Just for you to know, I am super bad at Language Arts.
True Friendship
C1 By Ryan Jin
I used to play and work together every single day with my friends. We were like each other’s shadows. It was not the first time that I heard, “Let me help you with this.” I could still remember how Walter had gotten me down from that tall apple tree. And how Sylvester had fixed my computer when the tech in the school had no idea what to do. But until now, I hadn’t realized the true value of friendship.
About a month ago, I started to be friends with Percy, one of the most popular and smartest students in our school. The whole reason I wanted to be friends with him was because he was smart. He was smart, he helped me, and I got smarter. Obviously, I was not as popular or as smart as Percy. But still, we could discuss things and help each other on schoolwork, and a closer friendship seemed to be building between us starting from those times. But after I started to hang out with Percy, I ignored my old friends.
“Can you help solving question 8 on the math homework?” Walter asked me one day.
99.99% of the time, I would help him. But this time I simply told him that I was busy.
My actions really disappointed Walter and Sylvester. They had been my closest friends for more than six years. I remembered how big Walter’s mouth had gaped the day I started to hang out with Percy. I remembered as clear as crystal when one day they had asked me, “Do you promise still be our friend?” But I only told them I would tell them the next day.
That night, I did not sleep well. I kept questioning myself. Walter and Sylvester were my real friends, but Percy was smart. Intelligent people are useless when you come to some real problems like saving your friends, one side of my brain told me.No, the other side of my brain thought, smarts can make your future easier. You will miss all your friends in the future anyway!
And finally, I chose to hang out with Percy.
But things changed.
One morning, the school bell rang. Percy and I entered science class. As usual, the science teacher was very happy to see us. The teacher told us to burn a mysterious chemical, which excited everyone.
We started the experiment. Percy struck the match and was about to burn the chemical, and suddenly, one of my textbooks suddenly slid down from a pile of books and hit his hand. His hand was pushed all the way to a flower that hadn’t been watered for days in a blink of an eye. Smoke and fire burst out from the plant. Fire fell on our table, and it started to burn. There was smoke everywhere; fire everywhere.
Immediately, the sound of screaming exploded throughout the room. After a while, the firemen came, and they stopped the fire, but had to splash a kind of sticky liquid on everyone’s bodies.
The second day, the teacher brought Percy and me to the principal. I could see the principal was furious because his face was totally red.
“Explain all about this,” He demanded in a low, deep voice.
“Well, it has nothing to do with me.” Percy cut in before I could even open my mouth. “Sal pushed the book on my hand, which made that hand to go all the way to that plant, causing the fire. I couldn’t control it! It is all because of his action!”
“I believe you,” The principal replied, and then turned to me. “Why did you push the book to his hand on purpose? Do you know how great the damage is? The whole table you were sitting at was completely burned. Luckily, no one got injured.”
“Um… It was a little accident, not on purpose…”
“A so called ‘little accident’ that nearly destroyed the whole room!” interrupted Percy.
“Well, your hands were very close to that plant. The book slide down, I did not do it on purpose!”
We started to argue with each other. The principal seemed to be on Percy’s side. He believed that Percy was telling the truth because Percy was one of the most popular students in the whole school.
“What’s that noise?” the principal interrupted. The room quieted down suddenly.
“Footsteps! Who’s coming?” Percy asked.
The door burst open. And there, the two faces I have never forgotten, appeared again today, Sylvester and Walter.
I relaxed. I could finally be considered innocent…
No, I suddenly told myself, they hated me for being a friend of Percy and ignoring them. Perhaps the only thing on Earth that they want to do is to kick me out of the school.
“I know the truth!” Walter said. Every word was like electricity shocking through my body.
“Well, you should knock on the door!” The principal said unhappily.
“Sorry. Can we go down to the science classroom, since we can prove our point better there?” Sylvester asked.
“Sure,” The principal agreed, and Percy’s face seemed a bit nervous.
We went down the stairs. I turned my head and looked at Walter, but I couldn’t tell anything about what he was thinking from his blank stare. Is he helping me, or Percy? I wondered nervously.
“Which side are you on?” I tugged his T-shirt and whispered to him.
“Of course, yours.” Walter answered with a small smile.
I felt my whole body getting lighter, and finally we reached the science classroom.
“Well, we all know that everyone makes mistakes, even Einstein does. You can’t blame it on Sal because he is a very close friend to Percy, so he wouldn’t try to hurt him with that book.” said Sylvester.
“Look at this burnt plant,” Walter continued, “It is very close to the table; you can burn the plant by just moving an inch. If Sal really wanted to hurt Percy, the fire should have been lit on the other side of the plant.”
The principal’s head kept nodding, and after Walter had finished, he turned to Percy.
“Anything you want to argue about?” He asked.
“You know like… like… you know, um… that, like… um…” Percy’s tongue seemed to be fighting itself.
“Well, Percy, you are a model in the school! Lying is not what you are supposed to do to a friend.”
“He is not my friend!” Percy shouted, and his face looked like it was on fire.
“You can go first, Sal, I will talk to you later,” The principal said, patting my shoulder. My whole body relaxed as I exhaled.
