This, I believe.
I met him in the beginning of the 6th grade; he was the first person during that year that spoke to me. Seth was a good person in almost every aspect of his life, he was outgoing, funny and understanding, and more importantly he cared about people, though he would never admit it. Every day we’d sit at lunch and talk, and before long we developed a close friendship that lasted through the year and onto the next. But, others did not see him as I did. Constantly I was told, by family and friends, that he was not someone I should be around, he was a bad influence and a downright scoundrel. I never saw any of that, I only ever saw the good in him. I saw, and still see, a boy with a future in music, because that’s what he loved. I saw a boy who was special, who was different and who really had something going for him.
I still see that in him, even if we hardly talk anymore and he’s become something that he is not. He’s changed, now he is a boy who thinks that just because he does drugs and smokes cigarettes and gets drunk he is the coolest boy in the world. At this point in his life he’s lost sight of who he truly is, he’s changed, and the last thing I’ve heard he ran away to live his father because he owes money and has gotten a girl pregnant. But still, I know there is some good in him somewhere, hidden beneath all the lies he’s told himself, beneath all the garbage that our society has forced on him. He’s still a good boy, smart and funny, who I still consider a best friend despite the prejudice against him. I know he has the ability to change and become a better person, because I believe in him and that’s what he needs. I know him, the real him, not the one that he pretends to be. One day, he’ll knock on my door again and I’ll see the grinning face of a carefree boy who loves his music.