Wow…

Have you ever been hit by a train? Okay, that’s a bit of a stupid question, but something just happened, in an emotional sense. I’m still trying to get past the shock of it. I didn’t expect her to say sorry so quickly, so suddenly. As soon as she signed into MSN today, you could’ve cut the tension with a knife. But then she sent me a link to her blog post, and in that blog post was an apology, not just to me, but to Joy as well.

In that split second after my brain absorbed that information, thoughts went flying through my mind. Is she just saying this to lure me into some trap? Is she trying to squeeze false information out of me as a way to get me in trouble for something I haven’t actually done? Is she just drunk and not at all sure what she’s talking about?

Then those instinctual thoughts died down and I realised that I might be getting my best friend back. And, most importantly, Joy and her long-term buddy could be reunited as well. So, for them two especially, I’m jumping at this opportunity.

Pear

reIn ten years time, when I’m CEO of a company that’s well on it’s way to becoming the richest enterprise in the world, I’d probably have some important decisions to make. My and Joy’s children aside, I’d also have to think of names for our products, services and even the company itself.

Just to annoy Apple, the company would probably end up being called ‘Pear’. My overall plan would be to manufacture a portable media player, a phone, a computer range, a games console and a portable games console. Here’s what I’d call each:

• Pear Shell for the portable music player. If Pear was to create four different styles, as Apple has done with the iPod, it’d be Micro (Shuffle), Chico (Nano), Clasico (Classic) and Ultimo (Touch). That means Shell Micro, Shell Chico, Shell Clasico and Shell Ultimo.
• We’d have to totally surpass the iPhone in every way, so it has to have a nice name. ‘Pear Celda’ sounds nice in my opinion.
• Here’s the hard part – the computer range. Three laptop PCs and three desktop counterparts. In conjunction with Apple’s range, Pear’s products would be named Tome (MacBook), Tome Stream (MacBook Air), Tome Blaze (MacBook Pro), Bureau (iMac), Bureau Chico (Mac Mini) and Bureau Ultimo (Mac Pro).
• Last but not least is the games console, which would probably be called ‘Orb’. Orb Chico would be the portable counterpart.

Businessman or Writer?

All these months, I’ve envisioned my future career to be some form of businessman, working in the field of IT, managing a business that would start off small and grow, bloom, flourish – burst into life as a huge, international enterprise bigger than Microsoft. Of course, the facts brought me down to earth a bit.

My interest in computers is a tad petty. It’s not that I know a huge deal of stuff – I just know more than your average 15-year-old. That’s all really. Some basic HTML coding, an understanding of mediocre computer jargon and the ability to take care of minor problems is probably the height of my capabilities right now. My IT grades have plummeted (by fault of my teacher a certain degree) and, well, that future I mentioned earlier just doesn’t seem likely at the moment.

So I looked at the facts some more, and noticed a pattern, which started at the age of just 9. Six years ago, I wrote a 200 page book, about a group of people who end up travelling around space and time on a magical bus. Sure, it sounds sad, but the people who’ve read it were suitably impressed at the fact that I wrote such a novel at such a young age. Even back then, my vocabulary was advanced.

Nowadays, here I sit, writing blog post after blog post, constantly either reporting about happenings in the world of tech or how my day’s gone so far. Try comparing my Facebook profile to an average teenager’s – whereas most adolescents seem too lazy (I don’t mean to be insulting or patronising) to include capital letters, I go the whole hog and include accurate spellings, all relevant punctuation and an appropriate grammatical style.

In school, English is my best subject. I’ve yet to come across another person in my entire school who managed to get straight A’s on both Shakespeare and Dickens. I look forward to seeing the grades I score for my analysis of the paranormal movie, The Sixth Sense.

Finally, I’ve suddenly started taking an interest in prefixes, suffixes and etymology. What’s more, I’m now reading through a 600-page book called ‘How to Write and Speak Better’.

What I’m really trying to get at is this – am I destined to be a writer? Will I end up rewriting my bus-based novel, selling it by the truckload and getting rich quicker than you can say ‘bald egg’? Could I possibly merge this alternate destiny with my dream of being a businessman and create a publishing business, guiding it towards taking over Amazon, then eBay, then the entire Internet.

Either way, I always want Joy there with me, by my side, spending my countless millions of pounds.

Kate…

Damaging someone’s life need not be done by violence – if you punch someone, the scars will heal. If you really wanna hurt someone, tell a lie. Let the lie get out of hand, let it turn into a rumour, and let it be passed on around your victim’s circle of friends. Smile as they suffer.

My best friend, or so I thought, has a friend who sent me three disgusting pictures. They came as a total shock, delivered right to my phone, and for a while, my best friend turned against her friend because of those sickening images.

A week ago, while I wasn’t in school, it came to my attention that someone else was spreading rumours about me. So I asked my best friend if she knew about this matter via WLM, and, as the conversation went on, she jumped to the conclusion that I was accusing her of spreading those rumours. For that reason, she started turning against me. She also started turning against my girlfriend, the one girl I truly love. What hurts most is that those two have known each other nearly all their lives.

So my best friend decided to do something nasty. She accused me of asking for those disgusting pictures – a rumour that could easily damage not just my reputation, but also leave me with a criminal record of sexual abuse or harassment. It’s a truly terrible thing to say, and all because she jumped to a conclusion.

One weekend, I sent a prank text to another friend, writing it as if I was one of those annoying sex line texts so many mobiles get plagued with. Harmless fun, of course, until my best friend comes along and turns the joke around on me, calling it skanky and totally over-reacting towards it.

Thanks to her rumours that I asked for those sickly pictures, I narrowly avoided getting attacked by a 21 year old outside school. Well, that’s one possibility – whether or not that’s why he did want to beat me up for that reason or not I’m not entirely sure. In fact, I’m not even 100% sure as to whether he did want to ambush me at all. So I’ll keep that accusation on hold for the time being.

I’m just glad Joy has stayed faithful to me. But things could get tough… my best friend’s mother may contact Joy’s mother and tell of all the rumours my best friend has come up with. You do, of course, see how that could totally screw things up. And all because my best friend jumped to a conclusion.

My best friend is gradually becoming just a person to me. I don’t hate her, and I don’t dislike her – maybe because I’m loyal. Either way, she’s making life extremely hard… and even if she doesn’t say sorry, even if she doesn’t apologise, she’s forgiven.