The Eternal Anti-Rebel

Is what I am. Let me explain.  All my life, I have been afraid of getting in trouble.When I was in 2nd grade, I got falsely blamed for making fun of JJ Hecei.  He told Mrs. Benne that I was making fun of him.  In order to avoid getting in trouble, she told me I needed to write a letter of apology to JJ for what I had done. If I did not write the note, I would miss recess for the rest of the week.  Well I certainly did not want to lose recess and I really didn't want to get in even more trouble for not apologizing.  (I told my mom that I had not done it but she insisted that it would be best to just apologize and move on)  When I was in 6th grade, I told Joey Beckerle that he was a bitch.  He immediately went and told the teacher, which got me in super deep trouble. (A pretty bitchy move if you ask me)  I was so scared that I was in trouble, I was sure that I never wanted to have that feeling again.  In high school, getting a JUG (like detention) took 5 demerits OR you could get an automatic JUG if you didn't have your demerit card on you.  The one and only time I had to serve JUG was the day I was talking during afternoon announcements and had forgotten my demerit card at home.  Coach Vitello caught me talking to Kevin Inglis and that was it.  Vitello was scary enough without forgetting your card.  I also had a chance to smoke pot on the way to school freshman year.  I was jammed into a green Saturn and while I never actually smoked, I was so nervous about being late to school and smelling like reefer.  Luckily, I was only late.  1 demerit.

A few years after that, I was faced with many opportunities to possibly be in trouble.  I remember when I turned 21, all the talk was about whether or not I would give my younger brother, Tom, my ID.  I always wanted to be that cool older brother who would hook up his younger brothers but I just never had the stones.  He never got my ID.  I remember even before I was 21, trying to get beer was so tough. My best friend Kevin (the one who I was talking to in front of Vitello) was the one who would tap shoulders for someone to buy us some beer.  That never worked but he did manage to get an older co-worker to buy us some Corona.

This brings me to today.  I'm 26.5 years old and still afraid of getting into trouble.  I was at Best Buy buying a dvd when 3 adolescent girls came up to me and asked me if I would buy them 'Call of Duty: Black Ops'.  I told them I felt like I was being set up and that I was sorry but could not help them.  I was devastated for them.  Earlier, while browsing the aisles, I had seen these girls wandering around.  It took them asking me to make said purchases for me to realize why they were wandering.  After saying no, I headed to the checkout.  Halfway down the steps, I paused and looked back upstairs for them.  I was SO close to turning around and telling them that I would do it but then I remembered that I am the eternal anti-rebel.