Bye Bye Best Friend

So way back in grade school like 3rd 4th 5th gradish I had a best friend. This dude Jason. He lived down the street and we'd hang out practically every day. Doing whatever. Jumping off his roof movie action style. Going bike riding. Checking out his dad's Playboy collection in the basement. Playing football in the park in 3 on 3 games. (I was Terry Bradshaw and he was Lynn Swann and we were like an awesome team. I remember believing that my throwing arm was so good that I could seriously become a professional football. And he was a great stunty miracle-catch type receiver.) We were best friends.

Anyway, we get into 6th grade and things started changing. All of a sudden I started noticing that Jason was hanging around the 'cool kids' once in a while. And whenever I went to sort of join in with him and his "cool kid" friends, I knew I wasn't cool and felt pressure to try and be extra cool to prove that I was super cool which of course made me more uncool than I already was which was way uncool. After all I was the kid who worked in auditorium (for fun!) running the movie projector or doing lights and sound for school plays and stuff. And I had some other friends who dug that sort of stuff too.

One day I called Jason to see if he wanted to hang out and play Atari but he said it was raining and he didn't want to go outside. So I whatevered it but later called him back to tell him that I would go over to his house even though it was raining-- and I found out from his mom that he went out! Somewhere with Larry! He totally snubbed me and went out with Larry! In the rain! Larry the cool kid! And right then and there I realized then that we sort of weren't best friends anymore.

Slowly for the rest of the year we drifted apart. I had my fun nerdly friends and he transforming into 'cool'. At the end of that year the school play was Bye Bye Birdie. Jason tried out for the lead guy (Birdie I guess) and got the part. It was like a full blown musical where Jason would actually go up and down the aisles in the auditorium singing like Elvis or whatever. I didn't even know he could do stuff like that! And my part in the school play was running the spotlight at the back of the room. (seriously) There I was in the back dorking hardcore while my ex-best friend totally launched himself into the "cool" strasophere... and my job was to hold that light on him as he danced up and down not missing a beat and having girls scream at him and stuff.

This might sound like a sad story but it really isn't. Things happen when you're a kid. Friends get interested in different stuff. People change. The cool kids didn't seem so cool. Anyway soon I became kind of a leader in my own group of nerdish friends-- and became the me that would be me eventually-- happy to be comfortably uncool.

ok bye!

tOdd