couple of tunes as well, and I'm not getting paid for that. That was on the province. But when I was in school, a switch happens. My confidence was nowhere to be found, I'm as shy as a sack of rice standing at a corner. My classmates and schoolmates are much better than me playing different instruments. There is that one guy who is actually a nephew of a Rock legend and right now, he is a very talented musician and a musical scorer for films and stuff. After school, I just went straight to my Mom's office or sometimes I went straight home and practice guitar. I dont have a piano there and my time was just between guitar and video games.

I was so happy during my graduation in grade school as my mom bought me my very 1st Nintendo. Oh I played Super Mario and Rockman everyday and Mom will get very angry at me for playing continiously. I had a few friends there and from time to time, we will play video games in our apartment and play basketball also. Life was just simple then for me. Play video games, eat, go to the province, be at school, and have fun. That's all I have to do and although my grades are not that great, it is somewhat ok. Mom is a bit upset with me but its fine, I guess, for a while. As long as I'm not doing anything stupid, right? Third year high school changed everything for me.

Because of low confidence whenever I am in the city and school, and with not so great grades to show, I was relegated to the last section in our batch. Here, my classmates were as happy go lucky as one can be. Noisy, rich brats, and they were in a fraternity. What if I joined them? Malcolm was the de facto leader of that group. He is rich, charismatic, and very friendly. I tried to hang out with them and I never thought I would blend with them perfectly. That they would accept me in their group very quickly. They are not bullies, per se, but because they are big guys and are on our school fratenity, they have a reputation of being tough. He has his own car for a 15yr old and it makes me astonished seing him. They will have road trips every week, spend nights somewhere, and just drink till they have no more money. I liked that dude and when he asked me if I wanted to join his fraternity, I did not hesitate a bit. Yes, I want to be with their group now.

Before the start of class, they would always hang out on a nearby cafeteria or at a billiards hall which is also near our school. They smoke cigarettes and weed as well. After class, they do that again and drink as well. Hell, we were just boys that time and it feels like we are college kids. I have asthma, by the way, and I was just 13 yrs old, barely a teenager, when I started smoking cigarettes. When I smoke and hang out with them, I felt somewhat above my other classmates. I feel I'm the coolest dude in school. During those days, I still went to the province regularly and some of my friends there were also smoking now. Life of a teener, I guess. I drank and smoked a lot those days, to a point that I slept on the road, literally, passed out. These maybe are typical boys during teenage years, hunting girls included, and it was fun. I got to experience these things at an early age and I thought that was it. I thought I was a normal teenager doing teenage stuffs.