Hello, my name is Rich Paul. I go to St. Vincent St. Mary’s high school in Akron, Ohio. You’ve probably never heard of me, but you may have heard of my best friend by the name of LeBron James. Lebron put St. Vincent St. Mary’s on the map for high school basketball because LeBron is the top-rated basketball player in the nation as a junior in high school. But before I go any farther, let me tell you how me and LeBron met as children. When I lived with my mother we lived in an apartment complex in the projects in Akron, and I saw this family one day move in it was a mother and her son, there was only two of them so it probably meant that they were in the same situation that me and my mom were in, my father left our family when I was just 5 years old and I haven’t seen him since but all I know is that my mom is strong and even without a father figure she can show me everything I need to know. When I met LeBron, he was just this normal kid who loved playing basketball and he would always tell me when we were kids that he was going to make it to the NBA. He wanted to be just like Michael Jordan when he would watch him play on the TV.
Me and Lebron were the same age so it was like a perfect story that someone had written for us that just these two kids who live in Akron who only live with their mother end up meeting each other and share the same love of basketball is just special. The best thing that ever happened to the two of us was that we went to the same school together and we just kept building this great bond of friendship that was like no other that I have ever felt before. As we continued through are years of school together we began to work out together and get really good at basketball and once the years of 7th and 8th grade showed up we were the best players on the team and all we continued to do was to refine our skill so when we get to Highschool we were ready to try and lead St. Vincent St. Mary’s to a state championship.
Going into the summer right before Freshman year LeBron had this massive growth spurt, he went from 5’10 to 6’3. This was crazy because LeBron was already super athletic and now that he just grew 4 inches in one summer he began to train even harder while I was kind of siting behind his shadow because when we showed up to Varsity tryouts as Freshman everyone and especially the coaches raved over the size and strength of LeBron and it kind of pissed me off because I knew that my basketball skill was just as good as LeBron’s so just knowing that I was going to live in LeBron’s shadow through the next 4 years of high school left a very sour taste in my mouth that wasn’t enjoyable. Many people doubted me because I wasn’t this crazy athletic giant, but I could hold my own when I was out there on that hardwood. Moving into the season LeBron had all this national hype coming around him as a freshman and it was cool and all but it made me super jealous because I knew that are team just wasn’t LeBron and that we had all these great players but thy got no attention because we all just sat in the shadow of Lebron while he went out there and talked to all these reporters and did interviews on ESPN. I was happy for him, but I also wondered why this couldn’t be me and it was just a thing that I had to deal with. All this shit continued for the next two years.
Senior year was the biggest year of our lives because it was our last chance to win this State Title that we set out for as Freshman and now as seniors it’s our last chance for that main goal. One day I was just scrolling around on the internet and I came across this website that said, “Need changes to your life click here.” I thought to myself why not, nothing could go bad my basketball game was fine but the only thing that wasn’t in my favor was the publicity that Lebron was getting but I pretty much had to get over it because everyone in the entire world knew that LeBron was going to go the NBA from High School. Once I clicked on the link It brought me into this new browser and the first headline said, “If you want a great life this your site.” When I first saw this I had immediate doubts that anything on this site would work but I was completely wrong when I received something in the mail two days later and it was this pill that said “Take with caution and don’t go leave your house for you own safety”. When I noticed that on the packaging, I was very apprehensive to take this pill but when I looked closer the advantages of take this mysterious blue pill was that you are able to control the lives of others and replace your life with someone else’s. Looking at the advantages had me very excited because I knew whose life I was going to be switching with. Once I took the pill I felt a sudden shock that when through my body like I have never felt before and an hour later I woke up on the kitchen floor with a massive headache and I felt like a new person it didn’t feel like my body but every time I would close my eyes there would be this whole program that would pop up like a hologram in front of me and it looked like and whole computer setup and I was able to edit parts of people’s lives out and also add to them. It allowed me to switch lives so I could better mine but the person I switch with doesn’t feel anything and they continue to live my standard life. There was this search bar on the side that I could talk too and look up people names to switch lives with so the only person I knew to look up was LeBron, I knew that if I switched lives with him then I would finally be able to have the spotlight that I have never experienced before. When I chose LeBron as the person to change lives with the program literally broke down his whole life into section and I was able to pull parts outs and bring parts in so what I did was just take my life and drag in into his and the same from Lebron we were just switching places and no one would have any idea that this would happen because we kept the same physical features so I looked like Lebron