My friends and I started the eleventh grade August 2016. We were still grieving over the loss of our friend, Rhonda. Andrea reacted the strongest and almost picked the habit of self-harm back up. One day, Andrea talked with the guidance counselor. As we walked to the lunch room together, I asked, "How was your talk with the guidance counselor?" She said, "It went very well." I asked, "Andrea, may I ask you something?" She said, "Sure, Peter. Anything." I asked, "When you cut yourself, did it hurt?" She said, "Yes, of course it hurt. Why do you ask?" I said, "I haven't made my point yet. Did your talk with the guidance counselor hurt?" She said, "No, it didn't hurt at all." I then asked, "Does talking with me hurt?" She said, "No." After a pause, she said, "You may have a point, you smart Liverpool boy." I said, "Yes, I do. My point is that you don't have to hurt yourself. You can always talk to someone." She said, "You're right. Thanks, Peter." I knew that ultimately, Andrea and I needed each other. I experienced a lot of loss in 2016 myself. I lost my dog, Oliver, and my friend, Rhonda, within a little over a month from each other. Oliver's ashes are in my bedroom. That way, he is still with me. A lot of people would say I'm crazy, but sometimes, when the wind blows, I can hear Rhonda's voice. It's not that I'm literally hearing her voice, but that I'm thinking about her when the wind blows. For some reason, she loved it when it was windy outside. Poor Andrea experienced another loss January 2017. Her maternal grandmother had been sick for a long time. She was put in the hospital, and she died peacefully the next morning. I went to the funeral to support my friend. Andrea also got beat up soon after that. Luckily, the bullies got expelled after Jack beat them up. Jack was going to be expelled, too, but our United States History teacher jumped to his defense. Jack was suspended instead. Less than a month before my eighteenth birthday, I was in a car crash with my parents. My parents weren't hurt, but I had some bruises, and some broken glass cut my face. I had to have stitches. After I got my stitches out, I came home from school one day to a new dog. My mother said, "This is Piper. She's a German Shepherd/Siberian Husky mix." I said, "Wow." She said, "Piper's original owner had to giver her up, because she became allergic to dogs." I was happy about my new found friend. The school year ended well. I became a US citizen this year. I am proud to say I am American now...with English descent. I still have my Liverpool accent. There are still elements of England within me, and they'll never go away. I am now in the twelfth grade, and I will soon graduate high school. Although it didn't start out well, it is going well. I am looking forward to receiving my high school diploma.
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