Q

Growing up around him in my middle school years was already a great challenge. As the "bottom" of the middle school heirarchy I was always the butt of the teasing, but Skyler would always specifically go after me. He had a special affinity for making me feel like crap, and any time I got angry about it, it was just "what friends do". I acted like it was normal, and like that was ok. It's not. I grew up with a slew of self confidence issues, and I tried to hide, because all I knew was being a failure. I learned to survive at the bottom, a position I grew used to over the years. Moving on to high school, things didn't change much. I dealt with it because he was my friend and I thought he had my back. I was wrong, and I found that out the hard way Junior Year. It was homecoming season, and through all the normal festivities there was only one thing on my mind: Julian Fernandez. My die-hard friend since the day he showed up at high school. He was going through some serious emotional issues,and he had completely detached from his friends, and I was worried sick. Grace had just broken up with him, and he was still going to the dance with her. As you all know, their breakup was amicable, and they are still great friends, but hopefully understandably I was still worried. I made it my quest to check up on him throughout the night to make sure he was ok, and at one point while looking for him, I asked Skyler where he was. Skyler's response basically was: "why do you care?". I was very angry. He was Julian's friend, and not only did he not care about the situation, he got angry with me for caring. Soon afterwards he would corner me, and start screaming at me about how I was the reason that Julian was going through it, and that Julian was faking it. I remember that like it was yesterday. He towered over me, and kept his face only a few inches from mine. I could feel his spit hit my face. It scars my memory. I remember the fear and anger I felt that night. I was deathly scared. I told him I was leaving. I knew how dangerous it would be if I stayed and things escalated. I knew how bad it would look, but I was scared. Before I leave, he storms over to the coat racks, looks me dead in the eyes, and said "I called your mother. We need to talk right now.". He had called my mom, and told her that I was completely losing it. I couldn't believe it. My mother called me, of course terrified, after her son's friend had called her basically telling her her son was going insane. That threw me over the edge to be honest. It was so low, to scare my mother like that. He then said to me that we needed to talk, and stupidly I conceded. The last thing he would end up telling me that night was that our fight was Julian's fault. After the fact, I assumed my life was over. He would speak to all of my friends and I would be completely socially ostracized. I would have been right, had it not been for my wonderful friends, who stood up for me, who listened to me, and who defended me when there was nothing for them to gain. Shout-out Tyler and Donovan. You guys saved my life. We would come to learn that the reason Skyler was so unaccepting of Julian was that he was planning to report him to Band Staff, and complain, to save his reputation as a strong percussion leader. Rather than try to help his friend, he reported him to save face. Ever since that incident, Skyler has told twisted versions of it behind my back to damage my reputation, which he still does to this day. Quite ironic seeing he still pretends to be my friend. This is of course not even close to the only incident to have come of him. It's only a snippet of the problem. But it's not just me. It's the way I see him treat my friends and the people that I care about. The people who I love, and that give me a reason to wake up every day when all I want to do is to disassociate. It makes me angry, extremely so, to see my friends exploited in that way, while we all stay silent, and take it. To Skyler, you deserve to know why people avoid you. You may not like it, but it's the truth. I hope you look at this as a teachable moment. Thank you to everyone who sticks by me, through the good and the bad. I love all of you, and would take a bullet for you. You make my life worth living. Thank you.