“Thanks,” I whispered to Walter and Sylvester. I realized the true power of friendship, how important it was comparing to cleverness.
“I can help you with question number 8 in yesterday’s math homework,” I said.
“Great, come on!”
About a month ago, I started to be friends with Percy, one of the most popular and smartest students in our school. The whole reason I wanted to be friends with him was because he was smart. He was smart, he helped me, and I got smarter. Obviously, I was not as popular or as smart as Percy. But still, we could discuss things and help each other on schoolwork, and a closer friendship seemed to be building between us starting from those times. But after I started to hang out with Percy, I ignored my old friends.
“Can you help solving question 8 on the math homework?” Walter asked me one day.
99.99% of the time, I would help him. But this time I simply told him that I was busy.
My actions really disappointed Walter and Sylvester. They had been my closest friends for more than six years. I remembered how big Walter’s mouth had gaped the day I started to hang out with Percy. I remembered as clear as crystal when one day they had asked me, “Do you promise still be our friend?” But I only told them I would tell them the next day.
That night, I did not sleep well. I kept questioning myself. Walter and Sylvester were my real friends, but Percy was smart. Intelligent people are useless when you come to some real problems like saving your friends, one side of my brain told me.No, the other side of my brain thought, smarts can make your future easier. You will miss all your friends in the future anyway!
And finally, I chose to hang out with Percy.
But things changed.
One morning, the school bell rang. Percy and I entered science class. As usual, the science teacher was very happy to see us. The teacher told us to burn a mysterious chemical, which excited everyone.
We started the experiment. Percy struck the match and was about to burn the chemical, and suddenly, one of my textbooks suddenly slid down from a pile of books and hit his hand. His hand was pushed all the way to a flower that hadn’t been watered for days in a blink of an eye. Smoke and fire burst out from the plant. Fire fell on our table, and it started to burn. There was smoke everywhere; fire everywhere.
Immediately, the sound of screaming exploded throughout the room. After a while, the firemen came, and they stopped the fire, but had to splash a kind of sticky liquid on everyone’s bodies.
The second day, the teacher brought Percy and me to the principal. I could see the principal was furious because his face was totally red.
“Explain all about this,” He demanded in a low, deep voice.
“Well, it has nothing to do with me.” Percy cut in before I could even open my mouth. “Sal pushed the book on my hand, which made that hand to go all the way to that plant, causing the fire. I couldn’t control it! It is all because of his action!”
“I believe you,” The principal replied, and then turned to me. “Why did you push the book to his hand on purpose? Do you know how great the damage is? The whole table you were sitting at was completely burned. Luckily, no one got injured.”
“Um… It was a little accident, not on purpose…”
“A so called ‘little accident’ that nearly destroyed the whole room!” interrupted Percy.
“Well, your hands were very close to that plant. The book slide down, I did not do it on purpose!”
We started to argue with each other. The principal seemed to be on Percy’s side. He believed that Percy was telling the truth because Percy was one of the most popular students in the whole school.
“What’s that noise?” the principal interrupted. The room quieted down suddenly.
“Footsteps! Who’s coming?” Percy asked.
The door burst open. And there, the two faces I have never forgotten, appeared again today, Sylvester and Walter.
I relaxed. I could finally be considered innocent…
No, I suddenly told myself, they hated me for being a friend of Percy and ignoring them. Perhaps the only thing on Earth that they want to do is to kick me out of the school.
“I know the truth!” Walter said. Every word was like electricity shocking through my body.
“Well, you should knock on the door!” The principal said unhappily.
“Sorry. Can we go down to the science classroom, since we can prove our point better there?” Sylvester asked.
“Sure,” The principal agreed, and Percy’s face seemed a bit nervous.
We went down the stairs. I turned my head and looked at Walter, but I couldn’t tell anything about what he was thinking from his blank stare. Is he helping me, or Percy? I wondered nervously.
“Which side are you on?” I tugged his T-shirt and whispered to him.
“Of course, yours.” Walter answered with a small smile.
I felt my whole body getting lighter, and finally we reached the science classroom.
“Well, we all know that everyone makes mistakes, even Einstein does. You can’t blame it on Sal because he is a very close friend to Percy, so he wouldn’t try to hurt him with that book.” said Sylvester.
“Look at this burnt plant,” Walter continued, “It is very close to the table; you can burn the plant by just moving an inch. If Sal really wanted to hurt Percy, the fire should have been lit on the other side of the plant.”
The principal’s head kept nodding, and after Walter had finished, he turned to Percy.
“Anything you want to argue about?” He asked.
“You know like… like… you know, um… that, like… um…” Percy’s tongue seemed to be fighting itself.
“Well, Percy, you are a model in the school! Lying is not what you are supposed to do to a friend.”
“He is not my friend!” Percy shouted, and his face looked like it was on fire.
“You can go first, Sal, I will talk to you later,” The principal said, patting my shoulder. My whole body relaxed as I exhaled.
“Thanks,” I whispered to Walter and Sylvester. I realized the true power of friendship, how important it was comparing to cleverness.
“I can help you with question number 8 in yesterday’s math homework,” I said.
“Great, come on!”