Category : Stories

Sub Category : Historical Fiction

Well, here I was, living back in Cambridge with my mother, brother, sister and Freddy ( the dog ).  I went back to Jacob Hespeler secondary school and got registered there for some regular classes in the morning and the school to work class in the afternoon. The school to work class was in a portable this time. Last time, it was on the first floor in the school building. I went to my locker and not long after that, I got a wierd welcoming from the girl that I remembered from before that I mentioned earlier when I was in Hamilton. Her name was Amber. She saw me and said to me, "Peter, where were you?", " you were here one year and then you were gone", and I was hoping to get to know you better".  The last time when I was at the school, I didn't really have hardly any friends. There were people that knew me, but because of my mother. She was a kindergarten teacher so some of them knew her because they were either in her class or they went to the school that she taught at. Anyways, I was amazed that she remembered me. After she said what she said I said, "I'm sorry". I was in Hamilton for a bit. I didn't tell her exactly why though that I was in Hamilton.   We started talking, and I went to that class after. Amber and I developed a good friendship, which turned to best friends. We hung out, even outside the school, which was good for my social skills. I joined a bowling league and I was on a bowling team.  Amber also joined later on in the league and she was on my team. It was a lot of fun. The bowling  was at a place called play fair bowling and it was 5 pin bowling and it was on Sunday evenings. Even though I had a friend and I made a few more friends over time, I would still go out quite a bit by myself. I would take a bus or a taxi to Hespeler road in Cambridge or downtown kitchener and walk around,  usually in the evenings after school. I would go into Tim Hortons,   the mall, etc, and I would talk to people,  be socialble. I guess I did this because I liked to be social and also to get me out of the house at times because sometimes  when I would be  at home, I would have problems  like not getting along with my brother or sister and getting into arguments  which turns to screaming and almost fights and me being locked out of the house because I would go outside when I ran outside to get away from them, and I would yell outside to get in and one time, I smashed the window to try and get in which led to someone calling the police to come over.  It wouldn't happen all the time, but sometimes. Like I mentioned earlier in the chapters before. It had a lot to do with my brain injury. I still didn't have full control of myself. Anyways, there were good days to. I got my beginners license when I was 18 years old, but that didn't last too long, because I didn't attend the  driving school long enough and I waited too long and my beginners expired. This was just before the new license came in. The G1, G2, and G. I didn't bother with  it. At least not for a long while.  I remember one  I have my license now and a car but that's mentioned later in the chapters. When I was 20 years old, it was my last year in high school. However, at this age, I needed to get permission and an approval to stay one more year at the high school. One of the classes that I took was woodworking. My teacher was really nice and helped me when I  messed up on a project I did. I remember I was making a book shelf and sanded one part of the wood too much, so he helped me to fix it. I actually made a book shelf. I gave it to my mother as a present. I can't remember if a Christmas present or a birthday present. She was happy. She liked it. Even though that wood working class was good, there were a few students in the class that were mean to me. I remember one time, we had a substitute teacher, and we watched a movie about something. I think it was about woodworking. The lights were out and we watched the movie and as we were watching I felt something hitting my head and not just once but many times. I didn't tell the substitute teacher but I did tell our regular teacher the next day. Anyways, I ended up passing that class, plus more like, law, math, etc. There were some times when I felt like just giving  up and quitting. However, my mother encouraged me to not give up and keep going. I remember one time I was talking to my guidance counselor and I mentioned to her that I'm thinking about dropping out of school. Well, she phoned and talked to my Mother. My mother came to my school and she talked to us both.  My mother said to me, "you can quit, but if you quit, then we will give away Freddy, and your going to show the doctors that they were right".  I loved that dog, so I didn't want, because I took Freddy for long walks, and he was like a buddy for me. Also, I didn't want to show the doctors that they were right about that I might not make it past high schoo. Well, except that one doctor that thought positive about me.   I said, " No, alright, fine, I'll stay in school and finish. I did just that. I stayed and I finished and I graduated. I was so happy. The graduation was in September of the same year. My mother, brother, sister and my best friend Amber came to see me graduate. I couldn't believe I did it. It felt awesome walking on stage and getting my diploma. I had my mother to thank, because she never gave up on me. She never said, no you can't. She as always said yes, you can, and I did.