Leaving my middle school and going to high school was not a great experience in my life. I graduated from a catholic grammar school that had about 200 students and went to a catholic high school that had about 1100. For me, the transition was not a good one. I knew a group of kids that were leaving my school and going to the same high school as I was so I thought that would be great, it's always good to know some people so you don't feel like your the only new kid. These other students were not really friends, just kids in my class. When I got to the high school, they branched off and did their own things and I felt pretty much alone. The other problem I had was in grammar school I had a pretty equal number of male and female friends. Once I walked through the doors of my new school I became so shy around girls. I'll never forget freshman orientation, seeing a whole new crop of girls and thinking how cute they all were and also how unobtainable they were. What every person needs in a time like this is one good friend. It happened in my freshman algebra class. We were to pair off in groups of two to solve some word problems that really were not algebra related. I partnered up with Brian Miguel. Brian was a kid who was taller then I was (no shock there, I was the 2nd smallest kid until my Junior year) and a lot heavier. He used to wear some thick glasses also. By the time that 45 minute class was over I knew Brian and I would be good friends. We had so many things in common from movies we liked to TV shows to our dry sarcastic styles of humour.
The best part of any day was lunch. I saw it as my mission to get Brian to laugh during lunch and I found a multitude of ways to do so. It ranged from a bad impression of Judas Priest in his older and less creative years to flinging a tomato seed on my friend's face and yelling how big of a zit he had. I sat at the same table and ate lunch with the same guys every day. Tom Whalen, Ernie Joint, Mike Texieria, Mark Shields, Brian Miguel, and Danny Sheehan. Ernie was the brain of the group, Tom was not far behind in brain power which made him feel a bit more down to my level; though not by much because I was far below Tom's smarts. Tom also came from a family that was well off and I sometimes felt inferior to Tom, not that it was his fault. Mark was from a farming town and so we called him a farmer even though he was not from a farm. Mike was another good guy that was like all of us, just a little socially awkward. Mike used to be a huge fan of the TV show "Knight Rider" and even named his black Dodge Reliant K car "Kitt." Mike also used to wear a class ring and claim he could speak to the dead. As bad as a group we were, Danny made us look like the social elite. I used to put sandwich meat in Danny's books as a gag and Danny would always just take it. In today's world a guy like Danny would probably not be so tolerant. It was always Brian that made lunch fun. I would get him to laugh so much that soda would come out of his nostrils, whats funnier then that.
We used to go the mall all the time. While most teenagers go there to be social and hang out, Brian and I went to the movies and just walked around. If the mall had more then one floor we used to buy candy and try and drop it in the mouth of the other guy from the 2nd floor. Brian and I also came close to crashing our cars in our senior year. We were driving in a pick up truck that I decided to drive over an embankment. I almost rolled it over on us. Brian was driving me home one day in his car when we were going down a hill in the rain and his brakes didn't stop us. We hydroplaned down the hill almost through a red light. The funny part was while that was happening we were singing reggae songs about us dying in his car.
In the 4 years I went to high school, Brian and I only had that one class together and lunch. Brian was smarter and more driven in his school work and so he always did well. He was accepted into Boston University as a film major and after graduation, moved to Los Angeles. Funny story, My brother and one of his friends and myself were flying to Las Vegas for a quick vacation and Brian was going to join us. We flew in from Boston and were waiting for Brian to arrive because our flights were timed to arrive about the same time. After a few minutes this guy comes up to me and asks if he can have a quarter for the phone and I tell him I don't have one so he walks away. He comes back a second later laughing. It was Brian, but not the Brian I saw last. He died his hair blond, lost the glasses and about 80 pounds and had a little goatee thing going. California living did him very well.
It was 24 years ago this September that Brian and I met. Since he moved to California, I have flown out there twice to visit, and he came out here twice, once for my wedding and once for his own. We talk on the phone sometimes and e-mail about once every month. Still to this day I consider Brian to be my best friend. There were alot of times in high school that were not so much fun, though some fun managed to sneak in from time to time, but that is for the next posting.
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