Mejia 1

Marvin Mejia
Professor Hymes
English 114A
September 15, 2014
Word Count:1,337
The Good, The Bad and The Jealous
Long ago in Van Nuys California, there lived a tender boy who went by the name Marvin
Mejia. That boy happened to be me, so now let us take a trip to the past back to the year 2006. In
kindergarten I was put into this after school program called L.A.s Best, this is an after school
program where you can leave you kid in school for more time and do homework because you
couldnt pick them up right after work. I had a negative look on it when I enrolled as a little five
year old, but my five year old dreams were being fulfilled. They had amazing activities to do
after homework was done, and every Friday they let us play outside the whole day. Needless to
say I was growing fond so much of it; I would not like my mother to pick me up early because
those extra minutes were too precious to go to waste. I was taller than all the other kids and
because of it they did not mess with me because they assumed I would get into a fight, though I
was a peaceful giant. I was a school boy also, that is the title that the other kids gave me. It did
not faze me that I had such a title.
There was a boy named Richard who would always annoy me in L.A.s best. He would
make idiotic statements about my curly hair and how I was a school boy. Naturally he was
somewhat of a trouble maker so he got in trouble from time and time again. Since I did not

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confront him about it, I bottled up my emotions. Throughout the years I was convinced the
reason Richard had bullied me was because he was jealous of the attention I was getting from the
other councilors. I was convinced of it because the bad remarked always came right after I was
engaged in some sort of action with councilors. There was this time specifically, I had just
finished my homework and an errand needed to be done and the same time I needed to go
Richard magically needed to go empty out his tank. We were going in different directions but he
insisted on accompanying me for a while. Richard had stated that he was never asked to run such
errands, that I mostly went on them, I told him it was because he never finished his homework
and that he would side track and do other things like how he was just doing. The look he game
me was the same people get when proven wrong. As a little youngster you feel cool having
grown up friends. Richard envied me because of that.
I continued to be enrolled until my last year which was 5th grade in 2006. Now I had
already been in good terms with all the counselors at this point, they knew I was a good kid and
did not give any trouble I was in good terms with the counselors so I got privileges that others
did not. For example taking notes to other counselors, or getting pulled out of my group to go
help another with some task. In elementary walking out of class to do something else seemed
like a huge privilege. There was one counselor that I grew a huge bond with, one that always
called me if he needed something and his name was Joel Hernandez. I looked up to Joel, at that
time I did not have a huge male role model to look up to, someone to teach me about sports,
about right and wrong. Joel had this special thing about him, I couldnt quite grasp it as a kid but
he believed in all of us as kids. Joel was that role model, the one I looked up to.

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Joel happened to be in charge of the sport teams in L.A.s Best and I would join all of
them from flag football to softball, from soccer to basketball. We spent a lot of time together
because of it, I a jack of all trades at the time; Id like to consider that I was one of the best
players in all four categories. There was this one time, when it hit me that I looked up to Joel
more than I thought. We would have free play on Fridays, I would grab a football to play a
game of catch, Joel would accompany me when he can. Then we came up with a game, we
would try to throw the football from one side of the basketball court to another making it into the
basket. Slowly but surely we got very good at it. We stepped up our game and tried to throw it
from across two basketball courts from an angel. The distance was a little farther so my
adolescent giant arms could hardly reach it with all my strength. When I did reach it my accuracy
went down the drain, the ball would fly in all directions. Joel would be there to cheer me on, he
believed in me more than anyone, he believed in me more than I believed in myself. Weeks pass
by and I still could not get it, Id get close by hitting the rim but the ball never went in. There
were times I wanted to give up but Joel had this personality where I had to keep trying, I would
have these burst of energy because of it, then it happened. After weeks of countless attempts, I
poured my heart and sweat into trying to make a football from across not one, not three, but two
basketball courts from an angle. One day I made it and the feeling I had was indescribable as a
kid. It was all thanks to Joel and he was there to celebrate with me. Thats when it hit me that I
look up to him more than I thought I did.
There was a time during free play where Richard would not stop bugging me, countless
remarks about my hair, the way I dress, the way I acted. That bottled I had been putting all of
this in suddenly burst because he was talking down about Joel. Since I couldnt hold it in I do not
remember how or when, it is all a blur of just pure anger. I put Richard in a head lock and he

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immediately started to worry about his safety, he was begging me to let him go and that he was
sorry but I was not thinking straight. While I was covered in a cloud of anger I heard a voice, a
voice that brought me to my senses for a bit even though I was still very frustrated. It happened
to be the man of the hour, Joel was speaking to me telling me to let him go, he knew I was not
that type of kid, it was as if I was a crazed zoo animal whos handlers are trying to calm them
down. I came to my senses after a nice talk and I let him go. If it hadnt been for Joel I would
have done something I probably would have regret. After that Richard never bugged me ever
again this was a huge load of my shoulders.
That was going to be the end of my story but as I wrote this, I decided to message Joel
because I recently got back in touch with him. He asked to hangout and catch up but I never
replied due to being worried if he would be proud of me and my progress. I realized I should
message him and catching up does not sound like a bad idea, so I wait for his reply and this is
where I shall finish my story about the good, the bad, and the jealous.