Today’s Plinky prompt:
Who was your arch enemy when you were 10?
Change the name, if you're a wuss.
This one is easy.
Keri (her real name!) and I became fast friends when I started fifth grade at TVJA. We both lived with our single moms, and because most of our classmates’ parents were married, we banded together as the odd ones out. But friendship, like all things at that age, is fickle. The next school year we both started playing the flute in band and suddenly our friendship became competitive. Some might have said it was downright hateful. There were probably other issues too, like fights between mutual friends and playground stuff and all that. I don’t remember. I just know that we went from being best of friends to not being able to stand each other anymore. We continued like that through junior high.
In 1983-84 TVJA added a tenth grade, and while a lot of kids went on to academy (high school) for ninth grade, nearly all of them had left by tenth. Our class was eight students strong, and one of those students was Keri. This was distressing to me—her too, I’m sure—but our mutual hatred simply couldn’t survive the small class size. I think it surprised us both that within weeks we were civil again. Keri and I ended up being best friends through the rest of high school.
I went to Washington state for college, and Keri went to Virginia. We had little contact for several years, but when we were both back in Portland in the early 90’s we got together occasionally. In 1994 we made a reunion trip to San Francisco with the other two girls from our tenth grade class, exactly ten years after our memorable class trip there. Keri later moved to Seattle and we lost touch again.
The happy ending to my arch enemy story: last week we found each other on Facebook and are slowly getting caught up again. Many of my best memories of high school and beyond involve Keri, and I’m glad she was my enemy for only a few years instead of for EVER.
The not so happy ending (for someone else): I ran into our tenth grade teacher last year, who is now pastoring a church near where I live. He told me he quit teaching after that infamous school year. We broke him! I suspect it was being stuck in a van with eight teenagers on that very long drive to and from San Francisco…
Interesting, Jen, that you should write about an "arch enemy" today. When I was 10, going to a small country school in Ohio, my arch enemy was Isabelle--I don't think I've ever actually yelled at another classmate like I did this girl. Our hostility towards one another became so apparent that our teacher called us to her desk one day. "You girls have to settle whatever it is between you that makes you fight so much!" Isabelle and I looked at each other and neither of us could honestly give any real reason. We were just terribly competitive! While I don't think the competitive edge ever completely left our relationship, we did become good friends. My family left that town and moved to Medford when I was 15 and I have not seen Isabelle since. However, another classmate emailed me recently and said he thought Isabelle had been in a car accident some years ago, is in a wheelchair and now lives in California. Today, just before I read your blog, I tried to call her. Didn't reach her this time, but I plan to keep trying.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, Jen, that you should write about an "arch enemy" today. When I was 10, going to a small country school in Ohio, my arch enemy was Isabelle--I don't think I've ever actually yelled at another classmate like I did this girl. Our hostility towards one another became so apparent that our teacher called us to her desk one day. "You girls have to settle whatever it is between you that makes you fight so much!" Isabelle and I looked at each other and neither of us could honestly give any real reason. We were just terribly competitive! While I don't think the competitive edge ever completely left our relationship, we did become good friends. My family left that town and moved to Medford when I was 15 and I have not seen Isabelle since. However, another classmate emailed me recently and said he thought Isabelle had been in a car accident some years ago, is in a wheelchair and now lives in California. Today, just before I read your blog, I tried to call her. Didn't reach her this time, but I plan to keep trying.
ReplyDelete