What Was

Chapter 1

“Some people come into our lives, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never the same,” –Anonymous

    Sometimes you meet people that play a minor role in your life. Sometimes you meet people that you know you’re never going to really hang out with. There are some people that you just don’t connect with.

   Sometimes you meet people who change your life. You meet people who you slowly grow affection for.

   Sometimes you stray from old friends, no matter how much you wish you wouldn’t. Sometimes life gets in the way.

   I, the narrator, would start the story off with “Once upon a time”, but that would make this story a fairytale, and as sad as it is, this is a real story, and sometimes real stories don’t start off with “Once upon a time,” and sometimes real stories don’t get happy endings.

   So let’s just pretend that this story starts off with the ringing of the 5th period bell. Students pour into a small classroom with too many desks. Everybody ignores the bellwork on the board. The teacher sits at his desk with eyes only for his computer. The room quickly becomes loud. There are students playing tag, jumping over desks, and fighting over computers. The loudest table, however, is in the back.

    Five students- Beth Parker, Lea Mitchels, Valentina Evans, Mia Michaels, and Ethan Gregory- sit at a table with four desks. Even though they are the only students seated in the whole classroom, they seem to be making the most sound- squealing, laughing, and yelling at all times. Eventually Mr. Porter walks over to their table.

   “Smart girl Val, go back to your seat,” Mr. Porter would say. Valentina Evans, or Val, was a bubbly, energetic, popular 7th grader. She was very pretty, and smart, too. Mr. Porter liked to tease the whole table, not just Val. Mr. Porter would then add, “Mia, you too.”

   Mia was a small girl with yellow-ish skin that would cause teasing from Ethan. She had big brown eyes and curly hair. Mia also hung out with a popular crowd, but a different crowd than Val- almost another whole section of the 7th grade.

   Mr. Porter then turned to Beth, another student who was a big target of his teasing. “Stop squealing, Giggle Girls,” he would say, addressing both Beth and Lea, who were guilty of squealing quite a bit over a show called Glee.

   Beth was a tall 6th grader with dirty blonde hair and glasses. Beth was always smiling and always excited. Beth didn’t hang out with the popular group in 6th grade, and she really didn’t care.

   Mr. Porter never really looked at Lea Mitchels, and Lea secretly suspected that Mr. Porter was afraid of her, maybe because of the high scores she received in his class. Lea was a short, awkward 7th grader with light brown hair and blue eyes.  Most people thought Lea to be shy, but only a certain number of people knew Lea was very theatrical. She didn’t hang out with a popular group, and didn’t care to.

   Mr. Porter never really paid attention to the 5th member of the table in the back- Ethan Gregory. Ethan Gregory was a tall 7th grader with dark brown hair. He often had a far off look on his face. Ethan was also known as dino, for the Mohawk on his head. He was often quiet and replied to most things with laughter, however he did have a reputation for coming up with funny one liners.

   It was in Mr. Porter’s 5th period Multi-Media class that these five kids met, and over the years they only grew closer. They always made sure they had the same 5th period class with Mr. Porter, and they made it a priority to drive him nuts. They made sure to go to the same high school. Over the years, Mr. Porter wasn’t their only victim. There were other teachers, however I won’t mention any names, for privacy reasons- ahem, Mr. Baker.

   But as I said, this is real life, not a fairytale. There came a time when these five would start to grow apart.

   Val was the first to go. In her Junior year of high school she was accepted to a Performing Arts high school, where she graduated with a degree in dance.

   Ethan, suddenly, was popular. The three girls that were left didn’t understand, as his popularity seemed to have happened overnight.

   Suddenly, Lea was sucked into her IB classes and her theatre extracurricular activities. She was accepted to Princeton University and started studying harder than ever.

   Mia and Beth grew apart, as they didn’t have many classes together because of the age difference.

   What happened, you may ask. Life happened, and like usual, there was nothing any of them could do about it.