Lessons Were Learned Essay, Research Paper

In high school, I was a bad kid. I didn?t do drugs or drink beer, but I was bad. School wasn?t a priority of mine during my junior year, and I failed all of my classes except weight training, ceramics, and jewelry. I lived for the bell at the end of the day. This was the first year that I drove, and I did it a lot. I had an old baby blue Chevrolet pickup that could fly like the wind. I met a lot of people, and gained some good friends.

Towards the beginning of the year, I spent lots of my time with my friend Jim. He was into cars and he helped me a lot with my truck. We used to get to school early every day to get good parking. Sitting in his truck, we listened to music, talked about the most random things, and smoked cigarettes. We shared the same first class and were always late to it. We both failed it.

Another cool friend that I had was Stacey. We had dated for a while back in the eighth grade, so I knew her pretty well. We both spent our free third period and our time after school together. Stacey?s friend Scott was a senior whom I already knew because he was a friend of my older brother years earlier. Early in the school year, the three of us hung out on the weekends.

Some time after Christmas, Scott and Stacey met Jim. We all seemed to get along well and had some good times together. We met Dan one day up at the smoking corner. Dan was a sophomore and also into trucks. John Basset, Jim?s friend who lived in Issaquah, also had a big truck. I had previously met his girlfriend who went to our school. J.B.?s girlfriend, Vicki, was a bitch. Everyone knew it and they just dealt with it. The seven of us quickly became a close circle of friends. The whole gang, Jim, Vicki, J.B., Scott, Dan, Stacey and I, started hanging out a lot on the weekends. We used to go up to the mountains with all of our trucks and go 4-wheeling. We built huge bonfires and sat around them telling stories and sipping beer. This was my crew, my friends, and the main priority in my life.

Sometime in March, things changed. One Saturday night while we were all together planning our mischief, Vicki and Stacey got in an argument. The argument almost got physical, but the boys and I stopped it just in time. It changed everything. Stacey didn?t hang out with the crew after that, and I was the only one that still hung out with her. I dealt with separating my time between the crew and Stacey. That bothered me, but I did it because I wanted to keep all of my friends.

At the end of my junior year, I spent the last day of school with Stacey. That Friday night I went over to Stacey?s house and watched a movie. I had to be home that night by one o?clock. At twelve thirty, I went to the street to get in my truck, and as I put my hand on the door handle to open the door, I felt gooey stuff on the handle. As it got all over my hand, I looked at the ground and there were eggshells scattered about. Then I realized who had done this to me. The egg was still fresh, and it was all over the side of my truck. This meant that it hadn?t been long since they egged my truck. Stacey and I hosed down the side of my truck and wiped it down with paper towels. After we cleaned it off, I got in the truck and there was egg all over the dash and on the floor. The culprits had opened the rear-sliding window and threw some eggs into the cab of my truck, which took me weeks to clean. As I was cleaning out the cab of the truck, I noticed a car creeping along on a crossing street about a half-mile away. The car?s headlights were off. I grabbed my flashlight from under the seat, and pointed it towards the car. As it?s lights came on, the car sped off. I recognized the car as Dan?s mom?s car. Seeing the car only strengthened my belief of who egged my truck.

After getting home that night, I was so pissed and depressed at the same time. I wrote down five names on a piece of paper, names of the five people that I thought did this to me. Jim, Scott, Dan, Vicki, and J.B. were the five. The next day I talked to Dan on the phone. I told him that Scott had already confessed, and that I wanted his version of the story. He believed me and told me everything. He said that it was all Vicki?s idea, because she was still bitter at Stacey, and I believed him because it made sense. I lost five ?good? friends that day.

I don?t talk to Jim, J.B, Scott or Vicki anymore, but I see Dan everyone in a while. Stacey lives in Reno, and I don?t keep in touch with her. I realize that no matter how well I know someone, they can double-cross me in a heartbeat. I also choose friends that not only enjoy the same activities and hobbies as me, but also have the same morals and ethics as me.

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