and now LeBron looked like me. Once this transition happened it felt so great to be the man on campus and for everyone to know who you are and just feel like you’re on top of the world because everyone is now looking up to you just because you are this great high school athlete. This whole change happened right before the start of our senior year so with the year coming around, I was going to have this huge year and I knew that there was no doubt that I was going to lead St. Vincent St. Mary’s to their first state title ever and cap of my year by being drafted by the hometown team that I have always dreamed of playing for which was the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Doing this whole change felt wrong because I knew that I was just being a terrible friend who just wanted to be in the spotlight but knowing where I was in life right now was the best feeling that a high school kid could ask for. Getting all the girls the interviews the free advertising that ESPN gave me it was just so much fun I never once looked back for a minute. Continuing into the start of our senior season the first game of the year was against Oak Hill who was a nationally ranked team at the time along with us as well because everyone now knew of me and wanted to see St. Vincent St. Mary’s play this national schedule to see how good I was and the rest our team stacked up against the best players in the country. So when the first game rolled around when we played Oak Hill the game sold out a week in advance and the school sent out a notice saying that the game for Friday night was going to have to be moved to the University of Akron just to host all of these fans for a high school basketball game. When I first heard this, I was so excited, and I was getting goosebumps just thinking about the game that was four days away. Once gameday rolled around a it was time to now showcase my talent in LeBron’s body I have a good feeling that I was going to enjoy this program for a while. After we played this electric and crazy atmosphere game, I knew that I was the best player in the world and that I was going to take my talents to the NBA draft right after high school ended. Moving along with the season we finished with a perfect record of 27-0 going into the State Championship game and looking back at the goals that I set from myself before I leave for the NBA was to win a State Title for the school of St. Vincent St. Mary’s and just the whole community to unite around a great accomplishment. Going into that state game I had no doubt in my mind that we weren’t walking out of that area victorious. When that buzzer finally sounded, I knew that this was the best moment in my life when we were running around the court hugging each other and just embracing this special moment that no one can ever take away from you. But one thing caught my eyes was that while everyone was celebrating, I noticed Rich with this sad puppy dog look on his face because when I confronted him to ask him what was wrong he said “I just don’t feel like I deserve this championship ring because you did everything for us” when I heard him say that it broke my heart because that was my actual body talking to me and how I would have felt it I was placed back in that body, so the only thing I knew was right to do was to return back to my old body and give LeBron back his.
The only problem was when I took the pill to give me this crazy ability to change and edit each other’s lives to create new lives for each other, I didn’t know how to return back but now looking at what I did I felt like an awful friend and even a worse person because of all the shit I created with changing lives with my childhood friend LeBron. My first thought in trying to change our lives back was to go back to the crazy website where I first went to get this ability and peruse around on the site to see if there was some pill or drink I had to mix up to get this out of my system. The first thing I saw was that this drink called for a bunch or chemicals that I never heard of before and I had to order them online through this sketchy website so they could be delivered to my house and hopefully this chemical concoction would do me good to help get rid of this video editing system inside my head. A few days passed and I saw a big box at my front door that had tape wrapped around it that said caution, so I knew that this had to be the box. Once I opened the box this aroma of chemicals that hit my nostrils and it was not pleasant. After mixing up all these chemicals it said after consuming, I must wait 12 hours to see any results. So, after I down the glass of chemicals I just made sure to hang around my house and not go anywhere just in case this drink does anything crazy outside the lines of what it is supposed to do. After I waited 12 hours, I ended up falling asleep and when I woke up, I felt this rush of energy leave my body that I never have felt before, so I knew something happened. When I would close my eyes, nothing was happening–no holograms were popping up no search bars no nothing–everything was gone, and I was back into my own body this skinny little black kid from Akron that what I was back to. Even though all the fun was going to end for me I felt better as a person by not taking away from the talent that my best friend LeBron had. Moving along with my life I saw LeBron get drafted number 1 overall in the 2003 draft and go on to have a great first season in the NBA, but then LeBron surprised me by giving me the best opportunity of a lifetime and asked me if I wanted to be his agent. This was the best thing since being in LeBron’s body for a whole season of basketball. I knew doing the right things was going to pay off in the long run.
Author Bio
Trent Fisher student of Wilkes University and Basketball player as well as a new incoming freshman. He grew up in Alanson, Michigan lived there for 9 years and then decided to move down to Sellersville, Pennsylvania in the year of 2011.