It was an average day in my sophomore year.  I had gotten to math early that day to finish my homework.  As I began to work, a new student entered the room.  He was by far the tallest new student I had ever seen.  Normally I wouldn’t notice a new kid, but at six and a half feet tall, I couldn’t miss him.  He introduced himself, he said, “My name is Alex, but most people refer to me as ‘Tall Alex’ for obvious reasons.”  By the end of class, he had decided to join my group, which was a couple of friends and me.  He seemed very strange, and at first I didn’t like him too much.  Little did I know that this tall, strange person would help change the course of my life.
I didn’t see Alex at all during the summer between my sophomore and junior years.  I spent most of my time secluded in my room, in front of a computer or PlayStation.  Once the new school year started, I began to talk to Alex again.  We would sit with each other at lunch, talking about pretty much anything that came to mind.  He introduced me to his group of friends, whom I instantly seemed to fit in with.  Within this group was his younger sister, Aylla.  Although I was shy with Aylla at first, I soon opened up, and now she is one of my best friends.  Alex, through all of this, helped to rid me of my seemingly incurable shyness.  I was gaining more friends than ever before.
By January, I had gotten my driver’s license.  Within a week of having it, Alex asked me for a ride to his band’s practice.  I was fairly reluctant when I found out that his band was based in Cumberland, but I went anyway.  The band was called Desadarium, and the practice was held at its bassist, Bobby’s, house.  At first, I was very shy around the band, I had never even seen of these people before.  As the night went on, I got bored and decided to pick up a guitar.  The band quickly discovered that I was good at guitar, and decided to make me a new guitarist (one of five at the time).  Over time, we discovered that I could also sing, which led to me being Desadarium’s new lead singer.
In May, Desadarium was gaining form and strength, having had practices weekly since I started driving.  One day, Alex came to practice with big news; he had signed us up for the Pilgrim High School Battle of the Bands.  The entire band had doubts as to whether or not we would be ready to play by the battle, which was two weeks away.  We practiced nightly for the entire two weeks, but even at that we had our doubts.  When the night of the Battle arrived, we were all nervous, especially me.  This was the first time I had been on stage since elementary school, and I had to sing in front of a huge audience.  Alex kept telling me over and over that I had nothing to worry about, saying that my voice would “pwn”, or be better than, everybody else.  Finally, our time came.  We walked out past the curtain onto the stage.  The rest of the band started to play “Simple Man”, and without even thinking I began to sing.  Suddenly, I felt I had nothing to worry about.  Even though Desadarium placed last, we still had the time of our lives.
If it weren’t for Alex, my life would be very different right now.  I would never have overcome my shyness, I would never have met Aylla and Bobby, who are now two of my best friends, and I wouldn’t have had the courage to get on a stage and sing in front of my friends and family.  I thank Alex for helping me become more outgoing and for helping me to be able to show off the person I kept inside for my whole life.  Alex didn’t make me who I am, he just found out who I was and made me show it, and I am forever grateful for what he did.