Ignorance Is Swiss!

1 ♦ I'll Give You An Offer You Can Refuse

1 ♦ I'll Give You An Offer You Can Refuse

I have come to learn that in eight years, you won't remember the friends you started high school with, but rather the ones you ended with.

It's a simple concept, really. We all come from the baby stages of middle school, still in our metaphorical baby carriages and pondering about the world in our prepubescent bodies. We're friends with people who, now, wouldn't even make sense; the drama kid and the sports jock, the cheerleader and the tech kid.

But once high school starts, we find ourselves, or rather, lose ourselves. We are too concerned fitting in somewhere, and some people end up in different cliques than their best friends from eighth grade. And by the end of graduation, sitting with the people you spent your last days with, you've forgotten about Sally or Tim. They're the past, just a shard of a memory you happened to remember from your questionable days of adolescence.

Now, to every rule there is an exception. Sometimes, people stay with their group of friends all four years, although that is unlikely. And that, I know. Why? Because it almost happened to me. I came into school with the cooler girls of the grade, but not quite the coolest. We went through parties, dances, and birthdays together, as well as menial fights every so often. We all had the same goal: to get into the big leagues, where we could only taste but not indulge. And once I approached my last year of high school, my goal was certain. I needed to get to the top and end with the invisible crown at the tip of the pyramid.

But on the night before Halloween, any chance of success failed. The goal that I had worked so hard to achieve exploded like dynamite without me even realizing it. However, to understand how everything went so wrong, but so right, I need to start a couple days prior.

On the Thursday before Halloween, I sat at the lunch table I inhabited for years. The girls around me ate their bought lunch, their clothes casual but confidence still high. Sitting down at the end, I watched the opposite side of the table, where the boys and a couple of girls sat. Their laughs over random things from the internet and sports practices interested me enough to listen.

Every one of us sitting at the long table were in the limbo area of the social pyramid - an unfortunate spot to be in at that time in our high school careers. We were those people who were popular to some, but not all. We seemed to hang out with the popular crowd, at least, but at the same time we stayed by ourselves. We were the kids you looked at and debated where we stood.

Valerie Díaz, the girl I was closest to in the group, gulped her water down, the white long sleeves of her shirt crinkling as she bent her arm. She then put it down, flipping her wavy brown hair behind her shoulders. She looked at her phone then quickly put it down, acting as if she had just remembered something essential. Turning to me, I glanced up from my packed chicken sandwich and made eye contact.

"I forgot to ask you, but there's a Halloween party tomorrow at Kyle's house. Are you down with coming?" Her hopeful face was rather hidden as she stared into my eyes, waiting for me to answer. Desiree and Sarala, the other two I sat with, turned as well. All three of them were waiting for my word.

"I can't," I spoke up, my slightly raspy voice sounding even more so with food in my mouth. "I have work."

"Oh," was all Valerie said. I worked at the town's fast food sandwich shop, and she was aware of that fact more than she wanted to be. Being a little more dedicated to the job than I should, I worked there often, interfering with quality time with friends. She sighed deeply and continued to eat, another idea popping up in her head quite quickly.

"Then what about Saturday? It's Ava's. Her's is the most important one, anyways."

"She should be fine. You don't work on Saturdays, right Safia?" Sarala asked. She was right in believing so.