Greaves 1

Maliyah Greaves

College Essay

9 March 2022

The Day School Became Fun

I just wanted the day to be over. My brain hurt from trying to squeeze any
thoughts to be put into my, ¨Can Fame and Fortune Make You Happy?¨ writing.
Seriously, how would I know? I was only in middle school and my little brain would not
believe me if I told it what I was going to learn that day. Matter of fact it couldn't even
fathom the news, and 4 years later it still can´t. My day had already been pretty bad, but I
would rather have that bad day, over the incomparably bad day this day would soon
become. Thank goodness! It was the last period of the day. But sadly, it was Ms. Flory´s
class. I hate Ms. Flory. She is so mean to my best friend Collin. I bet she feels real bad
now. Collin is out of school today, he didn't come much before, but after he got diagnosed
with stage 4 Rhabdomyosarcoma he couldn't come at all.

Rhabdomyosarcoma is a very rare cancer that attacks his tissues and muscles. It
leaves his body in pain because there was no more tissue in between his bones to keep
them from touching. A few months prior our teachers sat myself, and a few other
classmates who were close to Collin down. They explained to us what cancer was, and
the specific cancer he had in little bits so we were able to comprehend. He was only 13
when he was diagnosed. He is a day younger than me, may I add. He stopped coming to
Ms. Flory´s class though. He stopped coming to school. He would get too sick, they told
us. So until he came back, I knew school would be excruciatingly boring. No one was
there to make me laugh anymore, or copy my answers. I did really miss him. My mind
continued to think of him as I put my pencil down with gratification when I was finally
finished with my writing. I really began to hate writing, and reading. Maybe just school
in general.

The bell rang, school was out. I was so excited to go to the locker room and put
on my track clothes. It was my first year of track and I was so sore from that week's
conditioning. The weather was nice that day. It was March 9th, and after practice it's the
weekend! I got a bag of ice for my calves and grabbed my phone to call my Mamaw to
come get me. Oh no, this can either be very good or very bad. I had a few recent missed
calls from Collin´s dad, Rob, and his sister Kierstin. I called them on my way home. They
told me they were on their way from Vandalia to come get me to see Collin, and they
would tell me more in the car. I was confused. I thought everything was getting better? Is
he okay? There were a million questions I was asking myself. I got dressed and they were
at my house pretty fast. They told me Collin isn't expected to live through the night and
 Greaves 2

they wanted me to get the chance to say goodbye. I didn’t know how to feel. Happy?
Because I get to say goodbye, or sad for the exact same reason? I am still not so sure.
Collin did indeed pass away that evening. I felt sad like I didn't even think it could be
possible, especially at my age. The following Monday we went back to school. The first
few days of the week we wrote stories to share with each other and his family. A few of
us got the honor to write speeches for his funeral. Remember, I hated writing. But, at this
particular moment I loved it in a way. It came so easy, so effortlessly, the paper and pen
became my best friend that day. My pen danced acrossed my paper, and the words sang
beautifully together. It's like all the components of my paper were performing a show, and
for once in a while I felt as if I was in perfect harmony.

School wasn´t the same for a while as you could imagine. I woke up each day
ready to go to school. I was ready to take on the day, as Collin would've loved to if he had
the chance again. I even found myself starting to enjoy school. I began to enjoy my
writing assignments, even reading for AR points. I no longer hated Ms. Flory, there's not
enough time and space in your life to make room for hate. I liked doing math, and I
found a new love for history that has never died since. Ever since the day I realized how
much I took school for granted, I vowed to push myself extra far. I promised myself and
Collin that I would not limit myself no matter how hard it gets. School may not have been
his favorite thing in the world, matter of fact, not even close. But one thing I do know for
sure, is that he would love it if he knew he would never go again. You know what?
School is kinda fun now.