Memoir

I'll never forget the sound of  the voices yelling behind me.  "Get back here you damn kids!" and my friends shouting at me "Run faster. Don't slow down".  We took off through the park behind the Library and didn't slow up for anything.  We had some geezer on our tails all pissed off for what we had been up to.
"Ditch the boards up here they're slowing us down". Ethan yelled at the rest of us.

          Before high school I thought it was cool to do a lot of stupid things.  This was during the time when the fads were: Skinny jeans, high tops, long hair, and skateboarding.  At this point in my past I had all of them.  My eighth grade year started out decent.  I was keeping all A's and was hanging out with good people.  I had recently quit soccer though which had a big impact on me.  After playing with one coach for nearly a decade it was rough to see him leave us.  As he was my favorite coach it only seemed fit for me to leave when he did.  I also hated the new guy because he was some uppity, self absorbed, Irish jerk.  Once I got out of soccer I spent a lot of time skateboarding, and hanging out with the middle schools burnouts (If that's even a thing), and skipping out on my school work.  It was getting bad because school was no longer my number one priority.  Although this was only middle school and grades didn't really make a difference, I should have been setting a standard to prepare myself for high school.   It didn't even occur to me during this time that I needed to change what I had been slipping into.  My teachers noticed, my old friends, and even my parents, but I didn't listen to anything they had to say.  I had my mind set on that fact that I was too good for that which would eventually come back around for the worse.

          I don't remember what the date was or even the day of the week, but I'll never forget what the day was like.  It was a warm, clear, sunny day.  One of those days were all you want to do is hang out outside.  The final school bell rang. Summer was here at last!  As i'm walking to my locker my buddies came up to me.
"Hey man you wanna come into town with us?"  Ethan asked.
"Sure let me just get my shit from my locker first."  I responded
We had cleared out our lockers the week before, but I would usually keep my skateboard in there.  I got my board and the guys and I left out the back door of Mill Creek.  We rode down the track to Wylie area then went to Mug n' Bops.
"Lets get some stuff from the gas station." I said.
We walked in and the owner had the look of disgust probably because we looked like a bunch of thugs.    I was never one for the whole "stealing things" for a few reasons.  One, I didn't think it was ever necessary, and two, I didn't have the grapes to do it.  The other guy I went with was my friend Kevin.
"Here hold my stuff." He demanded of me.  I agreed not knowing what he was going to be doing.  He started putting little things in his pockets that he didn't even need.  I didn't say anything about it at the time and now that I think about it I probably should have.  When we were done I went up to pay first, and the owner wasn't stupid.  He knew what was up.  He made all of us empty our pockets and backpacks.  I was happy he knew I hadn't taken anything but he told Ethan and Kevin to never come back.
"Lets go back to my house I have an idea." Kevin said.
Not knowing what he wanted to do I agreed.  When we got there, him and Ethan grabbed a few cans of spray paint.  My stupid self didn't think it was necessary to ask so I just went with it.  We skateboarded through town to the new bridge where they decided they were going to graffiti it.  They started off by drawing a sun, and then some profanity.
"You want to paint anything on there?" They asked me.
"No way man, that's not me." I replied.
I was shocked that they were willing to do this and I didn't want any part of it.  Now we are back to where my story began.  Running from some geezer that saw us down there.  I asked myself constantly as I was running away: "Why do you let yourself get caught up in all this?" and I was never able to come up with an answer.  We hauled ass up the stairs in the park after ditching the boards and hid in the library.  We waited there for about a half hour until things calmed down a little bit.  We went back, got our boards, and I told the guys that I had to go home.  I walked to my Moms work and waited there for her to get off.  I didn't want to hang out with those guys anymore because they did nothing but get me caught up in their crap.
          It was at this time in my life that I realized it was time for a change.  I didn't want to be that kid that did all that illegal stuff and all the adults hated.  I started to work my way into new friend groups.  Freshman year started and it was time to get back into sports.  I went to soccer try outs and made JV as a freshman.  I went on to have a very successful year both academically and in my extra curricular activities.  I hung out with a lot of the football kids, and started playing xbox more.  I distanced myself from all that gang land Dexter thug type stuff and found a better group of guys to be around.  I joined the Rugby team and fit in instantly.  Playing both years on the A team has given me a lot of good experience and every guy on that team is like a brother to me.  I'm glad I was able to turn my life around from all the stupid things I did when I was younger.