Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Written at Denver Airport: The Bad Boy Short Story

Finally, I am getting my due respect. As the recent poll suggests, I am now the bad boy. I am the rugged, complex, and mysterious figure of the group. Now don't get me wrong, secretly I'm a book worm with a high IQ. All my teachers want me to go to college, but I just can't leave my dad all by himself. Ever since Mom died, I have felt like my dad needs me in the automotive shop working alongside him.

This is why I mainly keep to myself at school. I don't want people to realize who I really am because then they'll make me feel bad for hiding my gifts. I usually hide my blossoming inner talent by finding reasons to get angry and fight kids. That way people think less of me, and leave me alone.

However, even deeper down inside, I'm just waiting for that bland, plain, shy girl (let's call her Heather) to win me over and prove those popular blonde cheerleaders wrong. We'll get stuck together on a school project about Socrates. At first I just suggest we just work alone and then come back together, but instead she insists I come over to her house to work on it. Her family is so nice, at first I act like a jerk but then I realize that I hurt Heather's feelings and apologize and we work on the project the next day. It goes really well, in the course of events she discovers a letter from Harvard in my drawer and asks "What is this?". I reply "Oh it's nothing, just put it back". I try to grab it from her, but she runs outside closes the door. "Hey this is an acceptance letter to Harvard, with a full ride scholarship" she exclaims.

Then I will begin to explain that nobody can know about it, for the reasons explained earlier (i.e. my lonesome Dad). I beg her not to tell anyone. She eventually agrees. However, the next day at work in the automotive shop my dad confronts me about the letter. Heather told her! I get angry and storm out of the shop. Heather finds me near Goose Lake, throwing rocks. She asks "Why, why are you so afraid of leaving." Through my man-tears I reply "I'm afraid of failing. I'm afraid of failing dad. Afraid of failing Mom. But I'm most afraid of failing you." Then she says "Then go. Go to college. Live your dreams." Of course we end up kissing. Screen darkens. Credits roll.

6 comments:

Laquina said...

WOW....what a perfect meld of The O.C., She's All That, Ten things I Hate About You and your crazy imagination. Except you should have thrown a little Breakfast Club and Mean Girls in there and gotten together with the really pretty redheaded cheerleader who is actually smart too and doesn't really like her friends but is afraid of what not being in the "plastics" will do for her high school career.

Mike Lau said...

Rich I have a confession. You really aren't the bad boy of the group as the latest poll showed. Me and Whitney were probably the only people who voted for you. We just voted on multiple computers. So yeah that seven should really be a two.

Marge Bjork said...

Rich, we could be a movie making team. You could write the stories and I'd film them. Except there is a flaw in this story. No guy ever actually pays attention to the plain girl. What would really happen is there would be a pretty and smart redhead and a plain girl and he'd choose the redhead in the end, there may be a Les Mis scene where the plain girl dies in his arms and the story would be kind of tragic actually. Bittersweet.

Whits said...

It's true rich. I voted for you a lot. on different computers.

tara said...

Forget med school. I feel a career in writing teen dramas is on the horizon for you.

vmmh said...

stick to your day job, which i hear includes getting sprayed in the face with a fire extinguisher. (don't you just love treatment kids?!)

mor wants to know if you're on the percocet again, what with this telenovela and all.