Cocaine is where it all started.  My first love.  Cocaine and I first met in high school.  We started dating each other freshman year.  If anything, I suppose you could stay we were officially a couple in November of 1924.  She was a beauty too.  I remember she sat in front of me in our English class.  She was a relatively quiet girl compared to the rest of the class.  In fact, she was just generally a quiet person overall.

I was a jackass back then.  I wouldn’t say I picked on her in class but I definitely made some jokes at her expense in an effort to get her attention.  It really didn’t take that long to work.  I messed around and flirted with her for a couple weeks until I decided to pull the trigger and ask her to be my girlfriend—it was high school, it’s what you did.

It was the class period after lunch and we were in our science class.  It could’ve been Biology.  I’m honestly not sure, I didn’t pay much attention.  I walked in and sat down.  Our teacher was showing some jibberish about who knows what.  We sat next to each other and talked the entire time.  We didn’t have much interest in what was going on.  Once the jibberish was over, I asked her if she wanted to make it official and be my special lady.  She responded with an incredibly optimistic, “fine.”

It was official.  Cocaine and I would end up being high school sweethearts and it was the longest relationship I was ever in.  She was also the first real relationship I’d ever been in as well.  I’d “dated” Crack and Alcohol in middle school, but I don’t really think those sorts of relationships count—but that’s just me.

Cocaine and I got along well together.  We had a lot of the same interests and the fact that she was quiet worked out quite well for me since I can’t shut the fuck up.  She was a fantastic listener.  That’s all she did.  She was there for some of the lowest times in my life.  Dealing with an alcoholic father isn’t the easiest thing to do but she definitely made it not-so-bad.  On top of this, I just fucking hated school.  It was the absolute worst.  I didn’t like anybody and there was just quite a bit of fuckery that I had to deal with—the details of which I just won’t discuss. (Just think of the nonsense you had to deal with in high school and insert that here.)

She was into band.  She was damn good at it too.  She played the flute and was the best in our class and higher-grade level students.  She ended up competing and doing well.  At a point, she’d even become the section leader for flutes.  I was always proud of her for that, even though she probably wouldn’t believe that.  I was a real asshat to her sometimes.  I most definitely did not deserve her time or respect for that matter during points in our relationship.

I was pretty flawed from time to time.  There were a lot of issues with jealousy in our relationship.  Well, there were a lot of issues with jealousy on my end of the relationship.  I was not a fan of the friends she had before me and so on.  She saw past it though.  Not to brag, but she was definitely into me.  She saw the good in me and she did a really good job of bringing it out.  Cocaine kept me on my best behavior as opposed to going out to friend’s places to drink and smoke weed—which is what basically everyone was doing at the time.  I picked Cocaine over that bullshit every single time.

Everything went relatively well the first three years of our relationship.  We did all the high school things, except prom.  We just weren’t fans of the idea.  We took classes together and spent every weekend together doing something.  Usually we’d hang out and watch movies or go find something to eat.  We were both hermits and it worked out for us.

Senior year would prove to be a hassle.  We ended up going to different high schools.  Our high school was being split into two and we both had too much going on to sacrifice going to each other’s school.  She had a lot going on with band.  She was the best and had a lot riding on it.  I was leader of the school’s football team and was essentially tasked with being in charge of the football team for our new school. I’d also decided that I wanted to give baseball another shot my senior year.  (Ended up not having time nor any interest for this.)  We decided that we’d each go to our respective schools and we’d make it work somehow.

Senior year was interesting to say the least.  It was all the people I’d gone to middle school with—including a few others who’d decided they wanted to transfer schools.  It was like being back in middle school with the original crew.  Unlike the transition into high school to begin with, being put into a smaller school felt nice in a way.  Nothing but familiar faces and people who I actually lived with in the community.  My classmates were childhood friends and relatives.  There was no need to deal with people I didn’t like for the most part.  I got along relatively well with mostly everyone.

