ENTER: Neji Hyuga (Urien Thorne)

In October of 2008, I met a boy by the name of Neji Hyuga. Of course, that isn't his real name. Neji is a fictional character in the manga and anime series, Naruto created by Kishimoto Masashi (Note:  surnames come before given in Japan, so his first name is Masashi). Neji and I had quite a few things in common, including our religion, political views, sense of humor, and favorites.

Right:  Young Neji Hyuga; left:  old Neji Hyuga.
Source:  Google images

During this time, I was in the fifth grade. I often argued with my favorite teacher, a Conservative Republican, about politics. Of course I always lost . . . . He -- has -- had much more experience than I in the world of the "P word". Plus, I am much younger than he is. My father gave me ammunition in the afternoons, but it was usually too late then. But that's not important. What is important is that President Obama became President Obama, which made Neji and I skip around on the roads screaming things like, "WE WON, WE WON!", which was much different from what the neighbors were doing, I'm sure.

We live in a Red State.

2008 gave way to 2009, and our friendship improved drastically. I started hanging around him much more, to the point where we were able to start spending the night with each other (and, before you ask, no, nothing went "on" between us during those times -- though, naturally, there were plenty of rumors that there were). We rode three wheelers and wrecked several times; we sung Queen songs and hung out with his on-again off-again girlfriend; we walked the highway at night with the full moon ahead just to prove that we totally OWNED that town.

In the late months of 2009, he, his girlfriend and I started attending a non-denominated church, Hang Out 4 Jesus, which we all got saved at. The congregation, as well as the building, was quite a mystery; no pues or chandeliers here! No, just regular seats. Sit on the carpet if you want! There's no harm in it. And the people? Well, they themselves weren't strange; it was the amount of people! Such a small number for such a small building.

Unfortunately, we had a bit of a rough patch on January 15th, 2010, and stopped being friends for a total of fifteen months -- until earlier this year! I honestly thought that we would never be able to see each other again, which sent me spiraling down a swirly depression time for just over a year. Luckily, though, I had friends to help me -- although they definitely didn't know they were doing it.

In December of 2010, however, Neji contacted me via Facebook asking for my forgiveness. Like me, he had blamed himself for our "dead" friendship. We still were not able to talk (my family's phone wasn't even working at this time), but at least we could communicate a little bit through "the social site", which was something.

I believe it was in February when I told Dalton that I had become Goth. Thankfully, this was after the three or so days I believe I spent as an uneducated Mall Goth, so I could at least try to explain to him what it was. Like a large portion of the world, he believed that Goths existed to worship the Devil, hated pink, and all the other common stereotypes that we face. At the weekend when I came over, he told me that he was thinking about joining the subculture as well, because if his coat was pink, he would burn it (he and I have many many similarities, so it was kind of natural for him to think that that's what it was about). Kind of silly, I know, but I tried to explain it to him.

I also knew that he was an annoying Mall Goth, and there was absolutely nothing I could possibly do to help him. I gave him sheets and sheets of things from The Ultimate Goth Guide that I thought would help, and I told him some Goth and Deathrock bands, but he couldn't listen to him. Eventually he told me that I was acting strange because I "was trying to act goth." That made me strongly reconsider our friendship (we're been on a rocky road recently), but I forgave him.

Yesterday, I spent the night with Neji. It was pretty fun. He now has a Goth name, by the way:  Urien Thorne.

My Neji!
Source:  His phone