So basically my problem started on the last day of school.
And the crooked villain behind the whole thing was my study hall substitute, Mr. Durner.
Now Mr. Durner was by no means a terrible substitute. He just lacked the laziness most of us youth seemed to enjoy during the last period of the day. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it's just that most of us don't want to actually learn something in a study hall- myself included.
So as I walked into the last class of my junior year, I groaned when I saw a power-point presentation up and fully ready to be shown on the board.
"Is he serious?" My best friend, partner in crime, long lost sister, and most importantly food stealer, Tara, complained as she walked in right behind me.
I turned around and nodded sadly. "So serious, that he's even managed to put a picture on the title page this time."
Tara looked back up at the board and laughed. "Good Lord, where did he find that?"
I looked back up at the board and laughed too. Mr. Durner had managed to find the most sketchy looking guy from the hood holding up a peace sign. Written over the guy's face were the words 'Will you bring peace?'
"Langston, Tara, always a pleasure to see you in my classes."
Tara and I turned around at the sound of our names. Mr. Durner was walking through the door just as the bell started to ring.
He was dressed in his usual attire; a dress shirt and kaki shorts, and a fabulously patterned sweater vest. All he needed was a golf bag and he would be your stereotypical Scottish golfer.
"The pleasure is all ours, Mr. Durner." Tara replied sweetly.
The old man smiled. "Thank you my dear, but I know what you're trying to do."
I made a fake confused face and joined her in the attempt to get out of the power-point. "What are you talking about?"
Mr. Durner just chuckled. "Have a seat ladies, and prepare yourselves. This is a good lesson today."
I sighed and headed straight for my normal spot at the back of the room. Tara plopped into the seat next to me a moment later.
"Seriously," she whispered harshly, "it's the last day, we should be signing yearbooks, and crying, and all that jazz."
I laughed. "All that jazz, yes I'm definitely upset about missing out on that."
She rolled her eyes at me and turned to face the front of the room. I heard her smack her gum on the roof of her mouth.
Tara was one of the girls who was just like the popular kids from movies or tv. She wore designer clothes, acted important, and never embarrassed herself.
That last part I was a little jealous of, considering I somehow always managed to get myself into every embarrassing situation I could find.
The only difference between Tara and the so-called popular girls was the fact that she didn't hang out with them.
She claimed that they didn't connect with her on a spiritual level.
Whatever that meant.
I also turned to the front and readied myself to listen to Mr. Durner's never ending knowledge of stuff he learned on the internet.
I'm not sure if it was the last day of school jitters or just extreme boredom, but I somehow managed to space out for almost the entire class period.
"...so I guess if I want you to remember anything about today's lesson, it's that each of us has an individual purpose." I snapped my focus back up to Mr. Durner for his closing statement.
"Dr. King fought for equality, Armstrong walked on the moon, millions of people before us changed the world to make it better. So I invite you to sit one day, it doesn't have to be now, but one day just sit and wonder why you were put on this earth. What were you called to do?"
And with that, Mr. Durner bowed and walked back to the desk.
And just with that, my brain started grinding its gears to find a rational answer. Of course it couldn't find one, my brain was just shy of 17 years, how would it know why I was here?
"God that was boring." Tara interrupted my thought process.
I looked over at her and nodded grimly.
She laughed. "Like you'd know, Langston, you were staring out the window the whole time."
I laughed too.
If only I had stared a little longer.
Maybe I wouldn't have completely screwed up my life then.
