In 7th grade, I was attending Brooklyn Park Middle. Half way through the year they mixed everyone from Brooklyn with kids from Linthicum in a newly renovated school. They called it Lindale Brooklyn Park. The reason for the merge was Brooklyn was so beat up it had rats eating up doors and was extremely over-crowded with students. They needed both a bigger school, and one that wasn't falling apart.

This was strange for me. The amount of fights between rich jockey assholes and poor burnout thugs was amazing. This was every bit of "two worlds colliding" on a daily basis.

One of the very first indications of just how different the world was outside of my own industrial graffiti tagging gang of friends, was a friend of mine (Jay Watts) accidently stepped on one of these new kids' shoes. Being the level headed guy that he was, Jay immediately apologized, licked his finger, and started cleaning the spot he left on his shoe. The kid was completely puzzled as to why he was cleaning his shoe or even apologizing for such a meaningless passing to his seat.

For anyone who doesn't understand, stepping on someone's shoe is usually a sign of disrespect that ends in a fight or worse. This unspoken dialog I thought was common everywhere, yet this kid seemed to know nothing about it.

Regardless what anyone thought, we knew who we were and what we were doing. Still, every day stuck up little doll bitches crying out their opinion with rolling eyes would insist that we "fall in line" with a typical male's role of trying to impress them (like a simple animal). I assumed this is what preppy rich kids did, which sadly as I got older, was correct. This annoyed me. I was more than an "Alpha Male", I was independent.

In fact, shortly after realizing these differences, I knew I had to separate myself from these sets. I wasn't a brainless jock, a burnout thug, or a soft ass preppy. So, I decided to wear the same 7 pair of identical green army pants and black shirts every day. It let everyone know that I'm stronger than the forces that control them. I'm outside the box, and I don't bend to your shit.

I didn't get into many fights or arguments I think because of that. It could have been the bullet necklace I wore, or how I stood up for nerds getting picked on, going beast mode on dudes twice my size like they were somebody's little sister. I got along with almost everyone. I jumped in to and out of all types of groups. I practiced respect among my peers and treated everyone as equals. Anyone else not following that lead was non-existent to me. Without respect, you're nothing.

Speaking of respect, I remember my teacher Mrs. Felice asking me why I never looked any of the adults in their eyes. I thought this was common also. Maybe I spent a little too much time around people I shouldn't have but, to me it was like making eye contact with a dog. You don't know. The only people I wanted to make eye contact with was my own friends, family, and people with a hostile nature about them. Everyone else I assumed thought the same way. I was showing respect I thought. If I was looking you in the eye, it was because I either know you, or I was letting you know you aren't shit to me.

In the end, this merge caused me to make a ton of new friends. Especially when people would ask me what I did for fun and my answer was "crash cars in the junkyard" or "blow up abandoned houses". It wasn't until I moved that I found out how known I was. People were telling each other crazy stories of all things we did together for years. Somehow though, a rumor started going around that the reason I didn't make it to high school was because I died. This was easy to believe too after hearing those stories but, I just moved away for 2 years. My mom was recovering from cancer.