People never seem to believe me when I say I have an awful temper, and it usually freaks them out the first time I lose control in front of someone. You can ask some of my friends about the day Yana sat in my spot at lunch.
Let me back up a bit.
Every May, my high school choir puts on a fantastic show known as the Pops concert. Instead of the usual old classical music we do for the rest of the year, the Pops Concert is where we can branch out into different genres. Some will have themes, like Love Songs or Broadway, while some don't. It's an amazing show, but boy is it stressful, especially for stage crew. See where this is going yet?
Around this time, the AP tests are in full swing as well. My senior year, I had decided to take Music Theory to maybe get ahead in my studies. However, AP tests require a lot of studying and work, and are very stressful. Still don't see it?
I also get very cranky when I'm too hungry. This one is usually my fault, since I never ate breakfast in high school. Usually by lunch, I'm in a foul mood until I get something down. Still no?
Well, this particular day, I was trying my best to just get through the day. I woke up being late to school which started an hour early for me because I needed to get to my Jazz Choir rehearsal. This class is only available during zero hour, and I tried my best to get out the door on time. I'm also not a morning person.
I was already late to lunch due to a mandatory, yet short stage crew meeting. I was getting antsy. I needed to go fill out my paperwork for the AP test, and I had already missed some of my lunch hour. I rushed to the counselor's office, and tried to fill out the form as quickly and accurately as possible. My stomach howled at me the whole time for neglecting it for so long.
As soon as I got out, I rushed back to my friends. We usually had a set order in our circle, and I was usually against the wall between my friends Savannah and Remington. Yana, however, had decided that today was gonna be different, tuning out my friends as they tried to get her to move from MY spot. I'd sat there for three years. It was going to change for no one at this point.
NO ONE.
Imagine, if you will, you met a valley girl. Not just any valley girl, but a pretentious one who thinks she's hot enough to be a model and tells everyone that. And thinks she can sing (spoiler: she can't.) and is just SO awesome. Now imagine she's doing this while chewing gum 24/7 with her mouth open, and smacking it. Everyone, meet Yana, the girl who had been terrorizing our lunch group for almost two weeks.
My friends, all extremely good natured and too nice to be rude, tried to get her to move, but instead she continued to stare at her iPod and ignore everyone. In a passive-aggressive attempt at getting her to leave, I set my backpack down behind her, pulled out my check book to pay for lunch, and made very violent motions as I left. On my way to the cafeteria, I begged my friend Azya to join me. I kept saying "I'm gonna lose it, Azya. I'm gonna lose it!" over the loud music.
Oh, it was also market day, and I was having major claustrophobia issues. I wasn't kidding when I said I was going to lose it.
I made it to the cafeteria, my sanity barely together. Maybe getting some food in my stomach would help me out, I reasoned. Satisfied that I had grabbed enough comfort food, I walked to the cashier who was sitting somewhat impatiently. I pulled out my check book and opened it. My stomach dropped. I had no checks, and I was going to go hungry.
By the time Azya and I had returned, I was shaking with rage, and saying with more confidence over the blaring music about how I was about to lose it. We fought our way through the crowd, and Yana still hadn't moved. Azya sat down and I stood for a second, trying to get Yana's attention. I called her name, trying to remain calm. "YANA," I finally said with enough force to get her attention. She looked up. And started chewing her gum obnoxiously again. I could feel the vein throbbing in my forehead.
"Wha?!"
"Do you mind moving? You're in my spot."
"Who the hell are you?!" came the snotty retort.
"I'm Kevin. I always sit there."
"Well you can sit somewhere else today." And then she went back to her iPod.
Wrong move.
I can tolerate a lot, but someone being so rude to a polite request? I saw red. I had had enough, and the stress of the past month came pouring out of me like projectile vomit right in her valley girl face. I don't remember exactly what I said, but thanks to Azya, I remember it being something along the lines of ”NO! YOU ARE GOING TO MOVE, AND YOU ARE NEVER GOING TO SIT THERE AGAIN! I'M NOT PUTTING UP WITH YOUR BS! IF YOU EVER SIT THERE AGAIN, YOU ARE GOING TO REGRET IT, SO HELP ME GOD!" Even my blood pressure medication couldn't keep my heart rate and blood pressure down. My heart pounded, and I heaved.
Everyone within a fifty foot radius stared at me. And mind you, it was an extremely busy day. All of my friends looked more scared and shocked than I had ever seen any of them. Finally, Yana got up and walked over to me.
"We're gonna go talk to Ms. Bethea, since you obviously have some issues." She made to grab my wrist but I snatched it away, kicked her backpack away and sat down in my spot. My friends started to speak up.
"Yana, we kept telling you..."
"We told you to move."
"Well, that was... scary."
