One Place High
One Place High; Short Story (5/2001)
You know that sometimes when we pick a place to be, and we sit there every single day, it becomes our place, and that place becomes our true home? Well, that's the same thing that happened to me many many years ago. It was a street corner bench located right in front my old High School. There I spent many many hours and many many happy moments of my live, that, to this day, I still cherish, and remember every single day, sometimes it feels like it all happened yesterday.
That old white bench was my true "realm of peace", at times. Sometimes, it felt as if it was my home. But it gave me peace and solace early in the mornings when it was empty or late in the afternoons, when the place was left all to myself by the other students who used to hang out there, near my little spot under the shadow of a tall mature tree. I wonder what type of tree it was, all I know that it has man tiny leave and it has some beans look like seed falling from it, specially during fall. I now have few of those trees in my own yard, yet I do not know the name of that type of tree. But the tree, the bench and the place itself was all one thing to me, like a magic and nuts Alice in Wonderland place. Ironically our school was names after that place, that mystical street, a place that I now remember with some sadness but also with so much love.
My friends and I used to call that street by a different and "cooler" name. We used to call it “cater place“ , yet I always preferred it‘s real name One Place High Road. You might be wondering why it was called “cater place”. Well, coincidentally it was because that’s what it went down there, at least for “the revel” ones that hanged out there in our youth; it was a free cater place. They cater anything possible to each other. I imagine you might be letting your imagination run wild and think many things about a place name in that manner, but I can assure you, you are a bit short in your thinkings, because there people did a lot more.
They catered there whatever it was that they wanted and that is where its motto came from. They exchanged cigarettes, beers, drugs, and even sex in the back of a fogged windows car. But not everything was bad and dark, for we catered friends, lots of friends from all path and directions and geographies. No one was a stranger there. There we knew and cared for each other like one big dysfunctional but happy family. The bad boys and girls, defended the weak ones, the good girls had a chance to play bad once in a while. I was not a popular girl, but not a geek dorky girl either, so I got to meet everyone there and in few weeks I knew all I needed to know at that age and all I didn't needed to know too. I had a friend who introduced me to all of these people in One Place High. She was popular and beautiful and everyone loved her or where in love with her. I admired her and copied each thing she did, even the way she talked. She was older, wiser, smarter and sexier, but I became her shadow until I became just like her, well almost. I knew I could not really be like her, I could pretend and be a poser, but deep inside that girl that I became, with her advices and cheering, I was somebody way different, and that's why I enjoyed to be at One Place High Rd. all by myself. However, I also liked the recognition I used to get by everyone there and in our school. Thanks to that friend I morphed from a tiny caterpillar into a butterfly.
You wouldn’t just stand there and pick up a conversation if you didn’t knew someone there, someone “inside” our group. It was like a big but inoffensive and innocent gang. Well, not so innocent. There were some there that weren’t so innocent or inoffensive. We had all kind of people there. There was this guy everyone liked and feared too, his name was Eddie. He was only 14 and he was really frightening to some or most. I myself was afraid of him. Yet the attraction to him and the danger he represented ended up being stronger, so I got him to notice me and ask me out.
Things did not worked out, for one single reason, we were so much alike. We like the same things, hated the same things, and spoke about the same things, it all became so predictable with him. Our relationship lasted weeks but our friendship lasted for over 5 years, until one day he vanished from the face of the earth and no one knew where he went, where he lived or what had happened to him. I wonder if he flew to another country or if he has ended up in jail, or worst...
It was 1989 and a group of teenage kids were skipping class and hanging around. They were fooling around, teasing and picking at each other. Pushing other kids in front of running cars like if it were a joke. So they thought, but most of the time it weren’t, and one or two always got hit by a car. But it was a small street in a small town and all the cars drove fairly slow. And when one got hit, like it happened to me once, it wasn’t painful at all, or not to painful at least. But hey, everyone was somehow "high" there, and all was in good fun. So we thought until one boy got hurt really bad and two other were arrested because of that silly game.
Meanwhile inside the school grounds things were a little different. We didn’t learned or wanted to learn anything, but some of us tried, so we could make our parents proud and happy or just to get them out of our backs. Things where not so easy though or better. The subjects were boring and elemental, un-challenging, and some old male teachers were always trying to get into the pretty girls' pants. Most of the time they succeeded, one way or another, with false promises or their power of persuation.
