I have known Bob (who is now called Jeremy) for so many years. We basically grew up together. We did everything together, from studying to watching shows after it was lights out. Yet this Jeremy guy looked exactly like Bob but acted like a different person. He laughed differently, walked differently and even hung out with our arch nemesis Samantha. OMG! That is shocking.
Bob or Jeremy (whatever) was smart. He got all the questions right in science class and made the smartest kid Iyer, run for his money. It was our last period and we had Ms. Jones. We all lined up in a single line and entered the classroom one by one, greeting the teacher. When it was my turn, I walked in front of Ms. Jones and said, “Hello Ms. Jones”. She waved at me with a smile. I walked in my classroom and saw everyone looking at me (except Iyer who was engulfed in his book). “What is wrong guys”, I questioned waiting for a response. “Nothing”, replied Jeremy. Something was wrong. Before I could inquire more, my teacher walked in. “Jamie please take your seat next to Iyer” she said. Wait, did she just say Iyer? No way I glanced at my seat. It was next to Iyer. “I cannot sit next to Iyer”, I replied. “Well now you can, Jeremy has decided to switch seats with Iyer”, Ms. Jones smirked. Great, that is what I needed. To sit with the guy that barely knows any slang. “Tomorrow is our draw so today we will know how the draw will work. First, each and everyone of you will write a nickname of a place from the world and put it in this golden box. I am asking you to write a nickname because it will be tied in with our geography”, Ms. Jones paused and then continued, “Then I will take out a piece of paper and read the name out loud. If we guess the place correctly, we go there. But if we don’t, we will take out another piece and keep repeating until we guess a winner. Sounds clear?”, Ms. Jones looked around the classroom. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. The bell rang, officially conforming the end of school.
The following day everyone one followed the steps Ms. Jones had told us to. I wrote on my paper ‘The Empire State’ which is a nickname for New York. “New York, nice Jamie” Iyer said peeking over my shoulder. “Mind your own beeswax Iyer!”, I said rudely. I know that is not nice to say but I was not in a good mood, so yeah. “Ok Jamie it is not my fault that Bob switched seats with me”, Iyer replied. Wait did he just call Jeremy, Bob! “Iyer you are the only other person in class, that is calling Jeremy, Bob”, I said excitedly. “I know, for some reason, he is behaving strangely”, Iyer replied.
Before I could inquire more, Ms. Jones told us to put our pieces of paper in the golden box. The whole class went in alphabetical order starting with Amber, the prankster who was pink trousers and a pink shirt. Her dressing sense was worse than that of me on graduation day in 5th grade. She giggled as she walked, she definitely had something planned. After Amber put her piece in the box, the whole class followed one by one. Bob was the last one (from now on he will be Bob, not Jeremy) to put his piece of paper in the box. After that it was the moment of truth, where will we be going?
“Ok class, this is it, are you ready?”, Ms. Jones reached her hand in the box and pulled out a piece of paper. She read, “And the winner is ……The E town!?”. Ms. Jones questioned, “Wait a minute! Whose paper is this?” The weird thing is nobody answered. Next to me, Iyer’s hand shot up. “Yes Iyer”, said Ms. Jones. “I don’t know whose paper that is but, I do know what the place is”, Iyer said. The class had a sudden burst of energy and started asking what the name of the place is. “E town is a nickname for Edmonton” ,replied Iyer. “Well, it is decided, we are going to E town. I am going to inform Mr. Valdez; you guys can talk among yourselves”, Ms. Jones left us with that sentence.
As soon as Ms. Jones left, I approached Bob and said, “Bob do you remember me?”. Bob did not reply. I asked again this time more loudly so it would get his attention, “BOB, do you remember me!!”. This time he looked at me , annoyed and said, “I am not Bob, I am Jeremy”.