"Excuse me?! How far?!” the director shouted. "Get out of here!"
It wasn't bad that I had to change schools. Many people called me a pushover after what happened in the toilets. I should have kept quiet, I kept thinking all the time. I could feel so alone and scared.
“Leave Luc alone!”, the bus driver always shouted when I was being bullied.
This happened both at school and on the school bus. But the bus driver and I had a good conversation and we also made a lot of jokes together. He stood up for me during the ride if someone was mean to me. I missed him so much after I left.
It was very different at the new school. Here I followed Office, a completely different direction than electricity or wood. At least here I wasn't surrounded by dirt and dust all the time. That was a relief!
But they were all new people and – I was in a class with all girls. Me, alone among 16 girls! I didn't know "girls" that well and discovered here how tough they could be with each other. There were exactly two camps that argued a lot with each other.
“Luc can't do much of it, ladies?”, the titular said again. That teacher often sat on my head, to the delight of the girls. He didn't want to know anything about me. But the girls didn't like him either: he was a pervert, they said. He had a crush on some of the girls in class.
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And then my school days were over. I had mainly learned what I did not want: I could not go into professional work. That wasn't where my strengths lay. Dirty particles and dust, no – it wasn't for me. I later learned that this was fear of contamination.
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Eddy and I organized a ton together for our 18th birthday. We had a party in the Joker, one of our favorite pubs. It was more than just an ordinary café, actually: it was a kind of club that could accommodate up to 200 people. Quite big – and this is where we were going to organize our event.
Eddy and I didn't have much money. We could actually only buy one beer keg. Boy, the owner of the Joker, told us not to worry too much about it and to feel free to invite anyone we wanted. So we did!
“Hey, have you invited all of Peer?” he asked us when we arrived on the evening itself. Agreed, we asked a lot of people, but Peer was a bit exaggerated. Boy said that he had heard from a lot of people that they were coming. We were getting a little nervous - one barrel would never be enough.
“Don't worry, I'll give you a second barrel,” said Boy.
Wow!
The evening got off to a good start and people kept pouring in. Not only people we had personally invited, but also friends of theirs, sweethearts, the friends of the sweethearts... Of course, we wouldn't last long with our two barrels. We squeezed them a little again. We went to Boy and he gave us the best plan.
“Go around with a box for contributions!”
Asking people at a party to contribute money? I had my doubts about it. Anyway, I asked the DJ on the microphone to have a chat. Eddy and I welcomed everyone and wished them all the best, but asked for a small contribution. This way everyone could continue to drink beers and soft drinks and it would remain a great party for everyone.
The people started clapping! I almost didn't believe it.
I went around with the box and – people even threw letters! Not just pennies, coins, but real notes. How often does that happen, such loving generosity? Eddy and I almost fell backwards. Together with Boy's wife we went upstairs to check it out
counting money. I had never even seen so many notes together.
“Guys, this lets everyone drink for free until 4am!”
It became a legendary party. The generous camaraderie and generosity of the people has always stayed with me.
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I hopped from job to job. Sometimes there was no work to be found and I had to go to school. I hated that – I wanted to feel useful!
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