All my friends were expelled

So right now, I'm taking classes at Harvard's summer program for high school students. Basically it's a trial run for college, except that the amount of courses you can take are capped at 8 credits. These credits actually go on our college transcripts. There are no rules, curfews or otherwise, except for their zero tolerance policy for alcohol.

You can probably see where this is going.

Last Wednesday night, I was on a date because my girlfriend was going out of town for the weekend so I couldn't see her then. After we went book shopping, bacon-ordering, and making out for a few hours, I took her back to her place and later returned to my dorm to sleep, tired and happy.

The next evening, I had dinner with my friend Brian and we recounted our nights. He told me that while I was with my girl, he and the other seven of my friends had gone out drinking, but no worries. Apparently, some girl became sick because she had too much, but that was about the extent of it. Someone had called Reed, who is one of those guys who never does anything morally reprehensible but is awesome to hang out with, to take care of her; so he did.

Friday afternoon, I go out and have lunch with my uncle who was in town for a few days. Halfway through, I get a call- it's Brian-

“Yo, what's up?”
“Hey man, you got my text?”
“Uh, no, I haven't checked; I've been out with my uncle. What is it?”
“Well Frank, I hate to break it to you, but we're all expelled.”
“Uh. What?”
“Yeah, I just thought you should know. All of us, for the drinking thing. We'll meet up later.”

So when I returned to campus, I immediately met up with my friends. God, they were a sorry and dejected lot, except for Brian, the perpetual jester who was vainly trying to make light of the situation. No one knew what to say. I picked up a Harry Potter ticket that my friend had bought for all of us- one of eight that they would never be able to use because they had a 9 PM curfew that night. Everyone had to leave by today.

A few of the girls and I went to visit Shak who was also expelled; he had slept all day in his room. It was absolutely heart-wrenching to see the state he was in- beating himself up, tears in his eyes, he had a half-hearted way of moving about his room. He pushed us out so he could return to his dream world- an escape from reality.

Right afterwords, I went to the administrative officials to see if I could reverse the decision about Reed specifically. Even though he did not drink, by being conscious of it happening via helping that girl, and not reporting it, he was apparently liable.

Of course this wasn't fair at all. Reed is one of the best guys I know- smart as hell, a better runner than myself, wholly dedicated to both his body and mind, ambitious, hilarious, has the ability to grow kickass facial hair, etc etc. I spoke with dean after dean until I was sitting across from the director of the entire program. He told me that they reviewed each student as a separate case, taking their motives and character into consideration, but by not reporting the incident, Reed was equally as liable as everyone else who was drinking. The director admitted to liking Reed and thinking he was a “great guy”, but the rules were the rules, and the zero tolerance policy meant zero tolerance. In addition, they could not reverse the decision after it had been made.

Frustrated but knowing my efforts were futile, I thanked him for his time. He suggested that I write a letter to Reed's parents; he then provided me with his address. I think I will write a letter stating how I admire their son's character.

Twenty minutes later, we all decided to go to dinner, chatting about everything that we never did, which is an incredibly depressing conversation topic. When everyone had gotten their food, we did one last toast- to summer, prosperity, resilience, and friends.

And then we started reminiscing about all the stuff we *did* do. Inside jokes and laughter everywhere, just like the good times before all this shit went down.

After dinner, Shak and I went to a used book store. He needed some good fiction because he didn't want to live his own life for the next couple weeks. I recommended Catch-22 and Cat's Cradle and mentioned that I had a copy of The Great Gatsby; I hid some lines of poetry in The Great Gatsby and gifted it to him, as we both appreciate good poetry.

After they all had to go to their dorms because of their curfew, I went to see Harry Potter all by my lonesome self. I tried to bury myself in popcorn, junior mints, a large coke, and a movie, but to no avail. I went wandering around Cambridge after the film, eavesdropping on strangers' conversations and stargazing.

Goodbyes were awful. Most of them left early this morning. I saw Brian off first thing after I woke up; I was so proud of him for finally admitting his feelings to the girl he had a crush on even though he got completely friend zoned.

I got breakfast with Reed this morning. He's disappointed in himself, and I tried to console him. As we were eating, I told him to recommend me some good electronic music with which I can remember him (he makes amazing electronic beats in his free time). When his father met up with him and I had to say goodbye, my last words to him were

“You're inspiring.”
“You too. You too.”