My Hope for That Guy

I saw that guy again, the one who cheated off my test in class. You can read about my struggles with him in Mission to Disgust, Unintentional Revenge, This Guy Again, and the Last of that Guy. He was in line to get his graduation cap and gown. I had already picked up mine and was headed out of the gym. He looked at me and we locked eyes. I held his gaze until he looked at the ground. We will both graduate in May, mine from my own hard work, and his probably off the work of others.

I hope that by not getting him in trouble for his wrong doing, like getting him kicked off his sports team or getting kicked out of school, has taught him something. I know he knows I let him off the hook. If I had pressed the issue he would have gotten kicked off his sports team at the very least and possible gotten put on probation. Which would mean that he would have lost his athletic scholarship and may have not been able to finish school. I did not want to be responsible for changing his life in that big of a way, although some would argue he did it to himself. I understand the struggles of trying to get through school, and although I do not know his story, I hope that his reasons for cheating were good ones and not just laziness.

Maybe he will forever remember me as the girl who gave him a second chance to do it right. Hopefully next time he is placed in that situation he will choose to do his own work because of the bullet he dodged. I want to think that this has made him a better person.

But of course I could be completely wrong and he is thinking “yes! I got away with it once, I can do it again.” Or this is what he has done all through school and does not know how to study or prepare for class. If that is the case I feel sorry for him because he will never make it in the real world.

I ended up watching him for some time while he was in line. I know he knows my eyes were on him because every once in a while he would look in my direction as if scanning the room,  would see me watching him, and then look away. I wasn’t intentionally trying to make him uncomfortable but I’m sure it was. Hopefully I made him as uncomfortable as he made me the day he cheated off me and hopefully this experience has taught us both a lesson.

Horns hold up my Halo

As an early celebration to Halloween, and because I got extra credit in a class for doing it, I dressed up in my costume and went to school today. I am dressed as a half angel, half devil. My mom and I took a red and a white shirt, cut them both in half, then sewed them together, putting a single wing on the white side of the shirt, and a devil’s tail on the red side. I also have a pair of devil horns holding up my halo. I then did my hair and make-up different on each side to represent an angel and a devil.

Costume

I went to school and observed the people observing me. Which I actually found was easier said than done. I noticed that if I made eye contact with the people who looked at me they would look away quickly as if I caught them doing something wrong. Isn’t that the point of me dressing up though, is so other people can be entertained by me and my creativity?

I had to try to observe them by looking past them, which makes it hard to judge their exact reaction. Some people actually allowed me to make eye contact and smiled at me where I was able to smile back, some looked directly at the ground as if my eye contact forced them to do so. The ones who I purposely did not look directly at would stare until they could not anymore. Of those people some smiled, some looked puzzled, and some almost looked offended, like they thought I was weird and wished I hadn’t abandoned the societal norms and dressed the way that I did.

Back of Costume

I did dress up 1: for the extra credit, and 2: because it is fun. I am not easily embarrassed, but now I actually am having fun with the reactions I am receiving on this adventure, and trying to figure out what they mean. I decided some time ago that I do not care what others think about me and I will do what makes me happy. In the end you can’t always please everyone, so you might as well always please yourself. It makes me wonder if some of these looks are because these people wish they could be “brave” like me, because they are too embarrassed to escape society norms, or if they are so brainwashed that they are offended that people like me want to escape society norms.