I'm a product of the early/mid-80's, the era of $30 Izod shirts, $50 Jordache jeans, and $50 Topsider shoes (all in 80's prices, I might add). The pendulum had swung far right from the "free to be" 70's and non-conformity was met with the cruelest form of bullying: shunning. Hollywood mocked us with The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, and Some Kind of Wonderful. Alex P. Keaton was our poster boy. And we were known as the Preps.
I started high school as a "Freak": concert shirts, flannels on top, bandana-clad thighs, and Levi's 501s. I was even known to sport a feathered roach clip in my hair. Even though the legal smoking age was 18, my high school had a smoker's lot and us freaks could be found there lighting up, and not just cigarettes. We were the orphans: abandoned and discarded. Our shelter was each other.
One day my dad picked me up from school and announced we were moving. To a "better part of town." That weekend. I was ripped from my harbor and set to sea adrift. Worse, mid-year.
Knowing absolutely no one, possessing neither money nor straight honey-blond hair and good skin, my social status was worse than persona non grata - I was simply "persona non." Eventually, though, I found a few other ghosts in my purgatory and drifted through that first year.
When I became noticed by a few girls at my bus stop during my junior year, I leveraged their semi-cool status and jump skipped the freaks and the geeks. I was now on the fringe of the popular crowd. Not quite in, but close enough that I was acknowledged in the halls and a buddy when they needed homework answers. I didn't even notice that I no longer noticed the wisp of friends from the previous year. Poof! They no longer existed.
My junior year was thrilling. Football games, cool clothes borrowed from friends, and a bravado that comes from "fitting in." When my beautiful, petite and blond best friend started dating the beyond cool star defensive football player, I not only fit, I felt I had arrived. Jamming to The Scorpions and Boston in the coolest ride on campus was exhilarating. It didn't matter that I was a break up away from the fringe, I was "in" - if only as the tag-along.
(to be continued)
Your memories of high school are so vivid! I don't think mine are quite as fresh in my mind. You did remind me of the labels we all took on at that age and how important they were back then. I myself tried to fit wherever I was but I think that "freak" fit me well too. We were and still are so much alike.
ReplyDeleteSeems like that was just the other day. I can't believe we're getting old. We don't look it, and definitely don't feel it so much yet, but the years have sped by. So glad we have some great memories to share. You're a great friend!
ReplyDeleteLoved the blog keep it up!