My OTHER Friend from the Past

In my previous blog, you read about a best friend that I once had through my elementary and part of my junior high years in school. He moved away and I have had very limited contact with him since. This blog will be about the other friend that I mentioned briefly in the previous blog. He and I had a falling out, of sorts, around the time that Doug moved away. Here is that complete story.

I really can't exactly remember how Erik and I became friends. Honestly, I don't know that we would've been friends if it weren't for Doug. I can't really think of a more witty way to describe it other than to say without Doug, our friendship had lost its luster. Clearly Erik felt the same way and I despised him ever since for it.

Erik fit into our little group because he had a quiet side. However, he was smart and very sarcastic. He was very thin for as long as I've known him and if I remember right, he wore glasses during most of his elementary years. In fact, he was the smartest kid in our class. It would be a shock if he didn't always have straight A's because he was darn near close. I always remember many people telling him he'd be our class valedictorian because he was so smart. I think he got tired of hearing it, though, and vowed later on that it would never happen. Nontheless, we all thought it would be true in elementary.

I wouldn't say he was a star athlete, however, he sure could run. I remember playing tag during recess and myself or others having a great deal of difficulty trying to catch him. He ran cross country and track during his junior high and high school years, and he'd always be one of the fastest runners for our school. He also had a great deal of knowledge of our school, as well. His mother was a well-respected science teacher for the school and he would always tell me or Doug some of the "behind-the-scenes" news regarding the district. One story even involved my uncle who once taught as a P.E./Health teacher and coached girls basketball. My uncle had been picketing during a teacher's strike when a dog came up to him and urinated on his leg. Erik thought it was funny but I took some offense to it, considering that it was a relative he was talking about. He never said my uncle's name, but from everything he described, I'm pretty sure it was my uncle Erik was talking about. Our school underwent a great deal of change during my later-elementary years when one building was demolished and an entire new wing was constructed. Erik was able to give us details about the history of the old building. It's hard to remember too many details about our friendship anymore, but I remember Doug and I sitting on the swings and Erik talking about the old building as we looked at it. Something that I will always remember.

As I described in my last blog, Doug had moved away and I was left to fend for myself. I don't know what happened, but Erik's behavior had gone from day to night. He had a much darker sense of humor and he got his kicks out of picking on me constantly. He was pure eveil; I don't know if it was puberty that made him this way or what. Even some of my other friends took Erik's lead and were ganging up on me. It definitely came as a big shock. I didn't know what to do, so I basically just ignored and avoided them. I had become a loner and began to do things on my own. I was betrayed and it's a feeling I will never forget.

From what I can remember during our seventh grade year, Doug, Erik, and I still had a friendly relationship. We were all split up in different classrooms since we were now in junior high, but we still saw each other frequently. Up until the point Doug moved away, Erik and I were civil to each other. But beyond that, he was a different person. To this day I still cannot understand why he changed and what caused him to "hate" me so much. I don't know if he thought it was all one big joke but I never thought he was funny. We were in the same science team in junior high and high school and we were even partnered up in a few events. Those were the only moments I had contact with Erik during my final years in grade school. I simply hated his guts and he never apologized for his behavior, nor offered up an explanation why he acted the way he did. Instead of being the class valedictorian, he was now in the lower bracket of my class. He even had one memorable outburst during one of the classes I had with him, where the teacher sent him to the principal's office and left everyone in the room stunned. This was not the Erik we all knew. Whether it was something psychological or what ... I guess it's something we will never know. He even grew his hair long and dyed it black during our senior year! This being a complete reversal from the kid that once had his hair buzzed time and time again in elementary.

I do not offer up any explanations or excuses for Erik and his change of behavior towards me. I have my theories, but until someone asks him, those theories would never have any truth. I have long since moved on and haven't considered him my friend since junior high. A friend does not betray another friend and expect them to remain acquaintences. I have a few memories left of the Erik I once knew, but all of those are fading fast and I am still haunted by "evil" Erik after Doug left. To be honest, I hold no regrets and I don't miss him as a friend. I have simply moved on and the nice thing about graduating from high school is, you don't have to ever see those idiots (the ones that treat you the worst) again. The last I heard, Erik was enlisted in the military. Whether he still is; I haven't a clue.