My High School Nemesis: The Thin Line

My High School Nemesis: The Thin Line

By Tom Eck

I met her in my junior year of high school. Arrogant, snobbish and condescending. Patricia was her name –not Pat or Patty —Patricia. If I had been a girl, I would have disliked her even more. She looked a lot like actress Lee Remick, had a great figure and wasn’t shy about flaunting it. When one had the privilege of receiving a response from her, it was always terse and patronizing. She had a way of manifesting an aura of superiority, self-importance and confidence completely unjustified by her zip code. Her father was a machinist, not a banker, doctor or lawyer. She didn’t come from wealth, but she acted as if she did. Spoiled, self-absorbed and phony.

She refused to run for office, prom queen or cheerleader, announcing to her minions that it was beneath her to allow those of inferior intellect to exert any control over her life or her happiness. I doubted that she really ever experienced happiness, and as to intellect, she was only an average student. She had mentioned to others that her grades were “a protest to the pedestrian courses that the school had to offer.” I wondered whether it was just rationalization for laziness or overcompensation for her own intellectual shortcomings.

Two years later, after my freshman year in college, I found the answer. She was not a smart as she led everyone to believe. She married me.