Chapter 3: The Three Fates

Chapter 3: The Three Fates

In order to fully understand this chapter, it is important to preface who these people are and why I was able to mature through simply meeting and observing them over the course of my stay. To begin, let's try to follow some chronological order (the order in which I matured) and dive into the world of Maurine…

Maurine: Strong, confident. She knew who she was and was who she was. A very sociable person from what I gathered as she seemed easy to talk to and I think others recognized that too. Not much to mention as you have to kind of meet her to understand what I am talking about. I think her archetype is one we can all relate to in someone in our lives.

Ironically enough, Maurine was the second person whom I met, yet the first to bring me to an understanding of the world. After passing through the common room where I met Talia (mentioned next), we journeyed to my sister's actual room. Here I met her roommate, Maurine. Based off of appearance and her aura, I knew I liked Maurine. Everything about her was unique. She had her own sense of style and was overflowing with confidence, yet this strength never came off as boastful—a sighting of land in the middle of my high school voyage.

Pause.

Here, I was struck with my first moment of maturation. In meeting her briefly, Maurine had taught me that not all strength needs to be accompanied by arrogance. From what I had experienced so far, everyone who had themselves figured out loved to rub it in my face. I clearly didn’t, so I had a small sense of envy for all those who did. However, this was different. I felt no envy, only curiosity. This was my realization, that there was no need to be boastful once you hit the real world. It didn’t matter whether you had your stuff together or not. If you did, great; if you didn’t, great. All that mattered was the content of your character. Even then, if you were a good person, you weren’t above the others. You just were.

Now onto the second fate in my Herculean tale, Talia.

Talia: In most instances, it seemed she ran on a motor and didn’t stop to think of what she was saying, doing, or acting like. As harmless as she was, it was easy for her to get on your nerves as it seemed she didn’t care if what she did affected you. In reality, though, she simply didn’t think that far through in her malice. For this reason, I didn’t find her “rude” nature infuriating.

As we entered the room, I saw Talia sitting at their communal coffee table located across the room from me. She greeted me with a warm but blank smile and said hello. After responding, I assumed that we would make some sort of small talk like introducing our names, but instead, she turned back to her computer and continued her business. This form of communication was new to me and at first was kind of confusing. However, after reassurance from my sister, I soon learned that it was just Talia.

This is not when I learned my lesson though. That happened the next morning.

After our outing with Maurine, we were obviously tired, so sister and I trekked back to prison and set off to sleep with dreams of reaching ten in the morning the next day. Sadly, our dreams were squashed by a piano riff bouncing in my head at five in the morning. Through her infuriated yet tired “ugh,” I could tell that this wasn’t the first time Talia had woken a resident up with her early alarm. Funny enough, Talia herself had never been woken up by her alarm. Wading our way through slumber to the living room, we found Talia slumped on the couch sleeping as if swaddled. After waking her and returning to our room, we tried to return to our dreamscape.

Pause.

It is here in my self-created sheep-counting facility where I made my second realization. Not all perceived hatred is really hatred. When I first met Talia, I thought she was mean. Plain and simple. However, after seeing her act, and experiencing her actions firsthand, I came to realize that she was a product of her thoughts. And well, she didn’t put much thought into anything. Looking back now, I can separate myself from her actions and what I thought her motives were then. Now, as I continue my high school journey, I find that some do have this issue. They lack thought. More so, they lack curiosity and simply turn to what I did—perception and assumption.

Now with two of the three completed, that leaves only one remaining. Kim.

Kim: Clearly raised in a different background than my sister or I was used to, it was obvious she was against my stay there. Coming from a different heritage than my sister and myself, I had assumed it to be a cultural difference we shared. For these reasons, I was fine with her prejudgment of me. I was a guy who was walking into her space. Cooties and all.

I actually didn't meet Kim until the second day of my stay, where we crossed paths in the living room one morning. I had just woken up and she was preparing to leave for the day. Opening the door, I was met with her not-so-subtle gaze. Her eyes widened like a deer in headlights and she blurted out a warmish hello.

Pause.

This moment is where I was struck by Ignatius’ cannonball for a third time. In reading her body language, I understood one main thing: I was being judged. I wasn’t mad, though. For the first time, I didn’t think that prejudice was a bad thing. Throughout my three long years of high school, every time I was encountered with Kim’s gaze, I felt disdain rather than curiosity and uncertainty. It was quite nice in some weird sense. I finally felt that I was given a chance before my impression had landed.

In a return to my normal life, I decided to put into practice what I had learned during my time as a Yankee. The day I got back from my expedition, I took action.

A sunny Monday bloomed in front of me as I set forth with the goal of circumnavigating the social intricacies of high school. I forget what class I had that day, and honestly, it didn’t matter to me. My goal was to test out my new motto, not evaluate integrals. As I rounded the corner on my trek to the second period, I was met with my first test: a student from another clique. Ever since freshman year, I was labeled as different than him. Who decided this, I was unsure, but regardless of previous interactions, I was determined to make amends.

Opening my mouth to greet him, I could see the disarray grow. My mere presence seemed to leave a bad taste in his mouth. If I were to put a flavor to his grimace, I would bet that I’m somewhere between a sardine-vegemite sandwich and mayonnaise. That order is correct, by the way. Mayonnaise is the true scrooge of the world. Regardless, I tasted bad.

“Good morning!” I shot out with cheerful glee. Now, the response to this may shock you. I was completely ignored. An insane story to a climactic tale.

Man, was I confused. I followed all the steps. I underwent a metamorphosis during my visit; I underwent trials with roommates; I understood what needed to be done.

I completely failed. I treated someone the way I wanted to be treated and got ignored. Let me tell you, I didn’t want to be ignored, so whoever created the golden rule is a fraud. Honestly though, if I am leveling with y’all, I needed this.

I was confused. I had shown courtesy and kindness and he responded with utter disdain. That's where we left off. Like I said though, I was really confused. Honestly, though. I just moved on. Rounded the corner and accepted my fate. Two years of my powers remaining dormant. These powers simply being the concepts of social interaction in the real world. They are really important, but not as effective in youth. So, I simply walked on to what I think now was APES. 

Skipping forward a few weeks, life truly began to take shape for me. These months unfolded. I underwent many different experiences that were very formative in creating the person I am today. 

Teeth, Pickles, Retreats.

All very important, yet one way more confusing than the rest.