An Old Friend

I got in contact with an old friend via facebook yesterday. She messaged me. I'd missed her, a lot. We'd stopped being friends because, well, honestly, we'd fallen into the wrong crowd, we were very young [16] and had started doing things that were way beyond our age.

It was new years eve '06 and i was the drunkest i'd been in my life. I was only 16, we were only 16 and we'd somehow befriended these women of 24/25 years of age. I was, or had been dating one of them and she [although i didn't know at the time] was essentially sleeping with the other. The other, it has now been revealed, was a crack addict. It was a fun night, but with awful ramifications. I think it was only fun because of how drunk i was. We were in a club and by the end of the night i'd kissed at least 6 people. One of them was the crack addict. After that night my friend and i stopped talking. I told her, several days later, what had happened. I knew i had to get out, i had to stop associating with those people. We stopped talking. I fell into an equally destructive crowd, although they were slightly less awful. Less dregs of the gutter type people. I did reasonably badly in my AS levels. I knew i had to sort my life out, so i did. I turned it around, i got a job, i met the former GF, i stopped going out and moving in the wrong circles, and i aquired a group of friends at TSH-Mark II who were normal, nice and reasonably conventional. Apart from the copious levels of hash some of them smoked. But it could have been worse.

My friend, Cu, however, remained with the crack addict for over a year. She essentially failed her A-levels. She got CDD, which is by no means a fail but she could have achieved so much more. Her life is a mess. Her sisters life is a mess. Her sister is a 'maid' in a brothel. And the gut wrenching thing is they are both from a respectible family, their father is an architect. He designed the fountains outside Centre Point. She is fantastic, and i think, deep down, she knows what a mess her life had become.

She was 16 and lost her virginity, drunkenly, to a 25 year old [ex?] crack addict in some funfair toilets.

I was 16 and lost my virginity, in all sobrieties glory, to a 24 year old failing law student who i'd met, essentially, from the internet.

Both were women. We briefly shared a very fucked up life. It's strange how fucked up reality is. I was speaking to a friend from University, NO2, and she said to me that no-one is normal. Normality doesn't exist. I didn't believe her at the time but i think she was right. She is so wise. Sincerely. When i see her freak out about work i want to shake her and tell her how amazing she is, i want to show her just how much knowledge and determination she possesses. No-one is normal. Absolutely everyone has their own insanely fucked up stories. Most simply don't let it show.

The revision didn't go so well today as i spent perhaps 3 hours on the phone to Cu. But the plan is to get up at 9 am tomorrow, instead of todays 3.30 pm and catch up on what i was supposed to do.

By tomorrow i am to have finished case 1 and have gotten at least half way through case 2, if not finished all of case 2.

13 DAYS.