I sat down next to Savannah and sighed, trying to regain my composure until the woman running the bookstore poked her head out. "What in the world is going on?" she asked cautiously. Everyone had stopped staring at this point.
"He yelled at me!" said the obnoxious valley girl, pointing at me. I looked up, sincerely apologetic.
"I'm extremely sorry for any disturbance I might have caused. I'm under a lot of stress right now because of our Pops concert," (I made sure to do a shameless plug) "and, I guess, it just built up. She's been bugging us for weeks and today just happened to be the day when I lost it." The woman looked from me to her a few times before saying to Yana: "Look, just... leave them all alone." And with that she left. I think a few of my friends may have jumped in and concurred with me before she had gone back inside.
I sat, regaining my usual happy-but-stressed mood as Yana stared at me. "You should have asked nicely," she said, snotty once more.
"He did. We all did," everyone chimed. We sat in silence waiting for her to leave. Finally she stood up with her bag and said, "Well, I'm gonna go since my day's ruined now." And with an unnecessary huff and hair toss she left. Once she was out of earshot, I remember Azya jumping in and smiling.
"Wow, Kevin. That was... awesome! Scary at first, but awesome!" she said. Everyone, myself included burst out laughing, except for a good friend of mine who felt it was her fault the situation had occurred in the first place. We hugged her and assured her it was most definitely not the case. Finally, Remington joined us and said he'd heard some loud noises coming outside, and I burst out laughing in sheer glee. Everyone stared, and I was "blissed out" for the rest of the day, even through dress rehearsal.
For the last two weeks of school, everyone made sure that Yana was not a part of our lunch group. When yearbooks came out, the same friend who had cried and just needed a little pick-me-up had shown us that Yana had written on a page a standard yearbook message and that no one else was allowed to write on it because she was "the only person important enough to write on it. lol <3" or something along those lines. Ugh.
Azya and I wrote all over the page.
And that's how I became extremely passive-agressive my last two-and-a-half weeks of high school.
EDIT: I forgot I had asked Azya what she had remembered of that day.
EDIT 2: Azya has pointed out how she didn't wait until Yana was out of earshot. My mistake!
Let me back up a bit.
Every May, my high school choir puts on a fantastic show known as the Pops concert. Instead of the usual old classical music we do for the rest of the year, the Pops Concert is where we can branch out into different genres. Some will have themes, like Love Songs or Broadway, while some don't. It's an amazing show, but boy is it stressful, especially for stage crew. See where this is going yet?
Around this time, the AP tests are in full swing as well. My senior year, I had decided to take Music Theory to maybe get ahead in my studies. However, AP tests require a lot of studying and work, and are very stressful. Still don't see it?
I also get very cranky when I'm too hungry. This one is usually my fault, since I never ate breakfast in high school. Usually by lunch, I'm in a foul mood until I get something down. Still no?
Well, this particular day, I was trying my best to just get through the day. I woke up being late to school which started an hour early for me because I needed to get to my Jazz Choir rehearsal. This class is only available during zero hour, and I tried my best to get out the door on time. I'm also not a morning person.
I was already late to lunch due to a mandatory, yet short stage crew meeting. I was getting antsy. I needed to go fill out my paperwork for the AP test, and I had already missed some of my lunch hour. I rushed to the counselor's office, and tried to fill out the form as quickly and accurately as possible. My stomach howled at me the whole time for neglecting it for so long.
As soon as I got out, I rushed back to my friends. We usually had a set order in our circle, and I was usually against the wall between my friends Savannah and Remington. Yana, however, had decided that today was gonna be different, tuning out my friends as they tried to get her to move from MY spot. I'd sat there for three years. It was going to change for no one at this point.
NO ONE.
Imagine, if you will, you met a valley girl. Not just any valley girl, but a pretentious one who thinks she's hot enough to be a model and tells everyone that. And thinks she can sing (spoiler: she can't.) and is just SO awesome. Now imagine she's doing this while chewing gum 24/7 with her mouth open, and smacking it. Everyone, meet Yana, the girl who had been terrorizing our lunch group for almost two weeks.
My friends, all extremely good natured and too nice to be rude, tried to get her to move, but instead she continued to stare at her iPod and ignore everyone. In a passive-aggressive attempt at getting her to leave, I set my backpack down behind her, pulled out my check book to pay for lunch, and made very violent motions as I left. On my way to the cafeteria, I begged my friend Azya to join me. I kept saying "I'm gonna lose it, Azya. I'm gonna lose it!" over the loud music.
Oh, it was also market day, and I was having major claustrophobia issues. I wasn't kidding when I said I was going to lose it.
