His mom texted me last Wednesday, just a quick line. "Hey, did Joe tell you? Friday is his last day at your school."
I didn't even know what to say. Joe is a junior, and he was in my freshman English class that was THE BEST FRESHMAN ENGLISH CLASS EVER because it was randomly filled with kids who I love like they are my own children. I haven't had Joe in class the last two years, but he stops by numerous times a week and rambles on about whatever.
His mom has become a friend; she's an executive at a local hospital and helps me get medications at the company store for dirt cheap. But neither of them mentioned anything about him switching, so I was really confused.
Joe stopped by Thursday to give me more information. He's really into baseball, and his clashes with the head baseball coach at our school finally came to a head. I won't go into all the details, but Joe really was treated pretty shitty by this coach. So Joe decided to move in with grandma, about 45 minutes away, and go to the school up there.
I couldn't help but think about how bad the situation must have been for him to leave our school. He has friends here, he has teachers that he's close to, but he feels a pull towards baseball and he knows that he isn't going to get satisfaction at our school. It must have been a tough decision -- for the parents, letting your kid move 45 minutes away, for the kid, leaving the world you've been in your whole life.
Sometimes, you really have no choice but to make that hard decision.
I hope this one works out for him.
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