#5 Veil of forgetfulness

It was the fall of 1977, when the oddities intensified.

One morning, while walking through the corridor hall of my school, I walked right past a student by the name of Mark (One of the nine). "Oh, it's you," he said semi-sarcastically. "Shut up Mark," I responded in kind as I kept walking (brilliant response...I know). Keep in mind, we were 13-years-old. He stopped in his tracks, "Why are you being such a b**** to everyone?" I had absolutely NO IDEA what he meant by that comment, but I kept walking and didn't look back. "Who is everyone?" I asked myself, and why did he say I was being a b****. Mind you, all this pondering probably lasted 10 seconds max. As I mentioned in previous posts, at that young age, if I didn't understand something immediately, I totally moved on, as I had bigger fish to fry and another day to survive. Important fact: I may have not pondered on this odd statement of Mark's for more than a few seconds, but I "never" forgot this memory.

Around the first week of school, while I was" once again" hurriedly walking to my class, I noticed standing at the entrance of the hall, Troy, Paul, Mark and John. I was thrilled to see Troy. I quickly went up to him to say hello. Neither one of us reached out to embrace, but his eyes told me that he was happy to see me, even if his smile did not reflect that emotion."Are you following me?" I said in a cheeky manner. He simply nodded. No words. Barely mustered a smile. Embarrased by his lack of enthusiasm, I quickly scanned the other boys at an attempt of acknowledging their presence, flashed Troy a sly smile and began speed walking to my next class. Important fact: I never forgot that moment. I didn't understand why a bit of Troy's light seemed to have been extinguished. The Troy I met was a confident, engaging superstar.

I saw Troy a couple more times around campus that fall, wondering why he wasn't at his high school. I never assumed he was there to see me. As far as I remembered, he never approached me. I missed our lovely bond, but I really never expected much from people, so I didn't ponder for very long. I usually accepted whatever challenge presented itself, and focused on rising above. Keep in mind, I came from a household where my Mother provided zero physical affection, little guidance, and a Father that we preferred lived elsewhere. I loved my siblings very much, but they were also like parents, not confidants due to the large age gap between us. I had to focus on surviving my day, and my frizzy hair in those days.

A few days later, Mark, Paul, John, Victoria and Paula were huddled on the hall steps. I sat next to the girls, as Victoria and I would chat from time to time. They were chatting about nationalities, and I mentioned that my family was from Colombia. "We know, you told us Mia." Mark piped in. I would have told you that I had a steel trap memory, really quite extraordinary, so there was no way I could have forgotten that I told them about my family. I could tell you what you were wearing years before, what you said at any given moment. You get my drift, I had/have a great memory, I never had to study for spelling tests, if I saw it once, I was good to go. Important fact: I never forgot that comment, because I had no memory of sharing it with this group.