I made it to the cafeteria, my sanity barely together. Maybe getting some food in my stomach would help me out, I reasoned. Satisfied that I had grabbed enough comfort food, I walked to the cashier who was sitting somewhat impatiently. I pulled out my check book and opened it. My stomach dropped. I had no checks, and I was going to go hungry.
By the time Azya and I had returned, I was shaking with rage, and saying with more confidence over the blaring music about how I was about to lose it. We fought our way through the crowd, and Yana still hadn't moved. Azya sat down and I stood for a second, trying to get Yana's attention. I called her name, trying to remain calm. "YANA," I finally said with enough force to get her attention. She looked up. And started chewing her gum obnoxiously again. I could feel the vein throbbing in my forehead.
"Wha?!"
"Do you mind moving? You're in my spot."
"Who the hell are you?!" came the snotty retort.
"I'm Kevin. I always sit there."
"Well you can sit somewhere else today." And then she went back to her iPod.
Wrong move.
I can tolerate a lot, but someone being so rude to a polite request? I saw red. I had had enough, and the stress of the past month came pouring out of me like projectile vomit right in her valley girl face. I don't remember exactly what I said, but thanks to Azya, I remember it being something along the lines of ”NO! YOU ARE GOING TO MOVE, AND YOU ARE NEVER GOING TO SIT THERE AGAIN! I'M NOT PUTTING UP WITH YOUR BS! IF YOU EVER SIT THERE AGAIN, YOU ARE GOING TO REGRET IT, SO HELP ME GOD!" Even my blood pressure medication couldn't keep my heart rate and blood pressure down. My heart pounded, and I heaved.
Everyone within a fifty foot radius stared at me. And mind you, it was an extremely busy day. All of my friends looked more scared and shocked than I had ever seen any of them. Finally, Yana got up and walked over to me.
"We're gonna go talk to Ms. Bethea, since you obviously have some issues." She made to grab my wrist but I snatched it away, kicked her backpack away and sat down in my spot. My friends started to speak up.
"Yana, we kept telling you..."
"We told you to move."
"Well, that was... scary."
I sat down next to Savannah and sighed, trying to regain my composure until the woman running the bookstore poked her head out. "What in the world is going on?" she asked cautiously. Everyone had stopped staring at this point.
"He yelled at me!" said the obnoxious valley girl, pointing at me. I looked up, sincerely apologetic.
"I'm extremely sorry for any disturbance I might have caused. I'm under a lot of stress right now because of our Pops concert," (I made sure to do a shameless plug) "and, I guess, it just built up. She's been bugging us for weeks and today just happened to be the day when I lost it." The woman looked from me to her a few times before saying to Yana: "Look, just... leave them all alone." And with that she left. I think a few of my friends may have jumped in and concurred with me before she had gone back inside.
I sat, regaining my usual happy-but-stressed mood as Yana stared at me. "You should have asked nicely," she said, snotty once more.
"He did. We all did," everyone chimed. We sat in silence waiting for her to leave. Finally she stood up with her bag and said, "Well, I'm gonna go since my day's ruined now." And with an unnecessary huff and hair toss she left. Once she was out of earshot, I remember Azya jumping in and smiling.
"Wow, Kevin. That was... awesome! Scary at first, but awesome!" she said. Everyone, myself included burst out laughing, except for a good friend of mine who felt it was her fault the situation had occurred in the first place. We hugged her and assured her it was most definitely not the case. Finally, Remington joined us and said he'd heard some loud noises coming outside, and I burst out laughing in sheer glee. Everyone stared, and I was "blissed out" for the rest of the day, even through dress rehearsal.
For the last two weeks of school, everyone made sure that Yana was not a part of our lunch group. When yearbooks came out, the same friend who had cried and just needed a little pick-me-up had shown us that Yana had written on a page a standard yearbook message and that no one else was allowed to write on it because she was "the only person important enough to write on it. lol <3" or something along those lines. Ugh.
Azya and I wrote all over the page.
And that's how I became extremely passive-agressive my last two-and-a-half weeks of high school.
EDIT: I forgot I had asked Azya what she had remembered of that day.
"I remember that Yana had been sitting with us and belittling everyone there very loudly for a week or twoYou and I had gone to get you lunchI admit I was a little fuzzy on the details. Thanks for the help, Azya!
(I was doing the whole: hahahaha lunch. funny joke)
Anyways we were talking about how we hoped she wouldn't be there and when we got there she was sitting in your spot
and then after you asked he to move politely she told you no (very rudely)
So you started screaming NO! I REFUSE TO DEAL WITH YOU BS TODAY YOU GET OUT OF HERE! LEAVE! NEVER COME BACK
She was obviously scared. She tried to cover it by rolling her eyes but she left
I remember feeling scared and a bit relieved"
EDIT 2: Azya has pointed out how she didn't wait until Yana was out of earshot. My mistake!
