User:Rafael Socarras

EARLY LIFE
Rafael Alfredo Socarrás was born in Havana, Cuba, in a neighborhood known as "Santa Fe", also known as "Little Miami", in June 19th, 1992. He was born in a family that had accomplished many feats on both sides. His father, Alfredo was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Cuban Army, and a veteran of combat, his grandfather, Rafael Grillo was once a national champion in Cuba in the sport of Squash. The women in his family were exceptionally skilled in mathematics, but not the men. Rafael has three brothers and one sister, who all fled Cuba at different times. His ancestors had also fought for the Spanish Empire in the Colonial Era, particapating in various conquests. When Rafael was but a small child, his parents made the difficult decision: to flee Cuba and come to America, this was mainly because of the forced military service that all Cubans had to be drafted into at the age of fourteen, and Rafael's mother refused to have him involved in anything of a Military nature. His father refused to come along because of different reasons, reasons which his son would never come to understand. Rafael arrived in Miami, Florida along with his mother, Maria Grillo, two uncles,Rafael, and Eduardo Grillo, and Grandparents, Rafael Grillo, and Lidia Grillo, shortly after this decision was made. They all settled in an area in Miami known as "Fountain Blue". Rafael began to grow up in a dominantly hispanic society. Whenever he saw somebody outside his neighborhood that didn't look hispanic, or that didn't speak Spanish, he stayed away from them, not knowing any better as he was just a small boy. About a month or two after getting settled, Rafael's grandfather took on the responsibility of being a father-figure for Rafael, he immediately purchased two tennis raquets, a few tennis balls, and began showing Rafael the art of squash, and he has never stopped. One tennis raquet that his grandfather purchased for himself, he would give to Rafael about eight years later. Rafael then began school in America. He found the English language to be very easy, and learned it fluently in just a year. Ever since then, he has never understood why it was always so difficult for immigrants to learn English, or for Americans to learn Spanish. Thanks to his Grandfather's extensive and intense training, Rafael became exceptionally skilled in Squash, He began competing in different clubs, playing at the same time as his grandfather, though on separate courts. While this was going on, Rafael's mother purchased Rafael's first Video game console, the "Nintendo 64",when he was six, from that day forth, he never lost his love for video games. Rafael soon joined the Reiner Heinser summer camp at the age of nine, but left shortly after discovering that Squash wasn't taught there, only tennis, he also left for financial reasons. he saw tennis as a weak sport, thinking that Squash required much more skill. When Rafael began second grade, he began his so-called "worst" habit: Cursing. He learned his first curse word, "Fuck", when one of his friends came bragging that he learned a new word. Rafael found this word to be funny, and began using it on a daily basis, though not around adults. Soon, he learned the word's true meaning and continued using it, picking up an arsenal of curse words, both in Spanish, and in English, using them all in combinations on a daily basis, in everyday conversations with friends. When Rafael was nearing his end of Elementary school, he developed his very well-known short temper. This trait was no-doubt inherited from his mother. His Grandfather noticed this when Rafael began hitting and smashing his raquet during his practice sessions. Rafael began admiring the sport of wrestling and favored a wrestler known as "the Rock". When the Rock retired in 2003, Rafael immediately lost his interest in wrestling. When Rafael began middle School, he began developing a very strong patriotic sense of his homeland, an interest in firearms, and military due to conversations with his father over the phone. during this time, his father paid a fairly short visit to America, and his family. Rafael was the first to meet him at the airport and was in awe to finally see his father after so many years. He almost never left his father's side during his visit. He was very sad to see his father go back to Cuba when his visit timed out, and remained that way for several days. When Rafael was eleven, he purchased an Xbox, and a few games,including "Halo: Combat Evolved". He became a hardcore Halo fan after beating the first mission. When Rafael turned twelve, there was a buzz about the upcoming game, "Halo2". When it was released in stores in the fall of 2005, Rafael fought through crowds and traveled from shop to shop, but all were sold out, and he was low on cash. A very generous friend lent Rafael forty dollars to buy it from another friend who was selling it within the school. He left school, holding his Halo2 case up high as if it were gold. Witnessing this gesture was one of Rafael's friends, "Johnathan" who yelled: "He has Halo2, jump him!". Several kids chased Rafael to his car after Johnathan said this. about half a year afterwards, Rafael bought "Xbox Live", a service in which you can play online against people all over the world through your Xbox console. He made the gamertag: "PRED 117", which he would stay with for about six months, before changing to: "CUBA BOY", which he stayed with. Rafael became very proud of his homeland and heritage. He began to wear Cuban flags on his shirts, his favorite drink became "Malta", a type of Soda, though he only drank the Cuba brand: "Hatuey". A few months later in May, "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith" was set to be released on the 19th. Rafael had been a huge Star Wars fan since he was six, and owned all the other episodes. When Rafael turned fourteen, he went for another sport: Tennis. He rejoined the Heinser Tennis academy and began learning the basics of Tennis. His first-ever tennis coach began teaching Rafael along with the other beginners in the group. For his fourteenth birthday celebration after he began Tennis, he went and purchased the new Xbox 360, along with the game, "Call Of Duty 2". He knew every weapon, vehicle, and battle that appeared in the game due to his dedication to watching World War II documentaries after school.

