Super Student

During my sixth grade year, I did two plays, although I can only remember the name of one of them, mainly because the play combined two of my favorite things – a theater production and superheroes. We performed a play called ‘Super Student’ which was a spoof of the Superman myth. I was the Super Student character, complete with alter ego with glasses. I had a Lois Lane-esque character, and a Lex Luthor-esque villain as well. I really don’t remember much about it at all. There are two things that I do remember.

The first were the glasses. I had not worn glasses before. I know that I had desperately wanted to because I thought they made me look smarter. Gadz, how silly was that. The pair that I wore were prescription; I don’t remember whose glasses they were, but I know they made my eyes ache. Shortly after that, I had to get glasses. There’s a small paranoid part of me that wonders if I had jinxed myself and my eyes decided to adjust to those glasses. I know that’s ridiculous, but can’t help it.

The second thing was that the performance of Super Student was the last time I ever saw Shamik Bafna. He was the first of 'Our Gang' that moved away.

When my family moved from Kentucky, I left a group of friends, but I was the one who left; I didn’t feel the empty spot. When Shamik left, it left a hole in our little group. It was an abrupt departure; I found out the day of the performance that he was moving away. I have often wondered what happened to him and where he is now…It was the first of several goodbyes of close friends during middle school.