I spent the overwhelming majority of high school being useless.  Other than taking part in the footbal stuff, I didn’t try much in class.  I half-assed everything in high school.  First, because I really just didn’t see the point to it.  Second, I felt like I wasn’t learning anything.  Not anything of value, at least.  Senior year was even crazier in that I was barely even there.  I somehow managed to amass a large amount of class credits and didn’t need to take many classes to graduate.  I was only on campus for half the day my entire senior year.  On top of this, I skipped a lot class because I was off doing something more important—couldn’t tell you what.

Cocaine and I spoke as much as we could and made things work somehow.  It definitely wasn’t easy and there was a healthy amount of fighting from time to time.  She was worth it.  There was a break up or two throughout our last year, but we couldn’t seem to really let go of each other.  Although, I did have some high points due to the fact that guys I was jealous of and made a stink of earlier in the relationship were the ones who attempted to make moves on her when I was gone.  I generally have a pretty decent read of people and my gut is usually right about those kinds of things.  Of course, Cocaine was not the kind of girl to fuck around.  She just wasn’t.  Loyalty is what attracted me to her in the first place.

We’d both applied to several undergraduate schools our senior year.  I’d gotten accepted to different schools and had my pick of what I wanted to do.  Cocaine was set on staying near home while I wanted to get the fuck out of town.  It was a rough senior year and I figured if I stayed, we could get back to how things were, and they’d probably be even better than ever.  So, I did.

We were off to college.  I was studying mechanical engineering.  I’d started my undergraduate degree with a healthy amount of hours already completed from taking courses while in high school—I had most of my basic courses out of the way and entered college as a sophomore.  Cocaine not so much.  She did have the chance to take as many courses, so she was still taking basic courses and still wasn’t completely set on what she wanted to do—she’d go on to become a  nurse.

Things went well for another two years.  She lived with some high school friends and I lived nearby with my brother.  We got a chance to make up for the year that we lost to fighting and complications.  People change more than you’d expect over the course of a year.  We learned about each other over again, but deep down, we still had a passion for each other.

Our second year of college, we decided to get an apartment together.  I’d never lived with anyone who wasn’t related to me, let alone a girlfriend.  This was definitely an interesting time.  We spent all of our time together.  But then it happened.

We just started to grow apart.  As shitty as this may sound, it is the truth.  High school sweethearts are called high school sweethearts for a reason.  It only lasts during high school.  We both met new people, saw new opportunities, changed outlooks on life, had newer and bigger ambitions.  It happens.  We just grew apart.  I didn’t feel like she was the person I’d fallen in love with.  Don’t get me wrong, she was still an amazing person.  Cocaine had the purest of hearts and the kindest intentions.  I knew what I wanted, and I couldn’t put her through it all.  I wanted to really experience life and the misadventures that would come along with it.  She wanted to stay focused and on track.  She had her eyes on the prize and I will never blame her for that.

Calling it quits with Cocaine was insanely difficult.  I really did love her and will always have a place in my heart for her.  A person like her deserves respect, honesty, and integrity.  I was becoming a person who would not be able to give her that.  I was becoming Skumbag.

Mezz walked into the streets spotting his dear friend Skumbag stood upon his soapbox, rambling on to a small crowd.

"What a beautiful story" he mused.... Although. What kind of parents would name their daughter 'Cocaine'!? 
He shook his head, knowing how much heart break can affect a person. 

Skumbag, don't worry, Pest still loves you... you don't need the nurse! isn't that Right.

 

You know, Skumbag, I think I was messing with the same girl.  Wasted a few years of my life with her.  All she ever did was make me talk too much, drink too much and kept me up.  Heck, all my friends started messing with her, too.  Got to be that we couldn't go out for a God-damn drink without a queue of us forming up outside a bathroom stall to have a go at her.

She wasn't a bit faithful, cocaine.  She went with anyone, and, yet, men stayed faithful to her.  For a while anyway.

Eventually, I got fed up with her.  Kicked her to the kerb.

As far as I'm concerned, she's to be avoided.