Y2K part 3
Eye of the Beholder
Entering the sociology class after seeing Kenny made me feel like some kind of interrogator. My eyes just focused and locked in on him.
While we were looking for our seats, Kenny turned around and spotted me.
Oh crap!
My composure immediately shifted from a stalking predator to that of a deer staring at the headlights of an oncoming car. I was paralyzed and speechless as he worked his way over to join me at the table I was thinking about sitting at.
"Hey, Alf!" He nodded his head casually at me. "What's going on, bud? You in this class too?"
"Yup." I giggled a little too quickly. "I've been peachy. How about yourself?"
"I've been doing well." He took a seat at the table, and I went ahead and sat down as well.
What do I say?
It's been a long time since I actually had a one-on-one conversation with Kenny. I just sat there awkwardly for a moment while trying to think of ways to re-break the ice.
"Hmm." I leaned back into the chair. "I can't remember the last time we had a class together."
"Right! I was just thinking that." He agreed. "We were in almost every single class together back in middle school."
I started to giggle. "It was also a very small middle school compared to the others."
"True." Kenny nodded. "Very true."
"Good times though." I sighed, having feelings of nostalgia. "I wonder how the guys from back then are doing?"
"Yeah, me too." Kenny drifted into that same sense of reminiscing. "Last I heard, some of them went to Burgess High instead of here. I don't blame them."
The teacher walked around the class and handed out the syllabus to everyone. While she was going over it with the class, I was becoming more anxious about finding out what happened between him and CC.
I was tapping and fidgeting with my pencil, thinking of how to steer the conversation. The only thing I could come up with was a question I've been asking everyone I talked to all day.
"Sooooo....Did... you have a good Christmas break?"
Terrific. Now I sound like a parrot that only knows one phrase.
"Actually, I did." Kenny became very excited. "My family wanted to visit Wales for Christmas."
"Whales? That's cool." I responded. "Where did you all go to see the Whales? Sea World or in the wild?"
Kenny burst into laughter. "No, Alf—Wales."
"Huh?" I was so confused.
"You know, the country."
I gave him a slow, absent-minded blink, still not getting it.
"As in the Welsh."
"Oh!" I smacked my head, now feeling like a total idiot. "The Welsh. Yeah, I knew that."
Kenny shook his head, still laughing. "You dork."
I smiled sheepishly. I did miss this banter.
My curiosity wanted to hear more about his trip. It was one of the many topics I liked, especially after hearing the many stories from the Military kids who have been to many places around the world.
"So what all did you do there?" I asked.
"Oh dude, it was awesome." Kenny's excitement started to have him gesturing and painting an imaginary picture on the table. "It was green with some amazing landscapes. It is very medieval-looking, too. They have these old castles and ruins you can visit."
"Awe....Lucky. That sounds awesome. It sounds like a place I could easily get lost in." I rested my face on my hand, looking gloomy and becoming envious.
I want to see old castles and ruins!!! The descriptions Kenny said made me think of the kinds of places I'd seen in old fantasy movies like Excalibur or Dragon Slayer.
The furthest out of the country I have ever traveled was to some old, remote village in Mexico.
"What about you?" Kenny observed how melancholy I looked. "Did you do anything fun during the break?"
I slowly shook my head with no emotion. "Not really. My family stayed here, and I did a lot of self-reflection. Just trying to get my head straight."
"I guess I was doing that too." Kenny became very insightful. "Going to Wales really did help me clear some stuff out."
I peered over to him with one eyebrow raised high. "How so?"
"Well...." Kenny leaned back into his seat and crossed his arms. "You know Eli and Alonso from JROTC, right?"
I nodded, leaning in attentively. "Yeah. Those guys are pretty cool. They are some of the platoon leaders in the JROTC class I had my freshman year, right? "
"Yeah, them." Kenny nodded. "Late last semester, I started hanging out with them, and they really got me thinking about my future. You know?"
"I do." I nodded, remembering how clean-cut and disciplined they were. "I know those guys are very well set and on their way to being NCOs once they finish the college level of ROTC."
"Yes! Exactly! They have a plan. They have their future set." Kenny tapped his chest. "I don't. I looked at the rate I was going and compared it to theirs. I was running way behind."
He aggressively tapped on the desk. "This semester, I decided I'm picking up the pace and following their example. They even got me to join the Armed Drill team with them."
My eyes widened. "Whoa! Seriously. "
"Yeah. It's going to be awesome. I'm really looking forward to it." He relaxed into his chair.
The Armed Drill Team was no joke. Precision. Discipline. Long hours of spinning rifles in sync and marching like a well-oiled machine. That was the elite tier of JROTC.
"That's awesome," I said. "I Bet CC's pretty proud."
There. The trap is set.
Kenny's face shifted. "Oh. Um… About CC. We...split up."
"What? What happened? I thought you two were tight!" I bluffed, knowing well I knew about the breakup.
Kenny shook his head. "It's just...we were fighting a lot," he said quietly. "And… it was changing me. I didn't like the person I was becoming. I stopped going to church for a while. It was like I was falling from grace."
I raised an eyebrow.
Is he being serious right now?
"Things got so bad, I even started going back to church again. Trying to reconnect with Jesus, you know?"
I nodded.
Kenny was a very devoted Christian back in middle school. He did the church camps, prayed before lunch, and wore the "What would Jesus do?" bracelets. The works.
"I loved her," he continued, "but I felt like she was pulling me away from all that I was."
There it was. His reason. And something about it rubbed me the wrong way.
Breaking up over religion? That felt like a cop-out. A way to cover up something else — something he wasn't saying.
I wasn't overly religious, but I was raised to believe you love people as they are. CC might be a little gothy, a little dark, but she deserved someone who saw past that. Someone who understood her.
And then it hit me.
A theory. Maybe a paranoid one, but it made sense to me.
He's doing exactly what my father did before all the fights with my mom started at home.
Kenny probably met someone else.
Maybe someone from his church. Maybe one of those perfect drill team girls. Someone shiny and simple.
And instead of being honest, he wrapped it in a bow of faith and discipline.
By the time class ended, something in me had shifted. I couldn't see Kenny the same way I used to. Not anymore.
CC was heartbroken — and for what? A guy who abandoned her in the name of self-improvement?
I couldn't fix the heartbreak, but I could be there for her. Not as someone harboring a crush, but as someone who accepted her for who she truly was.
As a real friend.