Project 2
From Ben’s point of view in “First” by Ryan Van Meter
Every Friday night for the past few years, my family has gone out to eat for dinner. On this particular night, it rains steadily as we drive home in my mom’s beat-up station wagon. We always go in her station wagon, but I never complain because my favorite place in the world is in the very back, behind all the rows of seats. It’s like a secret hideout for me, and I’ve never had to share it with anyone- at least, not until Ryan came along. His family is here with us tonight. He moved into the house next to mine a couple years ago, and our parents instantly became friends. Therefore, Ryan and I have had a playdate nearly every day since then. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a nice kid- he’s just a little too touchy for me. But my mom makes sure I know I have to be nice to him, on account of her friendship with his mom. So I put up with him, especially since neither of us has anyone else to hang out with. My family’s Friday night dinner tradition used to be just the three of us- mom, dad, and me (and my baby brother Blake at home with a sitter). But now it includes Ryan’s family, too. I didn’t want to show Ryan my secret hideout at first. I thought it would lose its value if someone else found out about it. But since my dad is the designated driver for friday nights- well, every night since he started to take his new medication- we always end up going in my mom’s station wagon. I knew Ryan would see it eventually, so I showed him on the night of our first combined family dinner. Although I was initially hesitant to let him come back here, I think he understands how special it is, so I’m okay with him being here next to me. He’s actually grown on me in the past few months. I kind of enjoy hanging out with him now. We even play this game when we sit back here, where we try to find every letter of the alphabet on license plates on the cars that are driving in the opposite direction. We are playing it tonight on our way home from dinner. The license plates are a little harder to read tonight though. The water creates a glare on the tail lights of passing cars, and the droplets rushing down the back windshield partially block our view. Just as we get to letter Z, I hear the radio announcer saying that the cardinals just scored. I can tell dad is excited. He’s sitting up front with Ryan’s dad in the passenger seat, and our moms are in the second row behind them. One thing I know about Ryan is that he pays attention to every detail. That’s why he’s so good at crafts. I, on the other hand, am pretty clueless. It’s probably best if I stick with sports. I’m getting pretty good at tee ball, so I may have to move on to baseball next year. My cluelessness is probably the reason that I didn’t even notice Ryan had grabbed my hand, until I heard him say aloud that he loved me. Our moms probably can’t hear Ryan and I talking, with the rain drops hitting the top of the car and the radio volume turned up so high. Is it okay for two boys to love each other? No one had ever said they loved me except for my parents. I guess I do like Ryan a lot, so I went ahead and said it back. We have been spending a lot of time together lately, so it makes sense. But then Ryan asked me to marry him. I don’t know what to say to that. I nod in response, because if we love each other then that means we should get married… right? But Ryan’s mom still heard us over all the noise. She disagrees with these arrangements we just made. And I can tell by my mom’s quiet look of disapproval that she’s not okay with it either. Maybe Ryan and I are better off separate. Now I’m just confused.
Artist Statement:
I chose to modify “First” by Ryan Van Meter because as soon as I read the prompt for the project, I knew it would be easy for me to do. I wanted to show what Ben’s point of view could’ve been in the situation, since “First” only shows Ryan’s point of view. I tried to show that maybe Ben didn’t feel the same way as Ryan. However, I tried my best to share the same ending feeling between the characters. At first, it was challenging for me to not copy everything from the original story. I just had to start writing and then move some stuff around until it made sense in its own way. I made my story more creative by telling things in a different way than Ryan did, showing that there are two sides to EVERY story, even the little things.
I managed my challenge of trying not copying the original story by writing down the ideas I knew I wanted to cover, and then rewording them into Ben’s point of view and placing them in a different order that still made sense. I knew that making it too similar to Ryan Van Meter’s version wouldn’t be as interesting, so I had to make it different and show that even though the boys are in the exact same place at the exact same time, everything could’ve been interpreted differently.
I’ve learned that POV and voice can completely change a piece of writing. My story from Ben’s point of view is so different from Van Meter’s story from Ryan’s point of view. Just changing who the narrator is can drastically alter the story line. Different POVs and voices makes writing interesting, allowing us to imagine every possibility within a story.