HIGH SCHOOL
In the fall of 2006, Rafael began the most stressful, and overall-worse four years of his life: High School. He went to "Miami Sunset Senior High" on August 14th, 2006. Rafael immediately took a liking to JROTC, and World History on the first day of attendace. JROTC was what Rafael always wanted in a class: Military. Since Rafael wanted to make a good first impression, he always addressed his superiors the right way, wore his uniform as best he could, and almost never spoke unless spoken to. This gave him a fairly good reputation among the superiors and instructors in his immediate company, which at the time was "Charlie Company". Rafael was not well known throughout the entire Battalion because he never joined either the Raiders team, or the Drill team, that time he used for Tennis.He was, however, still the follower, always nervous to take charge of his company. When Rafael entered this school in his Freshmen year, he immedietly became aware of the presence of drugs. When he walked from class to class, he noticed other students walking around smelling like weed, with their eyes red. When he entered the bathroom from time to time, he occasionally saw weed littered on the floor. He never let any drug influence him Rafael gained respect for the sport of Tennis when he realized how much technique was necessary in just hitting the ball. He gained the upmost respect for it when he found out that the sport of Squash itself was developed by Cuban Tennis Players. Within a few short months, Rafael was already beating players in the academy with years of experience. Rafael realized this, and became cocky, taunting his opponents while the coaches weren't looking. In Tennis practice, Rafael's short temper and cockiness soon became very clear for the coaches. Whenever he lost even one or two points, Rafael would get frustrated and angry, and smashed his raquet as a result. His coaches explained to Rafael the error of his ways on a number of occasions, but it had little or no affect. Tennis wasn't the only thing that Rafael was was having problems with. School, Sunset, to be exact, was the source of his frustration and stress. Most of his stress came from his Algebra I class. Rafael was never the best at Mathematics, when he was little, he was still trying to figure out what 10+10 was while all the other kids in the class were already beginning multiplication. The teacher that Rafael had for Algebra I, though he respected her, didn't make his life any easier either, the Homework assigments that she would give would interfere with his hours of tennis practice, and he had to arrive late many times  because of it. Even when he came back from practice, which was late at night, he had to continue his Algebra homework. Rafael's World History class, however, was a different story. Rafael gladly copied notes that the teacher would put up. Unlike math, Rafael was a was gifted in history. During middle school, Rafael couldn't wait to get home just to watch the History channel. He was mostly interested in Military history, although he possessed a great deal of knowledge of many historical events, he particularly possessed the most information on wars and battles of the past. The topic of World War II was what interested him the most. He knew the names of almost all the Generals that were involved, he knew the names of all the presidents of the countries that were most involved, he knew of almost every firearm,and tank that was used in the war studied the tactics that were used in different battles. When the year of 2006 was nearing its end, Rafael was promoted to the rank of "Private" in JROTC. It was the lowest rank given given out to cadets, but that didn't bother Rafael one bit. He proudly wore Private ranks on his uniform, even though it was the lowest grade in the battalion. It was during this time that Rafael and his good friend, Michael Pentzke, began to have sparring matches on an occasional basis. They both enjoyed fighting very much, and both had aggressive personalities, which they thought would be put into good use for their sparring/wrestling matches. They used Michael's front yard, which was big enough to use as a make-shift ring. They had each tried numerous wrestling moves on eachother. They both soon developed their own fighting styles. Rafael was not a very experienced fighter, even though he took some Martial Arts when he was small, he did not know any technical manuevers. Because of this, he resorted to fighting in a brawler-style, which he hoped would beat Michael, who had several years of experience in Martial Arts. When the school tennis team began conditioning in December of 2006, Rafael didn't show up for any of the sessions. This, however, was not Rafael's choice. His mother forced him to stay home after school to study for the upcoming Mid-Term exams. He reluctanly studied for all his subjects, even history. Rafael's cockiness soon took over, and he convinced his mother he didn't need to study for history. And so with that, he studied for math more than anything, though he really "Didn't give a f***" as he put it. When the mid-terms arrived, he simply finished them, getting a "D" on the math exam. He did not care about the math grade, though, all he wanted to see was his history test grade, which ended up being an "A". Nobody in his family was the least bit surprised at either of the two grades. A few weeks later, Rafael recieved some very pleasant news: His oldest brother, Ernesto was going to come to America. Rafael felt both happy, and sad at the same time. It would be great if his brother came to America, and reunited with the rest of his siblings, but that would also mean that their father, a very honorable, intelligent, and noble man, would have to live In Cuba with none of his children to keep him company. Rafael, though, knew this was not his choice, and would have to live with that worry. A few months later, in April of 2007, Rafael's oldest brother arrived in Miami, and began residing in a district called Hialeah, where the majority of Cubans in Miami resided. Rafael went to his temporary home to greet him about a week later. His brother looked nothing like him: He was short, and dark-skinned, while Rafael was tall and light-skinned. They got along quite well and would begin visiting eachother occasionally. During