School had just begun. For Jackson High, this was the best time of the year. A new beginning, new friends, new horizons, anything was now possible. But not for James Clark the rest of his bunch. They were always the same every single year, not the coolest kids in school, but definitely not the nerds of the school either. They would call themselves below average.
This group of friends included James, Paul, Kevin, and Carter, with each one of them being completely different. James was more of the leader type in the group. Great looks, best at talking to the ladies, but all of the popular kids hated him. Paul on the other hand was a genius, probably the most awkward person you ever met though. After Senior year he even went to Yale with a full scholarship. Kevin was the class clown of the group. He had a sense of witty humor which sometimes were taken to the extreme. One example of this is when he tried making fun of the principals limp not realizing that he had recently been diagnosed with a bone tumor. Lets just say the principal didn’t find it too funny. Lastly, theres Carter, the once popular kid who decided to leave them behind for a group of misfits. No one really knew a lot about Carter except for that he was quiet. They all met Junior year in homeroom when the teacher asked to talk quietly with one another. They didn’t have many friends so they decided to try to make new ones. Each teen being around the same age, sixteen to be exact, made it easy for them to be in the same class, so they were all able to get to know each other equally. Except Carter, he never really talked to anyone, he just followed them around.
On the second day of school, James, Paul, Kevin, and Carter all met at homeroom. Each one of them were all excited that they would have gym together next period. Knowing that they were going to be playing basketball they asked Carter whether he was good or not. He told them that before senior year he used to play for the Varsity team and was also a starter. He never told them why he quit though. All he ever referred to was “the incident”.  Because of the mysterious vibe that Carter obtained, no one decided to ask what it was, but it was always in the back of everyone’s mind. Paul and Kevin would always joke about how he must of murdered someone, but to be honest it really wasn’t that hard to believe. After homeroom the boys decided it was time for some four versus four action. Since they were all they got, they couldn’t make a team of five which was what the gym teacher had originally told them. James went and asked some other guys if they can play a four versus four with them, but they all declined. For the rest of the period, they all played by themselves. They were all pretty upset, but decided just to move on with the day instead of making it a big deal. during the last period of the day, Paul asked everyone if they wanted to hang out on Saturday at his home and watch a movie. They all said yes except for Carter. He told them he had something to do that night. Kevin made a snarky joke about he was off to murder someone again. Carter didn’t seem to like it a lot. After that, the second school day of the year was over, and the weekend had just begun.
Saturday nights at Pauls house, everyone felt relaxed and comfortable around each other. Although they only knew each other for around two days, it felt like an eternity between them. Throughout the entire night, there were again many jokes and theories behind “the incident”, but they never came to a conclusion. After the boys hung out, Carter became pressured to tell them what the incident really was. Knowing that Carters friendship with the others would change completely, he was very hesitant to confess. Somehow Carter was able to gain enough confidence to tell James, but only James. James was the only one out of the group to not make jokes about what happened, so Carter had a larger trust with him than Paul or Kevin. In the end Carter decided to wait until school to tell James.
As Carter called James over he now felt extremely hesitant to tell him. He began telling James the story from where it all started, his own home, “ My parents are sort of lenient when it comes to parties and drinking. As long as I was home before twelve everything was going to be alright. There was a party that I was going to attend for my friends birthday. Prior to driving over to the party I had a pretty large argument with my dad about drinking and how my behavior has gotten extremely worse. I ended up yelling back at him while exiting through my front door. He was clearly aggravated at me so I thought it was best that I just leave. Surprisingly he didn’t stop me from going to the party. Once I arrived it felt a little weird with the thought of my dad disappointed with my drinking habits. The only problem was at the time, I had more anger than I had guilt. So, stupid me decided to drink away my angriness. I must of drank around five or six bottles of beer and played beer pong for around two hours before I passed out. The others at the party were pretty much the same. After I woke up from passing out, I realized it was time to go home. Looking back at it I wished that I just stayed on the ground. I exited the home got into my car and drove off while being extremely intoxicated. I don’t know how I could have let myself do this, but I did. While I was driving I remembered seeing this kid, maybe around thirteen years old riding his bike at twelve in the morning. All I remember after that is swerving as the kid crossed the street on his bike at a street light and hitting him. I tried to come to a stop, I really did, but it just didn’t work. I banged my head on the steering wheel extremely hard and was immediately disoriented. When I started to gain my senses again I got out of my car and saw the kid lying on the ground. There was no blood, no blood at all. Once I looked at his face I began gaining feelings that my future was now over. I would be in jail for most of my life, and never go to school again. The panic that I was in was far more intense than any other incident I ever had. Not even second guessing myself, I called the cops anonymously and told them about the boy. Once they told me they were coming, I got into my car and drove off. At that point I was filled with regret, but I knew I couldn’t go back because it would look like a hit and run, so I continued to drive home. That whole ride home felt like forever. I was crying hysterically at the thought of myself possibly killing that kid. I never forgot his face after that accident. When I got home my parents were asleep so I got into bed and did the same hoping that I can relieve the stress. Nope, ended up being even worse, I began having nightmares that had the boy dying and I was there in handcuffs watching his parents cry ten feet away from me. ‘It was an accident’, that what I would try to tell myself but I was wrong. It wasn’t an accident, it was all my fault. The day after the kid hit the news and there was a search for me , well sort of, the news station offered money to anyone who had any information about what happened. On the news they said the kid was alive which was a major relief to me, but then I heard the news that the kid was paralysed from the waist down and will be for the rest of his life. I was broken, I never felt so scared in my life. Its been around a year since the accident and the guilt that I feel is still tearing away at me. The reason I stopped hanging around my other friends was because I promised to myself that I would never drink again, and in order to have fun with those guys you have to drink. At many times I contemplated suicide, because I believed that I deserved it. But, I thought that really wouldn’t be justice for the kid. I decided a week ago that today I was going to give myself in once and for all. I never had anything going for me in the future anyway since sports was all I had. I never told my parents, and I know they are going to hate me but I believe this is the right thing to do. It’s over.”
Once Carter finished talking, James was completely silent. No words were able to come out of his mouth and stood staring at Carter as he walked to class.
Once school ended, Carter drove himself to the police department and handed himself in. Although he would be facing serious jail time, it was worth it to him, because in the end it was the guilt of not confessing to anyone which tore at him the most. As he made his first phone call to his parents, there were no tears, just relief. As Carter would say, it was all over.