The Friends

Chapter 1

Introduction

She had heard many people say that everyone has a gift. The more she thought about this saying the more she thought that it was crap. Not everyone is given a gift, she thought to herself. Yes, there are those who at a young age have already decided on their life's career. These people have it easy. Gifts for them are like choosing between one pair of shoes as oppose to another, it just comes easy. They seem to have so many options that all they need to do is pick and choose. Education comes easy to people like this.

She on the other hand felt she had no gift. She knew she did not possess that great academic mind that would allow her to navigate through school without a worry. No, She didn't possess that one thing she was supposed to be good at. No, she didn't have a gift. She was searching for some kind of purpose in her life. Searching for that one thing that she could possess that would make her stand out far beyond all others. This is what she searched for within herself for a long time and had never found.

*****************

It's 4:30pm now, another half an hour and I can leave. I'm sitting here after school hours in a classroom with six other kids trying with all my might not to fall asleep while this math teacher is trying to teach about graphing functions. Oh, I forgot to tell you, I'm sitting here in this tutoring session as a last ditch attempt to try and understand algebra. It just doesn't make sense to me. When will I ever need to graph a curve or plot points in my life? This may be useful information for some, but I just can't imagine myself at the next party talking to a guy about the area beneath a parabola.

Wow, this teacher just doesn't get it. As he drones on and on about this stuff, the more hypnotized we all get. We are being lulled to sleep. Our mouths are open, our eyes are fixed but we are all asleep, not hearing a word being taught. This guy should have a magic act. You know the type where the magician puts people to sleep and makes them do all kinds of crazy things like, bark like a dog or sing as an opera star. This guy could definitely fit in with the best of them. A David Copperfield, right here in our class teaching math, Aren't we lucky.

I'm sitting here wondering how I could just forward fast my life to get past this school crap. I'd rather be with my friends hanging out after school, laughing and joking about stuff. If it was up to me, I'd be hanging with my girls all day. There is always so much to talk about. My one friend Karen, she's a trip, big mouth. She doesn't care who that smart mouth of hers offends. That girl will speak her mind. The problem is she is starting to do it a bit too much lately. The other day we had gym and Karen didn't have gym clothes that day. When the gym teacher found out, she told Karen that was the third time this week and that she was in jeopardy of failing for this quarter. Karen went off on the gym teacher, talking about how she didn't give a fuck about no damn gym class. She said the whole class can kiss her ass. She called them losers and said she didn't need gym. She said she was about to make some real money and that this damn school was slowing her down. Our gym teacher was clearly upset. Her face had turned red and, I'm sure, if she could have hit Karen and gotten away with it, she would have. With that, the teacher took Karen to the guidance counselor's office. I heard she got into it with him too. As a result of all of that, Karen got a three day suspension and her Mom had to come up to school. Her Mom beat her up pretty bad for getting suspended, but to me it just seems like Karen's Mom never needs much of an excuse to beat on her. It doesn't seem fair, Karen really isn't that bad. It's just that her Mom puts a lot on her as far as responsibility, and from what I can see, there is a lot of resentment there too. When things don't go perfect, she takes it out on Karen. It's either going to be physical abuse or verbal, but there will be some kind of abuse in there. When the pressure builds up to the point where Karen can't take it anymore, she explodes and lashes out at people. It's almost like she blacks out for a moment and becomes someone else. During these times she is impossible to talk to. I know the real Karen. Like I said, she is a little rough around the edges, but she is good people. She wouldn't hesitate to back me up if some bitches wanted to get up in my face.

My other good buddy is Tracey. He is a He that prefers to be referred to as she. Yes, Tracey is as gay as you can get. In describing Tracey, the word flaming seems to make its way into the description rather easily. He has this petite frame and soft facial features. At times he makes me a little jealous because most times he is looking better than me. Hey, I don't understand this shit at all. I'm the one with the vagina, but he gets more penis attention than me. Tracey had had it kinda rough growing up. His father split when Tracey was born, and his Mom never seemed to take the time to sit and listen or talk to him growing up. He was confused about his sexuality and had no one to talk to in those early years. His Mom hooked up with this excon several years later after Tracey's father left them. This excon guy was the real deal, bad dude, he got sent to jail for fifteen years. Something about a fight out in the street many years ago, bullets started flying two guys shot and killed. This excon must have thought he was in the Wild Wild West. Anyway, he gets sent up, does some time and gets out early on some crazy technicality his lawyer managed to dig up. He hooks up with Tracey's Mom and that's when Tracey's life started to change. This excon creep, use to rape Tracey on the regular. Shit he must have gotten use to while he was in the joint. It started when Tracey was about thirteen. He was never very macho or masculine looking to begin with, but after a few years of that abuse from his stepdad, Tracey's whole character really started leaning in the gay direction. His Mom and the excon creep are not together anymore, but the result of that whole time period has defined who Tracey is now. I guess you can say we are misfits trying to fit into a life that isn't kind to us. My name is Ann and this if our little story.