this same month, Rafael went to his first JROTC promotion board. This was an exam to determine whether a cadet was promoted or not. When Rafael stood in line to enter, people who entered to take it left crying, one person even fainted. The exam consisted of the cadet standing in front of the highest ranking officers in the JROTC program. The board was postponed when Rafaels turn came, though. About a week later, he returned to the board. The officers looked at him as if they hated him, as they did to everyone, but he answered their questions, reported out, and left the board. Near the end of April, Rafael was promoted to the rank of Corporal. Less than a month later, in May, Rafael was in danger of failing Algebra I. He needed at least a "C" at the end of the year. This did not concern Rafael, however, even when his mother had multiple fits about it. She even assigned a personal math tutor to him. They would become good friends over time. When The Final Exams arrived in that same month, but this time, it was a little different: Rafael studied for all subjects, including history. When he was done with the exams about a week before the end of the school year, he had recieved the "C" that he needed, while recieving an "A" once again in the History exam. During the last days of his freshmen school year, Rafael refused to do any work. He just relaxed in his classes, not concerned with anything at all. During the last day of school, Rafael left school with his friends, screaming, and celebrating, he filmed many of the idiotic things they did around the neighborhood. When Rafael arrived home afterward, He did what he always did: sit back, and play Xbox 360. The yearly Summer Vacation began, and Rafael returned once again to the Heinser Tennis academy. During the first few days in the camp, Rafael quickly developed a bad, delinquent-type reputation in the camp. His bad cursing habit didn't do his reputation any favors either, small children would constantly tell on him, getting him in trouble at an average of once a day. Even when they never heard a certain word from Rafael, they would blame him for saying it when he never did.

SOPHOMORE YEAR
When the 2007 summer ended, he returned to Sunset. He entered his sophmore year In August 16, 2007. He immedetley went back totutoring. Rafael became aquainted with his classes for the year. When Rafael returned to JROTC for his second year, he was still a Corporal. He was also in a new company, Alpha Company. The JROTC battalion was also under the Command of a new Battalion Commander, which was a good friend of him. When September came around, the third installment to the Halo series, "Halo3" was set to be released on the 25th. Rafael had already thought ahead for this, and had had it reserved on the internet on his birthday during the summer. When Halo3 was finally released, the results were epic: thousands of people around the world crowded around their local game store, anxious to get a copy, but while this global riot was taking place, Rafael sat calmly in his home, laughing quietly at his television, watching the people who now had to wait for hours and hours just so they could get a copy of Halo3, while Rafael's brand-new copy of the game, arrived in a box through the male, safe and sound on his doorstep. A few days after his acquiring of Halo3, he broke his second raquet. We has doing a practice game during practice, he missed a few balls, got very angry, and drove his raquet straight into the ground, snapping the frame. The other students, as well as the coaches began to laugh. Rafael took a second to examine the frame which was now snapped and bent inward, then he himself began to laugh. He eventually aquired a new one in about four months, which was fairly expensive. In his High School, drugs became more and more open. When Rafael walked across the hallways, other students who were clearly on weed and cocaine walked with him. When he used a restroom in the school, there was sometimes a student getting high in the next stall. In his own classes, while he worked, there would be cocaine and weed transactions right next to him. Rafael came to recognize the smell, and looks of various drugs very well, so he would have a good idea what people were taking throughout the school. It was here when Rafael began developing his "Machista" attitude,this was due to the relationship problems he's had in the past. A Machista, in Cuban culture, was an Alpha Male of sorts, the one with alot of testosterone. When November came, Rafael went to another promotion board for JROTC. Since he had already gained experience from last year's board, he was only a little bit nervous. When his turn came, he went into the room, the officers asked him some questions, and sent him out. about two weeks later, Rafael was promoted to the rank of "Sergeant" though he he had previously been informed that he was to be promoted to Sergeant 1rst Class, and to the position of Platoon Sergeant. This, however, was not to be, the position of Platoon Sergeant was given to another girl, which, in Rafael's opinion, didn't deserve the position at all. This kept him annoyed for the rest of the year. In April, most of his grades went all the way down to F's. Because of this, he had all his home privileges taken away, as well as his ability to play his 360, and his newly acquired game, "Grand Theft Auto IV". Because of this, he was determined to bring his grades up quickly, which he did in a week. In the beginning of May, he had his privileges given back to him. He did not stop, making sure that his 360 would not be taken away again, as it was his main source of entertainment. Three weeks before the end of the school year, Rafael proved his hunger to his friends again by eating two double-stacked cheese burgers at the same time. His friends jokingly nominated him as the "Fat ass" of the group. Rafael Didn't lose respect for his Geometry teacher despite the reasonably difficult home work assignments she assigned when The Final Exams approached. The Final exams arrived, and Rafael, as usual, didn't study for his History or English exams, but he studied for everything else. As usual again, he failed his Math exam, but passed every other exam, but either way at the end of the School year, he passed all his classes, though he passed his Math class by a hair.