Capítulo 2 - Just Remember...

CHAPTER TWO

I felt like an impostor (Dylan)

The last time I saw Alex… or at least her image on Skype… I took my laptop and smashed it. When
that didn’t do sufficient damage, I took it outside the tent, out to the edge of the camp, and fired a thirtyround
magazine through it. Needless to say, that attracted some unwanted attention.

Sergeant Colton convinced the old man not tocourt-martial me. I did, however, get confined to the
barracks for thirty days, a moot point since we were in the middle of the boonies in Afghanistan, and extra
duty, which was most definitely not moot, since that mostly meant filling sandbags.

In any event, it didn’t matter much, because the next day I was in the passenger seat of our hummer
when we rode over a bomb, and I didn’t need a computermuch for a while after that. I got smashed up
pretty bad, and got my best friend killed.

Point is, Alex always evoked, um, strong emotions, from the very first time I laid eyes on her.

We met almost three years ago: my senior year in high school and her junior year. And to be blunt: it
changed my life, in ways I can’t really measure.

But to understand that, you have to understand how wegot there in the first place. For me, it’s kind of
a backup problem. As in, for each part of the story, you have to back up to an earlier part. I was at
Columbia because I got blown up, and I got blown up because I volunteered for Infantry when I enlisted in
the Army, and that happened because of the first time she broke up with me, which was… you get the
point. So to have this make any sense atall to you, I have to work my way back to high school.

I was a lousy student, but I’m not stupid. I can add, and when my mom kicked me out of the house, I
had to add minimum wage to minimum wage, and it didn’t come up to nearly enough to pay rent on an
apartment, much less rent an apartment and actually do anything crazy like eat. Plus, the guys I was
hanging out with… let’s just say, theyweren’t shining lights of humanity.

So I cleaned up my act. I quit drinking. Quit smoking dope. I still smoke cigarettes, but everybody’s
gotta have one vice. And I went back to high school. Problem was, I was behind, way behind. When I
registered for school again, I went to see the principal of my high school and explained my situation.

The first question he asked me was, “Where are yourparents?”

I sighed. “I’m sort of homeless at the moment,” I replied. “But that’s not permanent. Look… I don’t
want to involve them in me going back to school. I guess I need to prove to my mom that I can do this on
my own. Maybe I need to prove it to myself, too.”

He understood. And backed me, all the way. And much to my surprise (and my mother’s) I got nearly
straight As.

At the endof the year, he called me into his office.

“Listen,” he said. “I want to tell you about a program we’ve got. Every year, the city sends half a
dozen students as part of a national program to visit several other countries. Sort of an ambassador,
exchange program. You’ve been nominated.”

I was in shock. Me?

“Isn’t that for the smart kids who didn’t get in trouble?” I asked.

“You are oneof the smart kids, Dylan.”

I noted he didn’t address the trouble part.

“Look, Dylan, all I’m saying is… it’s a hell of an educational opportunity. I think you should apply.”

“Okay,” I said, not really believing it. “What do I do?”

“Write an essay. Here’s the application packet. Explain in your essay why you should have the
opportunity.”

I took the packet home, and read over it. Tobe honest, I was terrified. Seriously. I came from a blue
collar family, with a drunk for a dad, and a recovering drunk for a mom, and well… I was a screw up. I’d
be competing with kids with 4.0 grade point averages, kids who were planning to go to Harvard and Yale
and other places I couldn’t dream of. But, I wrote the essay. I wrote about growing up with drunks, and
becoming one myself. I...