How To Not Life

1st Real Relationship (Maybe): 24 Hour Guy

This story starts in lower school but it mainly takes place in high school so before you can understand my relationship with 24 Hour Guy we must start from the beginning. 24 Hour Guy has a twin sister and I became friends with her first. I ended up sleeping over at her house a couple times and started getting closer to her twin brother. Soon enough the sister started to train to become a cheerleader and stopped hanging out with me. Instead she hung out with the popular girls who also wanted to be cheerleaders. I was friends with her from 3rd to about 5th grade until she stopped hanging out with me.

However, her brother, 24 Hour Guy never abandoned me. He apologized for his sister and started to hang out with me. I could safely say he was my first guy friend. I remember telling my voice coach at the time about him and she gave me a warning, "Girls and guys cant be friends very long until someone starts to develop feelings." I just shook my head at her saying she was crazy, "24 Hour Guy and I are only friends. We will always be friends."

Middle school continued on with 24 Hour Guy and I getting closer. We were opposites. I tended to be a quieter more focused type. I was constantly focused on academics and being the best possible. He was a louder more happy person. He always cracked jokes and lived life to the fullest. We were actually good for each other. He reminded me to live and always made me smile and laugh. I reminded him that he could still have fun and work. I made him focus more. 

One of my favorite stories about 24 Hour Guy happened in PE. The teachers were making us run 3 miles by the time class ended. If you finished early you got free time. If you took more then the whole class well you would be late to lunch. Now, I have never been very athletic in my life. I played soccer when I was younger until I broke my leg and I played tennis for awhile but I couldn't do it for very long. See I have been overweight my whole life. I was never a normal weight and that caused a lot of insecurities to form that I fight to this day. However, 24 Hour Guy always cheered me up. 

In this PE class I knew I couldn't run 3 miles in 50 minutes. It was impossible. I remember trying but then realizing I couldn't. I want point I just gave up and started walking. I started getting stuck in my head thinking about how much of a failure I was. However, soon 24 Hour Guy started running up to me. He then proceeded to walk beside me. He cracked jokes the whole time making me happy. He ended up staying the whole time walking by my side making sure a smile never left my face. We were the last two to finish and missed lunch, but I didn't care. in that moment I knew I had a friend who cared about me despite my appearances. I was happy.

Another story is the summer before High school I went to Hawaii on a family vacation and I decided to by 24 Hour Guy a tshirt. We have never really exchanged gift beyond birthdays but something told me to do it. When I got back we ended up meeting up at his house. I decided to give him his tshirt. He was surprised he got a gift then blushed pulling out a small box telling me he also got me something. I opened this box to find this beautiful blue pearl necklace. It was so beautiful I immediately pulled it on and hugged him in thanks. We hung out a little more and soon his mom drove me home.

She then told me, "You know whenever we go on vacation I allow my kids to buy one gift of whatever they want no matter the cost. All my son could think about was getting a gift for you. He really cares about you." I took her words to heart. Looking back, I think his mom totally wanted us to get together, but knew her son had trouble expressing feelings. He always used jokes to communicate instead of emotions. She always said she viewed me as another daughter and wanted to help me. 

Fast forward a few months to Freshmen Honors Biology. This was an interesting class. This was the hardest class students could take in their Freshmen year and you had to test into it. If you got in and did well then you would be placed onto the AP track. If you didn't, well either Mommy and Daddy could bribe your way in or you would be stuck taking on-level courses. (Yes I know its very hypocritical for a Private Christian School to take bribes but they totally did.)