Jones 2

Chapter 12: Crystal

The Sign~ Ace of Base

It's weird how people work. They're either attracted to people exactly like them or polar opposites of them. That's why most people either end up marrying their twin or someone you'd never expect. It's never mutual. Because Grant is like most public high schools, we have a block schedule, meaning we have 8 periods. Odds one day evens the next. My seventh and eighth period are the same therefore I have to sit through the same boring math lesson no matter what day it is. Today was peculiar though. I noticed someone from one of my other classes. It was my new friend Presaius. We met in P.E earlier this week which was why I got up and sat next to her. She is, for now, the only person I know in this class.

Our teacher Mr. Asatryan takes role and Presaius and I make small talk.

"Since it's only been a few weeks since school started, we're going to use today's class period to get to know each other. Get in groups of no more than 6," he says.

"Don't worry, I know a few more people in this class. I'll have them sit with us so we don't look like loners," Presaius says. She turns around and catches the eye of one of her friends who is sitting across the room.

"Kayla, Vincent. Wanna be in our group?" She calls out to the two kids. They collect their stuff off their desk and walk over to where we're sitting.

"Hey, I'm Kayla," Presaius's friend says to me.

"Crystal," I say and raise my hand in a greeting gesture.

"Vincent," the other kid says and smiles at me.

"That kid over there is Bryce and the chick next to him is Marisol," Presaius says and points at two kids sitting at the table next to us.

"You say something?" Bryce says and looks at Presaius.

"Yeah. This is Crystal. I was telling her who your dumbass was," She says and he turns his chair around to join our table.

"Marisol! Turn your stupid ass around and say hi to my friend," Presaius yells to Marisol. She turns around with a disgusted look on her face.

"The fuck you want?" She asks Presaius with an attitude.

"This is Crystal," She says and Marisol looks at me up and down as if she's examining what type of friend I'll be.

"What's up. I'm Marisol and you already met my idiot boyfriend," She says and nods her head towards Bryce.

"You guys are dating? What're you? Desperate or something?" I ask and she laughs.

"By the look of it yes," She laughs.

By now it was easy to say that this would be my new group of friends. They were tight with each other. I honestly never mentioned it before but my old group just wasn't my fit anymore. I outgrew them right after Angie and Paulina started dating. If things were normal with us and no one was out to get anyone maybe things would've been better. Smoother sailing you know what I mean. High school is just my forte. It's maturity that fits me best. We were kids then, we had no idea what the fuck we were doing. Now I have the chance to start fresh and figure out things for myself without having a "leader" "sidekick" or fucking titles for everyone I'm friends with. It was ridiculous how we worked. I never get the chance to have a fresh start and find my fitting. This is it.

In middle school, I was walking on eggshells. Between my shaky relationship with Sean and weird friendships with people I was forced to be friends with, it just wasn't right. I went to school every day dreading what topics and conversations I would have to sit in on. I would dread having to listen to Angie's complaining about some yogurt crisis she had or Paulina bitching about how her boobs won't grow. Your tits won't grow because you're a cunt. Maybe if you were nicer God would bless you with a couple of double D's. OR the boys talking about how they got jock itch from sports they aren't even good at. It's dick itch man. Dick itch. Just because you're referring to it as "jock itch" doesn't make you cool. Your dick itches because you don't know how to take a fucking shower. You know how many times I wanted to come out and say that? A lot. Wanna know why I didn't? Because I knew my place with them was only temporary. When you get used to using the term "temporary" your uncomfortable situations start to feel easier and less painful because you know it'll come to an end. I put up with that shit because I expected this shit. There's always a rainbow after the storm. I'm sliding down my rainbow now bitch.

I plan to keep my ties with most of these people. Angie of course, Paulina, no. She makes one wrong move, she's done. And I mean done. Isaac is in fucking potato country somewhere, therefore, I don't have to worry about him. Sean's been cut the fuck off and Kassidy decided to move to fucking Applevalley. She stopped talking to us the day after she got there. Big deal. And no one knows how Grace is doing except for the fact that she's enjoying her high school experience that she decided to go off the grid. Those babies need to accept the fact that we won't always be able to keep in touch. That shit comes with growing up. We're in the process of that now, man. They all have hope of a great big comeback. Hope is a dangerous thing. Don't rely on it. It'll fuck you over.
Some people say we're the architects of our own fate. I don't believe it for a second. But then again. I believe every word. We have a say in what happens to us but we don't have a say in when it happens to us. We don't get to pick and choose what happens but we have a way of controlling it. It hurts to think about how you change over the years and how you naturally adjust to environments without even realizing it but also realizing how your past was. That's reality. It hits you so fucking hard that you don't feel it. That sounds really fucking lame but it's true. Reality is like a woman, sneaky but powerful. The thing about reality that we all ask ourselves is if it's going to be there when we wake up in the morning. Your life is never predictable by YOU.

A word of advice from me. Hang on tight and go with the flow. It's all temporary but it's all worth it though.