Welcome To The Jungle

My Life, My Life Will Never Be The Same

I felt a pang of hope and renewal as I readied myself for the adventure I had ahead of me. Saying goodbye to those I truly loved was no easy task, but it was about time my parents realized I was no longer a defenseless, immature, little girl-well maybe I was still quite immature but, I was growing into my own person and it was about time they allowed me to be happy.

It wasn't the least bit easy convincing my parents to allow me the opportunity of accomplishing my greatest dream, which also seemed to be their greatest disappointment. But to hell with it, I was done being groomed to be a doctor or lawyer, possibly the two most cliched fields of study, and more than anything I was done with the fighting that ensued whenever a disagreement would arise. I knew I wasn't the favorite child, my parents had made that abundantly clear, therefore my departure was one not attended by those of my family.

Instead, as I prepared to walk to my terminal and leave my frumpy town behind, I had my best friends waving and making complete and utter fools of themselves. They knew precisely how to make me smile, even at the harshest of times, and I was willing myself to remain composed. Another thing they knew about me: crying in public, for me, was a major no-no. I couldn't allow myself to falter in front of everyone, and they knew exactly why I had become this way. Regardless, Cole, Norelle, Mailin, and Benny stuck by me.

As I looked back at who I was leaving behind, I couldn't help but think back to the event that had unknowingly bound us together and allowed us to remain friends for such a long time.

I had been swinging on the swings with my so-called best friend at the time, Melissa, one of the notoriously popular girls. As my piggy-tails swayed back and forth to the rhythm of the swing set, a group of boys approached us. While Melissa continued her drawl on some unimportant, shallow subject, the group seemed much closer than I had originally thought. Before I had a chance to utter a syllable, one of them spoke.

"Well, what do we have here?" the leader asked, as if amused by my presence. I remained silent, tacitly hoping that they would realize there was nothing of their interest here and that they could leave. I, unfortunately, had no such luck.

Another replied with a wicked grin, "Looks to me like we got a prissy, preppy, white girl to bother."

And so the bombardment ensued. Soon after they had begun to speak, Melissa had laughed along with them, and help seemed nowhere in sight. They continued to bully, pick, and prod at me until a deafening screech was heard from one of the members of the "pack". All went silent and everyone's eyes shifted to the curled figure of the banshee-screaming member and the figures looming above him. Just as the leader readied himself to throw a punch, one of the looming figures spoke.

"If you don't wanna end up like your friend, you better leave."

He quickly glanced at his "pack" member, still clutching his head from the sudden blow he received. Before anything else could be said or done, the "pack" leader made a grunting noise and walked to the other side of the playground as the others followed.

I barely grasped what had happened at that moment, but when I shyly looked up, I met the eyes of my saviors, my soon-to-be best friends and realized how greatful I was to my chocolate brown bear Cole, my crazy, yet grounded Philipino raven Mailin, my mixed-with-everything-under-the-sun badass Norelle, and my "big brother"/African prince Benny.

Realization hadn't hit us immediately, but their small gesture of kindness paved the way for the growth of our friendship through middle and high school, and now as seniors, we were being split apart by my own selfish reasons. I, in no way was happy to leave them behind, but life at home was too much to handle, and though I would never admit it, I couldn't take the ever-present pressures my parents had placed on me to follow in my sister's footsteps and be their golden child.

As their images faded, I had brought myself back to reality and saw that there was no going back. Well, I realized both that as well as the fact that my plane was boarding, and I was to be late...as usual. Fuck!