I Envy My Extremely Famous Friend - true story

I Envy My Extremely Famous Friend (true story)

I Envy My Extremely Famous Friend

Hey, I’m George and I went to school with someone who became really famous, like, Chris Brown-type famous. I can’t tell you his real name, but if I did, you’d know who he is straight away. I’ll just call him Simon for now. We were best friends for years and always hung out after school. We weren’t very popular, but we didn’t care. We were too busy playing video games. However, Simon had an amazing voice and when he sang at our high school Christmas concert, a lot of girls suddenly liked him. I mean, he is quite good looking, but nobody noticed until he sang “The Way You Look Tonight.” When he was 17, Simon appeared on a talent show on national TV. The prize was a massive recording contract with a boy band. I wasn’t surprised when he won and became the lead vocalist. I can’t say the name of the band, but I guarantee you’ve heard of them. It was nuts! Simon dropped out of school to be in the band, so we didn’t hang out playing games anymore. I didn’t blame him. Why would he need to talk to a loser like me? He was touring all over the world doing concerts in huge arenas with girls screaming his name. While he was off having an amazing time, I stayed in school and graduated, but I had no idea what I wanted to do next. Do I envy Simon? Of course! He’s so successful and he didn’t even have to work for it. I mean, he just signed up for a TV show and his natural talent and good looks got him through. Overnight, Simon went from being a nobody to making millions of dollars. He makes more in a month than most people do their whole lives and all he has to do is sing a few dumb songs while I’m working in a burger joint at weekends just to make a few bucks. I know I should be happy for him. He’s my best friend and I want him to do well, but every time I go on Instagram and see his posts, I compare my life to his and it sucks. I guess I’m your typical confused, lazy teenager. I don’t know what to study and college is an expensive mistake if I don’t make the right choice. I’d much rather tour the world and sleep with groupies, but I’m not Simon. Since he became famous, Simon has only been back to my house once. I guess it’s hard to find time for your friends when you’re a popstar. We didn’t have time to play any video games because Simon had a gig later that day, but he told me all about his crazy new life. He’s got girlfriends all over the world, just about one in every city. When he talked about how much he loved singing on stage, you could tell how happy he was. I felt like the world’s worst person because instead of being happy for my friend, I just felt jealous. When he asked me how things were going, I choked… because there was nothing great going on in my life. And after he left, I felt like such a loser. I wanted to curl up and die, but then something inside me snapped. I realised I had to up my game and make something out of my life. I had wasted years playing video games with Simon when I could have learned programming and written my own games. I mean, I’ll probably never make as much money as Simon, but money isn’t everything. I can still have a successful career. And I don’t want to be like him with a girl in every town anyway. I’d much rather find one special person to love and then start a family together. I believe that progress in life is like going to the gym. You practise something every day and as long as you keep working on it and don’t give up, you will make progress and improve your life. That’s why, since Simon came round, I’ve been practicing programming for at least two hours a day. I’m still a beginner, but at least I’m getting somewhere. I feel like I’m at the start of a great adventure. I don’t know where it will take me, but I know it will be somewhere interesting and exciting. I just hope that when I’m old, I’ll be able to look back and say I really did something with my life instead of wasting time and energy comparing myself to other people and playing video games.