Out side school it was our play ground. There was always something going on on the street; always a fight, a raid, or just kids "playing" around. I always thought, back then, that there was nothing more educated than our One Place High, the street, you could smoke (anything) in front of the Principal, teachers and students and since it was outside school property they could not do anything, but to call the parents who rarely answered their calls nor returned their messages. And even though they did and there were discipline actions applied and enforced, the "One Place High group" always got back together, always met at the same place. I always came back to it, regardless. It was my place. My secret public place. I remember as if it were yesterday how I used to skip classes just to sit on a small concrete wall by that white bench, just staring at the street and observing the cars passing by with my 2 closest friends, Sally & Lena. Lena was tall and skinny with very long hair and long legs. Sally was short with long dark hair and short skirt same, shorter than the length of her hair. We stared at the street for long hours, guessing the color of the next car and gambling with it.
Some evenings when my friends where gone I would remain there by myself, thinking of many useless and not so useless things, eying the cars passing by as I imagined their stories and their lives. I made up to my amusement where they lived, were they were heading to, and the things they did once they got there. For those short minutes I shared and lived their lives with them. I got sad each time I saw a girl crying and staring at me trough the car window, through our window, as if asking me for help, but the glass of reality separated us and I couldn’t reach her. I got mad when I saw a father punching his son on his face while he was driving on my street, and then stare at me with a cynical smile like asking me what did I cared, or what was I going to do about it. I also became happy each time I got to see a sweet smile and a friendly stare from all the unknowing people that passed by each day trough my street, my wall, and my white bench at One Place High.
They were unknowing that I was prying into their lives, their thought, and their feelings too. They often smiled at me and I smiled back at them with the same honest and kind smile, but so inappropriate to my colorful attire and disheveled appearance. I learned many things that time, many things about the human condition. Many things about the world in general just by seating there. I learned there way more things that I could have learn in school and inside a classroom. I learned to read people. I learn to hide my emotions. I learned not to get hurt. I also learned to fight, to drive, to lie, to cheat ,and many more things not important or relevant now. I also learned there to hate, to love and to cry.
Now I did enjoyed school for my own reasons. I guess I loved the art and music subjects. I loved the change of surrounding. I needed to balance things out, and at that time it was easier to be there, than to be at home. It was no ones fault.
I had a good mother and the greatest siblings anyone could ever wish for, yet there were so many issues caused by family and friends' gossips. Neighbors' gossiping made home a hostile place to be most often than not. There were always things that I was. We as human's are complicated and contradictory too. We are not happy with the things we have, we always want more, or different thing, maybe is that your home is to small for a big party, or that you don’t own a pool, a car, or a room and have to sleep on a couch that you are to big for. Or maybe you are just tired of being the youngest child and would love to have everyone out of your back and let you grow and walk on your own feet for once. No matter what the reasons are we as people are never happy, not fully. I was never happy then, always thinking how hard it was to have everyone’s attention, to have to listen to everyone’s good heart advices and critics, especially when the critics were "the food of the day".
Sometimes people think that friends, partying, drugs and alcohol are the solution and answer to all of their problems. Sometimes people thing that only death can save them. Until you find that you have too look deep inside you to find the right solution and start from there. Surfacing and racing against all odds and obstacles and maybe even rebuilding yourself from scratch and becoming who you always knew, deep inside, that you were. So I did exactly that I left One Place High, before the time I needed to, to find myself, to rebuild myself. And I found many other places where I learned many more other things.And I reinvented myself to a better form of me. But not changing it all, only the things I knew where not really part of me anymore, the things that didn't belonged with me and my knew life where left there in One Place High. I left Sally & Lena there too. They where to much part of it. And I did not needed any tights, any hold-backs. I missed them at the beginning the same way I missed everyone else, but Belle Evanburg needed a new pond to play in...
So I got out of One Place High and started my “solo” journey living with other people, helping them, reaching them, and making lifelong friends. I finally got out of my shelf, and only then I learned not to be afraid. I learned to be myself. I learned to respect myself and respect others. I learned that sex and alcohol weren't what I really needed to be happy. I learned that crying was not always bad, it actually helps you clear your soul. Most of all, I learned that you have to be clear headed to see things straight, to be able to love yourself and to love others. I learned that in order to become your true-self and be what you want to be, you have to get out of your own “one place high” state of mind, and touch the ground of reality. Only then you’ll be truly happy.
Short Story by: E.R.L.
(The title or the story here had nothing to do with the TV Series titled One Tree Hill. My story was written way before that series was even in their minds, so I believe...)
