Being a Wallflower...

In late October, Charlie attends a party with Sam and Patrick where he truly learns the meaning of being someone’s friend. In a world where adolescents find it hard to reach out and find a person they can trust, Charlie learns that he can be that person by simply being himself. A the party that a friends of Patrick’s holds, an older guy named Bob, Charlie comes across as the most interesting part of the crowd because he is younger than the rest and less experienced in partying. The attention Charlie gets allows him to be more himself and the security of that makes him more certain of who he is in his world. He mentions that as they walked through the door Sam and Patrick hugged Bob, and then, even, “Bob hugged me!” The feeling of acceptance was overwhelming for Charlie, but comforting as well.
Later at the party, Charlie refuses to drink some beer and finds that the older kids “seniors I think” don’t make fun of him for not drinking, but instead respect his decision. Another thing that Charlie finds interesting is getting to meet Brad, the football team quarterback, whom he had always just seen from a distance in the school hallways. Meeting him in person made him realize that he is just a regular person too.
After a while, Charlie ends up getting high, by mistake, after eating some brownies with pot in them. As Sam takes care of him, he wanders off through the upstairs of the house and finds Patrick, with Brad, together. The situation startles Brad, but Patrick smooths it over and Charlie goes back downstairs. The whole incident, which could have been blown out of proportion, becomes a turning point for Charlie. In a mature way, he considers his friend Patrick’s situation, and Brad’s, and keeps from judging what he saw. It pays off too. Later that night, Patrick says about Charlie to the others at the party, “He’s something, isn’t he?” and “He’s a wallflower… You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand.” Charlie says that he didn’t think “people thought things about me”. As a matter of fact, he didn’t even “know they looked” at him. However, the lesson learned that evening, about respecting others, caring about what others feel is important to them, and simply being there for your friends, although it makes you more like a wallflower than a person, makes you the person you always wished you could be.