Chapter 4: Roots

"We would spend hours on end laughing our balls off to the most ridiculous and stupid shit on the planet. So much that our cheeks and stomachs would be sore by the time he went home."

     In 1st grade, I wasn't very talkative or social amongst the other kids in my school. Actually, I was pretty much like that up until middle school. People scared me. I was afraid of what people were capable of to kids like me. And it was obvious that I had an early sense of how society works and treats kids who were like me back then.

     Little Ernell was your basic nerd kid. I was "fat". I was good in school. I played with trading cards. I watched japanese animated shows. I didn't talk to anyone. And when I did talk, only awkward dumb shit would come out of my mouth. Sadly enough, those are all qualifications to get picked on by the "cool kids" in school.

     After taking a couple months of endless teasing and name calling, I decided to start socializing a little bit with other people I never talked to before. My first step towards doing this was sitting next to someone in the cafeteria during lunch, which is something I never really did. I was always to shy to sit near anyone when I ate. So my first reaction after getting lunch was to go sit outside by the four square boxes, eat my meal, read, and then go to class when the bell rung. The process was simple, but it allowed me to eat and finish my homework without getting picked on.

     I eventually got up the courage to sit in the cafeteria after getting my meal. When I was looking around the room for some place to sit, the only thing I could think was, "who wouldn't pick on me or laugh at me or tell me to go away?" Needless to say, it was awkward for me to stand there and stare at different people around the room in order to decide what was the best decision.

     But when I saw these three boys sitting by themselves at one of the tables, I couldn't help but think that they must have been exactly like me. Looking for a way to escape from other people. With that said, I made my way towards the boys and sat down next to the biggest guy there. In about half an hour, I made three new best friends.

Aaron Feazle, one of my first best friends.

     The big guy I sat next to was Nick Smith. One of the smartest guys I ever met in my entire life. But had one of the worst tempers I'd ever seen. Him and his older brothers, Will and Jake, taught me so many valuable lessons in my younger years. On top of those lessons, Nick was a huge influence on my love towards trading card games. Pokemon, Magic The Gathering, Gundam, Yu-Gi-Oh, and The Seventh Sea were all games he taught me how to play. When we weren't playing those, we were watching anime movies or playing video games like Halo or Final Fantasy. It was a long and awesome time we had when I went over to his house.

     Another one of the guys I met at the table was A.J. or Aaron Feazle. Now believe it or not, me and Aaron became closer friends than I was with Mike and Nick in all honesty. I don't know what it was, but him and I were on a really strange level together. We loved the same things and hated all the same things. And because his parents were so strict about him doing fun stuff, he was over my house every night playing video games and watching Digimon with me. There were a lot of good times we had hanging out together.

     Lastly, the only one of the three that I am still currently friends with today is Mike Price, or by what we all call him now, Mikey. Mike and I didn't spend nearly as much time as I did with AJ, but when we did hang out, it was HYSTERICAL. We would spend hours on end laughing our balls off to the most ridiculous and stupid shit on the planet. So much that our cheeks and stomachs would be sore by the time he went home.

     All three of us would spend lunch at school playing with our cards and talking about the newest episodes of Pokemon and Digimon from the day before. In the mornings, we would meet up extra early so we could walk to school together and have time to battle our Pokemon on our Gameboys before school started, unless of course they were already staying at my house the previous night.

Mike Price. Current day.

     In case you didn't realize that I said it earlier, Mikey is the only on of the three boys that I'm still currently in contact with. Not because we got into a huge fight or anything, but simply because we all grew apart. Mikey is currently in the United States Marine Core, stationed in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. He has a lovely girlfriend and thankfully, he's not as much of a push over as he used to be when he was younger. He comes back home about once a year for the holidays and visits his family as well as mine. And when he does visit, we spend most of his vacation time hanging out and catching up. AJ is also in the Marines, but he just recently joined. After we graduated from Madison High School I didn't ever hear from him, but last that I've seen, he also has a sweet girlfriend and will probably be coming home soon on temporary leave. Nick, on the other hand, I have no clue about. After elementary school, he transferred to a different middle school than mine. Ever since, I only hung out with him once before I finally never saw him again. His father passed away when were kids, and Nick's family was absolutely crushed. As far as I know, he didn't turn out to be a very bright guy. I've heard from numerous people that his anger issues got worse than they were in elementary school, and he refused to make anymore friends after he met the rest of us.

     It's just silly to think of how easy it is to have friends come and go. Making new relationships with these guys was as simple as playing video games with them. We had the greatest and happiest memories hanging out with each other. But the greatest thing about us all being friends is that I learned something more important than just having friends itself. And that was an understanding that all of the good times, good laughs, and good friendships will always weigh much more than any fight or argument you have with someone important in your life. People walk out of your life just as easily as they walk in, why not make that time as much fun as you possibly can?