You know that sometimes when we pick a place to be, and we sit there every single day, it becomes our place, and that place becomes our true home? Well, that's the same thing that happened to me many many years ago. It was a street corner bench located right in front my old High School. There I spent many many hours and many many happy moments of my live, that, to this day, I still cherish, and remember every single day, sometimes it feels like it all happened yesterday.
That old white bench was my true "realm of peace", at times. Sometimes, it felt as if it was my home. But it gave me peace and solace early in the mornings when it was empty or late in the afternoons, when the place was left all to myself by the other students who used to hang out there, near my little spot under the shadow of a tall mature tree. I wonder what type of tree it was, all I know that it has man tiny leave and it has some beans look like seed falling from it, specially during fall. I now have few of those trees in my own yard, yet I do not know the name of that type of tree. But the tree, the bench and the place itself was all one thing to me, like a magic and nuts Alice in Wonderland place. Ironically our school was names after that place, that mystical street, a place that I now remember with some sadness but also with so much love.
My friends and I used to call that street by a different and "cooler" name. We used to call it “cater place“ , yet I always preferred it‘s real name One Place High Road. You might be wondering why it was called “cater place”. Well, coincidentally it was because that’s what it went down there, at least for “the revel” ones that hanged out there in our youth; it was a free cater place. They cater anything possible to each other. I imagine you might be letting your imagination run wild and think many things about a place name in that manner, but I can assure you, you are a bit short in your thinkings, because there people did a lot more.
They catered there whatever it was that they wanted and that is where its motto came from. They exchanged cigarettes, beers, drugs, and even sex in the back of a fogged windows car. But not everything was bad and dark, for we catered friends, lots of friends from all path and directions and geographies. No one was a stranger there. There we knew and cared for each other like one big dysfunctional but happy family. The bad boys and girls, defended the weak ones, the good girls had a chance to play bad once in a while. I was not a popular girl, but not a geek dorky girl either, so I got to meet everyone there and in few weeks I knew all I needed to know at that age and all I didn't needed to know too. I had a friend who introduced me to all of these people in One Place High. She was popular and beautiful and everyone loved her or where in love with her. I admired her and copied each thing she did, even the way she talked. She was older, wiser, smarter and sexier, but I became her shadow until I became just like her, well almost. I knew I could not really be like her, I could pretend and be a poser, but deep inside that girl that I became, with her advices and cheering, I was somebody way different, and that's why I enjoyed to be at One Place High Rd. all by myself. However, I also liked the recognition I used to get by everyone there and in our school. Thanks to that friend I morphed from a tiny caterpillar into a butterfly.
You wouldn’t just stand there and pick up a conversation if you didn’t knew someone there, someone “inside” our group. It was like a big but inoffensive and innocent gang. Well, not so innocent. There were some there that weren’t so innocent or inoffensive. We had all kind of people there. There was this guy everyone liked and feared too, his name was Eddie. He was only 14 and he was really frightening to some or most. I myself was afraid of him. Yet the attraction to him and the danger he represented ended up being stronger, so I got him to notice me and ask me out.
Things did not worked out, for one single reason, we were so much alike. We like the same things, hated the same things, and spoke about the same things, it all became so predictable with him. Our relationship lasted weeks but our friendship lasted for over 5 years, until one day he vanished from the face of the earth and no one knew where he went, where he lived or what had happened to him. I wonder if he flew to another country or if he has ended up in jail, or worst...
It was 1989 and a group of teenage kids were skipping class and hanging around. They were fooling around, teasing and picking at each other. Pushing other kids in front of running cars like if it were a joke. So they thought, but most of the time it weren’t, and one or two always got hit by a car. But it was a small street in a small town and all the cars drove fairly slow. And when one got hit, like it happened to me once, it wasn’t painful at all, or not to painful at least. But hey, everyone was somehow "high" there, and all was in good fun. So we thought until one boy got hurt really bad and two other were arrested because of that silly game.
Meanwhile inside the school grounds things were a little different. We didn’t learned or wanted to learn anything, but some of us tried, so we could make our parents proud and happy or just to get them out of our backs. Things where not so easy though or better. The subjects were boring and elemental, un-challenging, and some old male teachers were always trying to get into the pretty girls' pants. Most of the time they succeeded, one way or another, with false promises or their power of persuation.
