“Novice Notions”, by Kami Griffith
In Memory of Jesse
The thunder woke me up early last Friday morning. I could tell that the storm from the night before had been a bad one, but I never imagined the storm that was yet to come. I walked into school that wet, dreary morning, and I could tell something was wrong. I walked up the bleacher steps, and my friend, Alexia, told me what had happened. She looked at me with sadness in her blue eyes and told me that Jesse Napier had died in a fire the night before. At first I thought she was joking. I had seen Jesse the day before in all but one of my classes. But, as more people filed in, I learned the unbelievable news was actually true. Jesse was so smart. He was definitely one of the smartest in my class. He was so quiet and never said a bad thing to anybody. He was also a good musician. Not long ago, he played a trombone solo for our music class. He was so happy and proud that day. I didn’t become emotional until I got into first period. When I saw Jesse’s empty seat, I broke down. It was the hardest day of school in my life. Everyone in my first period class had every class with Jesse except one, and we were all close to him. We couldn’t believe he was gone. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room as the bell rang for the first block class to begin. My first period class was allowed to stay in our seats. They told us to go to our other class when we were ready, as if anyone was where they were supposed to be anyway. Students were strung all over the halls, crying on each others shoulders, praying for one another. Walking through the halls was almost as sad as staying in class staring at the red rose on the desk where Jesse should have been. Most of my first block was spent in the hall, going around with a big group of people, praying with each classroom individually. By second block, most of the students were in the class they were supposed to be in. Then, the rest of the day went by as normally as we could make it. As I look back on that day, one comment made by one of my teachers sums up the experience I had last Friday. She said that when we look back on middle school, Jesse is the first thing that will come to our minds. In some ways this is a bad thing; it means that every time I think about SMS, I’ll remember the sadness and the pain we all felt on Friday, April 4th. But this is also a good thing, because as the sadness fades, it means that Jesse will never be forgotten.
