I first met this one kid from another school nearby (2nd gen immigrant) during our common French classes. Sweet little boy, he was very kind then. We ended up in the same class when we proceeded to junior high. He started having problems with school and drugs when he was approximately 14 years old. He lived in an area known to be quite ghetto. I don't even know what he used, but after that he was constantly asking to get a little amount of money, "he'll pay you back next week", etc., obviously not paying back. I was one of those who he always asked for it. He was a fun kid no matter how f'd up he might have been. Last grade of junior high, he started to attend special needs classes meant for students with low average grade. He really exceeded there, getting much better grades than before, and he got through junior high. I remember that during the last weeks of school, he told me he was really happy that he got better grades, had the average grade go from under 5 to 6.5 if I remember correctly. I could tell he was extremely happy of himself and I told him to make a good use of the better grades he got.

Then, around 3 years after junior high, I'm in high school and I believe he was unemployed and dropped out of vocational school quite quickly. I heard the bad news: he had stabbed his two friends with the other stabbing being fatal. I heard that it was about some drug debt. He had used several substances too, including amphetamine, cannabis, alcohol and some designer drugs. He had jumped out of a window thinking he could fly or something, almost losing the ability to walk. He had OD'd, too. I have no idea how his trial went. He was 18 at the time, so he must have had it bad (think he was a first timer, though). I felt so, so bad for him, all I remember about him is the sweet little 11 year old boy who I learned French with and especially the incident in junior high I mentioned.