Out side school it was our play ground. There was always something going on on the street; always a fight, a raid, or just kids "playing" around. I always thought, back then, that there was nothing more educated than our One Place High, the street, you could smoke (anything) in front of the Principal, teachers and students and since it was outside school property they could not do anything, but to call the parents who rarely answered their calls nor returned their messages. And even though they did and there were discipline actions applied and enforced, the "One Place High group" always got back together, always met at the same place. I always came back to it, regardless. It was my place. My secret public place. I remember as if it were yesterday how I used to skip classes just to sit on a small concrete wall by that white bench, just staring at the street and observing the cars passing by with my 2 closest friends, Sally & Lena. Lena was tall and skinny with very long hair and long legs. Sally was short with long dark hair and short skirt same, shorter than the length of her hair. We stared at the street for long hours, guessing the color of the next car and gambling with it.
Some evenings when my friends where gone I would remain there by myself, thinking of many useless and not so useless things, eying the cars passing by as I imagined their stories and their lives. I made up to my amusement where they lived, were they were heading to, and the things they did once they got there. For those short minutes I shared and lived their lives with them. I got sad each time I saw a girl crying and staring at me trough the car window, through our window, as if asking me for help, but the glass of reality separated us and I couldn’t reach her. I got mad when I saw a father punching his son on his face while he was driving on my street, and then stare at me with a cynical smile like asking me what did I cared, or what was I going to do about it. I also became happy each time I got to see a sweet smile and a friendly stare from all the unknowing people that passed by each day trough my street, my wall, and my white bench at One Place High.
They were unknowing that I was prying into their lives, their thought, and their feelings too. They often smiled at me and I smiled back at them with the same honest and kind smile, but so inappropriate to my colorful attire and disheveled appearance. I learned many things that time, many things about the human condition. Many things about the world in general just by seating there. I learned there way more things that I could have learn in school and inside a classroom. I learned to read people. I learn to hide my emotions. I learned not to get hurt. I also learned to fight, to drive, to lie, to cheat ,and many more things not important or relevant now. I also learned there to hate, to love and to cry.
Now I did enjoyed school for my own reasons. I guess I loved the art and music subjects. I loved the change of surrounding. I needed to balance things out, and at that time it was easier to be there, than to be at home. It was no ones fault.
I had a good mother and the greatest siblings anyone could ever wish for, yet there were so many issues caused by family and friends' gossips. Neighbors' gossiping made home a hostile place to be most often than not. There were always things that I was. We as human's are complicated and contradictory too. We are not happy with the things we have, we always want more, or different thing, maybe is that your home is to small for a big party, or that you don’t own a pool, a car, or a room and have to sleep on a couch that you are to big for. Or maybe you are just tired of being the youngest child and would love to have everyone out of your back and let you grow and walk on your own feet for once. No matter what the reasons are we as people are never happy, not fully. I was never happy then, always thinking how hard it was to have everyone’s attention, to have to listen to everyone’s good heart advices and critics, especially when the critics were "the food of the day".
Sometimes people think that friends, partying, drugs and alcohol are the solution and answer to all of their problems. Sometimes people thing that only death can save them. Until you find that you have too look deep inside you to find the right solution and start from there. Surfacing and racing against all odds and obstacles and maybe even rebuilding yourself from scratch and becoming who you always knew, deep inside, that you were. So I did exactly that I left One Place High, before the time I needed to, to find myself, to rebuild myself. And I found many other places where I learned many more other things.And I reinvented myself to a better form of me. But not changing it all, only the things I knew where not really part of me anymore, the things that didn't belonged with me and my knew life where left there in One Place High. I left Sally & Lena there too. They where to much part of it. And I did not needed any tights, any hold-backs. I missed them at the beginning the same way I missed everyone else, but Belle Evanburg needed a new pond to play in...
So I got out of One Place High and started my “solo” journey living with other people, helping them, reaching them, and making lifelong friends. I finally got out of my shelf, and only then I learned not to be afraid. I learned to be myself. I learned to respect myself and respect others. I learned that sex and alcohol weren't what I really needed to be happy. I learned that crying was not always bad, it actually helps you clear your soul. Most of all, I learned that you have to be clear headed to see things straight, to be able to love yourself and to love others. I learned that in order to become your true-self and be what you want to be, you have to get out of your own “one place high” state of mind, and touch the ground of reality. Only then you’ll be truly happy.
Short Story by: E.R.L.
(The title or the story here had nothing to do with the TV Series titled One Tree Hill. My story was written way before that series was even in their minds, so I believe...)
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