*
I looked in the mirror. Oh man another pimple! I
hated pimples. Do you get pimples? I
don’t get them bad. Some kids’ faces are covered. Mine just come up to have a
holiday and then go away. Dabbing some Clearasil on it I prayed that it would
have its holiday quickly and disappear. I pulled on my warm freshly ironed
uniform and thought about school.
School. Do you
like school? I would describe my feelings towards school as love, hate and
like. There were things I loved, there were things I hated and there were
things I liked. Obvious hey!
I have thought about this so much that I have
categories for my feelings: teachers, students, homework.
Teachers. I really liked my English teacher, Miss
George. She was my favourite teacher. Miss gave me great marks on my
assignments and she helped me when I get stuck. I actually went to her about my
secret and she told me that it would be a good idea to tell it. I even
rehearsed for her and she told me how I could improve my speech. She’s done
that for other assignments too. Miss liked
it when I put up my hand to answer her questions because most of the other kids
didn’t pay much attention ... and she was always friendly and nice to me. I would give
her an A+ J
I hated teachers like Mr A. He was my maths teacher.
Mr A was the opposite of Miss. No encouragement, no help. When I asked for
assistance I got, “Look in the book!” accompanied by a harsh expression. Well
the book didn’t have a mouth or a brain so it couldn’t explain the maths to me!
I would get so frustrated. Mr A. was so unfriendly and never smiled. I would
give him an F L
All the other teachers rated in between – I liked
them.
Students. I loved hanging out with my friends at
school. Without friends school wouldn’t be much fun. Lunchtimes were spent hanging
out at the basketball courts where we would chat, goof off and watch the guys
play. Sometimes Tilly liked to stir them up by running onto the court,
intercepting the ball and throwing it at the goal, or she would dance around
the court playing dodge ‘ems. They would always yell at her and snatch it back.
It was funny to watch and we would all be laughing our heads off.
Sofia still came to sit with us. I was getting used
to having her around. She was alright. Thursdays, second break was Art Club. I loved Art Club. Mr Brady, one of the art teachers, would teach
us about different types of media and techniques. We were learning heaps. Maybe
one day I could design skateboard decks. That would be cool to do! J
I hated my bullies. Tia and Carla. The price you
paid for being different was called a bully. “Hey poppy eyes. Hi fish head. Hi googly
eyes. Hey flat face.” I’d heard them all before. In my imagination when they
would spit one at me I would see myself slapping their smiles off their faces. L
Tia you already know about. Carla was in Year
Eleven. She made herself known to me on my third day of Year Eight. I was
walking to Music and heard a voice say, “Hey fish head.” I looked in the
direction which was a bad move, and stared straight into her ugly face. Carla
said it again, “Yeah you, fish head.” I was in shock because I had never seen
her before. I had no clue who she was. I turned bright red and took off. It was
like she had lit a fire baton and was rubbing it all over my body. I told Tilly
who went on a mission to find out who this witchy girl was. Tilly became
Pinnaroo High’s Detective Holmes. And, like Detective Holmes she solved the
mystery – very quickly in fact. Carla was known as a school bully it turned
out. I was not her only prey. She picked on lots of kids. During her detective
work Tilly found out that Carla couldn’t be expelled because she had some
disability which made her exempt, so the school put up with her. Didn’t seem
right. I didn’t like meeting up with Carla so if I saw her in the distance I dodged
her by walking a different way. Sometimes though it just happened. When it did
I flashed her my biggest smile and said, “How are you today kitten?” That was
Tilly’s suggestion. I even had to practise saying it to her so it would just
come out. Carla never knew what to do and she looked at me like a fish had slapped
her in the face. In my heart I would actually much rather take a pair of
scissors and cut her up into miniscule pieces! Do you get bullied?
Of course there are other girls and guys I talked to
at school, otherwise I would be mute during my classes – they were the ones I
liked.
Homework. Do
you like homework? I actually didn’t mind doing homework, though I would
rather be talking to my friends on Facebook. I really liked English tasks probably
because it was my favourite subject. Maths not so much. I got stressed out and
angry when I was stuck on problems. I often wanted to chuck the textbook in the
bin or throw it out the window into our neighbour’s swimming pool… but of
course I didn’t. I would keep on trying and most of the time I figured them
out. So I would classify homework as love-hate-like. I can do that because it’s
my story. J
L
*
I pulled on my white sports socks and well-worn dirty
sneakers. Hopefully Mum would buy me some new ones soon. I couldn’t imagine
being Sofia, having money. My mum didn’t work and Dad was on an okay wage. He
was a long haul truck driver so we didn’t see much of him. Money was always
tight. Sofia would never have to wait for a new pair of sneakers. I was sure
she had several new pairs sitting in her cupboard. Mine had holes in them.
*
© 2012 by Jenny Woolsey
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