“Please God. Give me a sign on what I should do!” I exclaimed to myself. Thoughts raced through my head on what decision I should make. What is the right choice? My friends didn’t help me at all. How can a fourteen-year-old make a decision of this magnitude all by himself? Everything I did seemed to be flooded with the thoughts on whether or not I should stay at Avoyelles Public Charter School for high school or attend Avoyelles High School. My mind pulsed and my head throbbed as I contemplated on the pros and cons of the situation. My entire future depended on this one decision.

How could I just abandon them? All of my closest friends were staying behind at Charter. I despised leaving my best friend Jonathan and my girlfriend Lacie. The fact of staying at Charter another year began to make me nauseated. Life at Charter could have been compared to a country ruled by a dictator. I felt like a tortured prisoner of war behind those school walls. But if I have my friends, then things won’t be so bad. I had been reassuring myself with this for the past four years, and it began to help less and less each time I said it to myself. Although I would depart from my beloved friends, I would have an opportunity to make new friends. But what if they don’t like me? The though of spending four years with people who detest me, like Hitler hated the Jews, filled me with anxiety. I decided to move to the next matter of concern, for my heart began to grow heavy as if someone was slowly filling it up with stones.

What could I accomplish? What school will help me become successful?” I had always been a person who was determined and willing to do whatever it took to be among the elite in academics. Each school offered their own unique opportunities, but I could not discern what they were. Will I be able to boast of experiences and accomplishments that Charter students could ever summon in their dreams? I couldn’t tell for the subject was too broad, but I did know of many people who graduated from Avoyelles High and were leading successful lives. Unfortunately, I could not say the same about Charter. They didn’t even have a senior class yet. The fact of them toying with my future just so they could build the ultimate school filled me with an unspeakable hatred toward the school.

I had enough. I was exhausted and perplexed on the whole situation. It was hard to enjoy the rest of that summer. That haunting decision was always lurking in the back of my mind as if it were a predator stalking its prey. Every time I would see friends, they would inquire about my situation, and I could never give them a proper update. It’s not fair! Why does this have to happen to me? School was quickly approaching, and the time had come to me to decide my fate. Stay with friends or meet new people and go to a school where they know what they’re doing? I confronted my parents and stood before them and met their gaze. This was it. “Avoyelles High.” I muttered.

To this day, I have no regrets of my decision. I have made so many new friends, and have made memories that will last a lifetime. I not only proved to myself that I can make decisions of this scale, but I also realized how to deal with them. I learned that the choices you make in life need to be the ones that will benefit you the most. You live you life, not your friend’s. Although I have no regrets of my choice, I still ponder on what could have happened if I would have remained at Charter. I still maintain a good relationship with my friends from Charter even though I barely see them. Putting your future before your friends is a difficult task that I hope never to go through again; however, I know that there are many more difficult decisions awaiting me down the road of my life, and this had prepared for the ordeals to come.