*Despite being set in high school, all of the characters in this story are at or above the age of eighteen.*
While this is an original work of fiction, this story was inspired by an episode of Highway to Heaven, titled "Friends," which originally aired on May 7, 1986.
This memoir goes back to the summer between my junior and senior years in high school, during the days of big hair bands, and a time of far fewer restrictions in our schools. A time when school could actually be fun, and not where you felt like you were incarcerated, terrified of an armed attack or being abducted at the bus stop; the days when you could actually walk into school through an unlocked door or even return to hang out every now and then after you had graduated. Those were the days!
At the beginning of my junior year, my dad and I had moved to the suburbs of what is now a very large Southern city, yet at the time still had a small town feel to it. Even though we were in city limits and I should have gone to one of the more dangerous high schools in the county, due to reverse busing quotas, my neighborhood was included in a bus route that took us to the middle and high schools in the north end of the county. Talk about a small town feel! The high school was nicknamed Redneck Tech for a reason. It was still pretty well divided though, due to the quotas, but everyone got along really well.
I was a bit of an enigma to the other students when I first showed up. I was obviously from up North, but had a coolness about me that the tougher kids latched onto, yet I was also one of the smartest kids in school, with a MENSA level IQ. I also was one of the rare kids that was not only cool, I was cool without drugs or alcohol, and I got along with all of my teachers and the staff. I was also one of the better students in my art class, so those kids liked me as well. I was cool, smart and polite. Because of this, some of the popular girls that would normally go for the jocks, liked to hang out with me and my crowd, instead.
One of these girls in particular, Amy Kellenbach, was dating the captain of the football team when I first showed up, but she and I quickly became much more than friends, and she eventually ditched him to date me instead. He wasn't particularly thrilled with that, but the jocks had a shared respect for the metalheads, at least in that school, so he sought other pastures. There wasn't any bad blood between us.
I was excelling in all of my classes and somehow dating the hottest blonde babe in the school, when on a Friday night, while driving back home from her house, I was hit head-on by a commercial driver who had fallen asleep behind the wheel. I spent a month in the hospital, and then a couple more months in rehab to recover from my injuries. Needless to say, I missed a bit of school.
One day, while still in the hospital, I received an unexpected visitor to my room. It was Bethany, an overweight but very intelligent girl from two of my classes. I was surprised to see her, as a couple of my friends had dropped by with cards from other students and the like, but we really didn't speak that much. She was quiet and kept to herself. To say that she was unpopular, was a pretty accurate description. Not because she was a jerk or anything, just because back then fat kids were shunned in general, and smart, fat kids pretty much had no friends at all. So when she knocked on my door and entered with a bunch of books, I was surprised to see her, but then again - with all of those books - I figured she'd been sent to keep me caught up on my classes. Turns out I was correct.
"Hi Jack!" she said with a huge smile. "How are you feeling?"
"Considering I got clobbered by a cab-over, not too bad." I replied. "It could have been a lot worse though. I was lucky to have escaped with only a few broken bones and some minor head injuries, but I'm looking at months of rehab. I'll probably have to stay back and repeat the whole year."
"That's why I'm here." Bethany explained. "Mr. Hunter (our principal) knows how good of a student you are, and he asked me if I wouldn't mind tutoring you while you're healing up, so you won't have to. You'll have to take some summer classes too, but he said as long as you turn in your work in a timely manner and pass all of your tests, he'll let you advance to your senior year with the rest of us."
"That was nice of him." I said, as I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "And nice of you as well. This is going to cut into a lot of your free time, Bethany."
"What else am I going to do with my free time?" she inquired. "It's not like I have a bunch of friends to hang out with, like you do. I study and watch TV; that's pretty much my life. Oh yeah, and I eat a lot too."
It seemed like she was lashing out, but then she suddenly changed her demeanor.
"I'm sorry." she apologized. "I didn't mean it to sound like that, Jack. I guess maybe I'm a bit jealous because you're one of the popular kids, but I didn't mean to sound that way."
"It's okay," I responded with a smile, "I wasn't really popular myself until I moved here."
"Really?" she inquired in a surprised tone. "I find that hard to believe. You seem to have a way with everyone, even all the teachers like you. Mr. Hunter took it on personally, to make sure you stay caught up."
"Oh, I've always been Teacher's Pet, and made it a point to be friendly with the administrators," I replied, "but I was never a jock and being artsy and all, not particularly someone the chicks were after, or the really cool kids either. It was always, 'you're a really sweet guy, but-'."
Bethany looked puzzled.
"Then why are you so popular now?" she inquired, pushing her long, auburn hair out of her face.
"I dunno." I said with a shrug. "This is my third school system, and people are so much different here. My first week here, I would be sitting outside the door of drafting class, and Raymond Randall would walk up and say, 'What's up?' and one day, he invited me to hang out with his friends before school started. Turns out he was with the cool crowd, and this time, I was in. I guess no one had seen a kid who was both smart and cool, and an artist on top of it, so I guess the third time's a charm. What about you, how come you don't hang out with anyone besides Gretchen Saunders?"
"Because I'm fat and shy." she replied bluntly. "It took me two hours to screw up the courage to come here."
"Well I'm glad you did." I said with a smile. "I appreciate your helping me with my schoolwork, and don't worry about being shy. I wasn't particularly outgoing until I moved here either."
"But you're a nice looking guy!" she burst out. "All the girls like you. I'm fat and ugly, and no one likes me."
"I do." responded matter-of-factly. "I remember what it was like to be teased when I was younger, for wearing glasses and looking like a dweeb. I told you, I got lucky when I moved here."
"I wish I could get lucky and have people start liking me." Bethany lamented.
"When I get back to school, why don't you hang out with me and my friends?" I suggested. "Most are pretty nice guys."
"Really?" she asked, brightening a bit.
"Sure." I responded. "It's the least I can do for you, since you're going to be spending a lot of time with me for the next several months."
Over the next few months, as I continued my recovery, Bethany would drop by the house to help me; usually on the weekends, when she could devote more time to tutoring me. Finally, I was able to return to school, and was greeted with enthusiasm my first day back. I was still a bit slow on my feet and needed a cane to walk, so Bethany volunteered to carry my books for me between classes.
True to my word, I invited her to start hanging out with my crowd, and she slowly seemed to come out of her shell. A lot of tough or cool kids are black sheep, so to speak, so despite their public personas, are actually accepting of others. Some are just assholes and need the shit kicked out of them, but most are really nice when you get to know them. This was the case at my school, and my friends all took a liking to her when they saw how nice of a person she was.
All except for Amy, that is. I think she was jealous of the time Bethany and I had spent together, and although there was nothing more than a platonic relationship between us, she somehow feared that Bethany and I were somehow taking it further, so she made a point to always hang out on my arm and engage in public displays of affection in front of her.
"So," she inquired one day in front of everyone, "will you be taking me to the Junior Prom?"
It hadn't really crossed my mind at that point, as in all honesty, she was my first real girlfriend and I was still learning how this was all done. I was also still using a cane and didn't see how I could dance very well anyway, but since she brought it up, I nodded.
"I wasn't expecting to be able to go," I replied, "but yes, if you'd like to go, I would certainly love to take you. I just won't be able to dance very well."
"Great!" Amy exclaimed, looking at Bethany and jeering. "He's taking ME!"
