Juvenile Delinquency

I have been reading a book called Utterly Monkey and in it one of the title characters reminisces about a time in grade school where his mate gets suspended from school for causing trouble in class. Immediately I started to recollect my school days and the stupid things I did while there.

In the 9th grade, as a student at Midland Freshman, I was at a crossroads in deciding the person I would become. I was well liked by most people which allowed me any type of friend I wanted but for some reason, partly due to a previous friendship, I hung out with potheads while on the school grounds. I didn't associate with them outside of school but between the hours of 8 and 4 I talked, ate lunch with, and generally palled around with stoners.

One of these guys was an old friend from grade school by the name of Brian Nettles. I had been close friends with him starting around the 3rd or 4th grade but had distanced myself from him in the later years. The other guy that was in our primary group was a kid by the name of Jeff W. I can't remember his name anymore but we went all the way through High School together before he ended up committing suicide with a shotgun. It was a traumatic experience for Brian but by the time it had happened I had disassociated myself with all of these guys.

None the less, as you do with your friends, trying to impress them can become a goal...especially in High School where everyone is trying to fit in and determine who they are going to be. I have done many stupid things but in an effort to make the group I hung out with think that I was cool, I did something I really regret.

I can say that I was probably considered a pot head in the 9th school just by my associates. I have never taken a recreational drug and have no plans ever to but I was slightly familiar with the culture just by spending time with potheads. Not to mention that I was one of the bigger kids in school and dressed in shirts and shorts all the time.

But, and I don't recall what made me do this, one morning in an effort to impress people and make them think I was cool and dangerous, I brought alcohol to school with me. I mixed Vodka with Sprite in a Sprite bottle and brought it in my backpack into the quad area. I remember making some statement to the affect of "I had to get drunk this morning to make it through school today" or "Yeah, this is my morning drink". I can't remember my exact words but the point was to make people think that this was a regular occurrence for me.

All of my "friends" occasionally carried weed on them or had it close by. It seems so stupid now but even at my grade I knew I didn't want to smoke and I needed something that would put me on par with them. I had enough sense to keep it hidden and put it in a container that wouldn't draw attention. In reality it wasn't even that much alcohol but it was enough to make me look "finger quotes" Bad Ass "finger quotes" to all of my "friends".

There are times when "youth" and "stupidity" go hand in hand and that was one of those days. Looking back on it I can only laugh at how ridiculous it is to seek approval from people whose approval later didn't mean squat. I wasn't impressing a future company president or entrepreneur. I was impressing a washed out stoner, a suicide victim, and a bunch of nameless faces.

That is all,

Newt