Don’t read this, Mrs. Dunphrey.
You sure you want us to write in these twice a week? My life’s not so exciting that I have something to say twice a week. I don’t have anything to say at all. But you said we had to have four entries before we handed these in on Friday … So, hey, here this is.
I’m writing this in Mr. Tremont’s class. He probably thinks I’m taking notes. Except no one else is taking notes, so why would I? It’s not like he would expect me to be a standout student.
I’ll tell you now: I’m a C student. Sometimes I get B’s, when I get lucky. I don’t study. One time last year when we were freshmen, they made us take some aptitude test. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I really tried hard for once. Guess I just wanted to see what I could do. And you know what? I knocked the socks off everybody. I did better than Susan Stanwick and Mike Hardy, and everybody knows they’ve got computers where their brains are supposed to be. (After that, Susan went around telling people she was coming down with the flu that day—that’s why she didn’t have the highest score for the first time in her life. Yeah, right.)
It was too much hassle, though. For about a week, I had all the counselors and teachers swarming all over me. I can still hear Miss Anthony saying, “Now that we all know what you’re capable of, Tish, I’m going to expect a lot more out of you …” Like I was really going to start doing my algebra homework. Mrs. Herzenberger started talking to me about college. Then it’s like everybody remembered what they were dealing with, and forgot me. Hey, I’m not one of those kids who grew up in Chateau Estates or Golf Terrace. I only live four blocks from the school. You’ve probably been past my house—and if you haven’t, you’ve seen ones just like it. Small. Poor. Falling down. You think there’s any money stashed away in some college fund for me? Uh-huh. Right. Tell me another joke.
Have you ever noticed Mr. Tremont says “so to speak” every other sentence? He’s doing it now and it’s driving me crazy. I’ll take down every word he says: “The French and Indian War, so to speak, was part of a much larger event… something, something (I can’t get this all) and Americans, so to speak, get a little egocentric looking back on this event, so to speak…”
Gag, gag, gag.