What I've been Dreading has Happened

A couple nights ago, I was out with some friends (all teachers, by the way) in a weird little bar called Elsie's. It serves only beer and wine, only takes cash, and has the weirdest pool table of all time. It's my friend the department chair's favorite spot.

Anyway, I was on my second beer, when two young girls came over to talk to me.

"Hi, I'm Brittany, and this is Lindsay. Do you remember us?"

Oh no.

No.

It can't be.

"We were your students, uh... nine years ago."

Oh my.

Not until that moment have I run into a student in a bar. My friends who teach high school? It happens often enough to them. Me? Never.

Well, it used to be never.

Funny thing was, I had a really difficult time placing them. One of them looked familiar in that worn-out-at-the-cuff jeans, shorty-hoodie-over-a-longer-tank-top kind of way. I remembered her face anyway.

The other girl? Wow.

Where do I start? She was smoking a cigarette, had a pierced nose, upper and lower lip, had a ton of tattoos all over her chest and arms (not a cute little heart or Japanese Kanji mind you, she was COVERED), and had short, jet black, every which way hair.

Finally it dawned on me.

I did remember these two girls. They had been together in my class, and had been inseparable. They were smart and funny and charming (still were, it appeared). I remembered a book one of the girls had been reading, Sophie's Choice, which I went out and bought at her suggestion. I remembered that for the poetry memorization, Brittany had chosen Rapper's Delight (I still let kids choose song lyrics back then). I remembered that they were the kids that actually asked for more work to do, if you can believe that such a being existed.

They were cute back then, in a very suburban kind of way.

No way would I have guessed the young woman in front of me was the little girl from several years back.

They were friendly and silly with me, and I asked them about school. I expected both of them to say they had just graduated or were going on for their Master's degree from some great school.

Nope.

One was in her fourth year of City College, working two part-time jobs, and the other? She was vague about the details, but I got that she wasn't taking any classes at all.


Again, I was surprised. These were the kids I'd never doubt going on to university for a second.

You just never know.