October 2, 2019:
Those were the wrong people. Narcissists of entitlement and gifted programs. Set aside since grammar school for better things, even though those "better things" are merely middle management or academe.
I rejoined them to avoid school, but it sucked me into their world. Plus I needed a new crowd, or told myself. So that I turned my back on the blue collar scruffs who'd been set back a grade or whose moms were waitresses. My true people.
My male bestie, and the beautiful blonde girl in the red bowler hat. That's where I should have stayed. I took the wrong fork and met misery when I should have continued straight ahead.