A Schoolboy's Life

Oh boy, oh boy, I’m so excited. It’s my first day of the first grade and I can’t wait to get inside. It’s gonna be so neat to have my own books and my own desk. I even have a nice new pencil box that my mother bought me so I’m all set to go. I already met my teacher Mrs. Benninati and boy is she pretty! She’s really nice too. I can’t wait until I learn how to read so I can go to the second grade and have…

Mrs. Peterson. Mrs. Peterson looks like she’s a hundred years old and she has a nasty temper. She must weigh about three hundred pounds and she sure isn’t as pretty as Mrs. Bennenati. There’s a girl named Rosemary in my class and every time she gets and answer wrong, Mrs. Peterson gives her a whack. What happened to Mrs. Benninati? The only good thing is that Mrs. Peterson can’t hear and she depends on us to let her know when the recess bell rings. Sometimes we tell her it did when it didn’t but don’t tell anybody. I don’t like second grade that much and I can’t wait to get to third grade and have…

Mrs. Lovett. She caught me using a pen instead of a pencil the other day and got really upset with me. She said we’re too young to use a pen and have to use a pencil. Pens are only supposed to be used by the older kids. I didn’t mean to make her mad but using a pen is just easier that’s all. You have to keep sharpening a pencil and it’s a pain. When I get to fourth grade at least….

Miss Toomey will let me use a pen. She gets mad at us if we count on our fingers though. I like Miss Toomey because she is really nice. She's kind of old. I mean she must be at forty. Plus she is so skinny I'm afraid she might blow away if a gust of wind gets hold of her. I like her though because she is really patient with me. Although there was that one-day when she was trying to do a project with us and looked like she was getting very aggravated. Her hair was messed up and everything. I felt kind of bad for her. I hope that my fifth grade teacher…

Miss Crowley will be just as nice. She is too, plus Miss Crowley is very pretty. She taught me how to tell time the other day. She felt bad for me because one time she asked me what time it was and I told her I couldn’t tell her. I wasn't being a wise guy or anything, I just didn't know how because nobody ever taught me. So she kept me after school by myself for a little while and showed me. She said I caught on really quick too. I’m a little sad because she told us today that she is leaving because she is going to have a baby. I told my father that it looked like she was gaining some weight but he never said anything. I’m going to miss Miss Crowley. We’re going to have another teacher for the rest of the year and her name is Miss Fairfield. She is pretty too but I don't think she likes me as much as Miss Crowley did. Things will be different when I have…

Mr. Blasi in the sixth grade. Mr. Blasi is the first male teacher I’ve ever had and I don’t think I like him too much. He lives in my neighborhood. His kid Joey tries to hang around with the guys and me but we don’t like him either. He’s always bugging us and we do things to get rid of him. I think Mr. Blasi doesn’t like me because I’m fat. He asked me the other day in front of the class what I had for lunch and I told him a pie. Before I could tell him it was a small Table Talk pie, he made a big deal out it and made it sound like I had a whole big pie. I never did get the chance to explain and all the other kids were laughing at me. He didn't have to do that. Well, at least now I will be going to…

The seventh grade and I will be in a new school too. It’s called the McKinley school and I have a bunch of teachers instead of just one. I hope I can keep track of it because I don’t want to screw up like I always seem to. Trying to find the right classroom is a little confusing but I’ll get the hang of it. I heard a rumor that the older kids in the eight grade make the new kids go through an ‘initiation.’ They call it polling and what they do is grab you by the arm and legs and bang you up against a pole. I hope it’s not true because that would really stink. Not to mention be very painful. On top of everything else, we don’t get recess anymore! I’ll have to get used to that. When I get to the …

Eighth grade, maybe I can pick on the new kids. I probably won’t though because I didn't like being scared all the time. Besides, there is no one to do it with. This is my second year at the McKinley and it’s pretty much the same as it was in the seventh grade. There’s a kid named Eddie who keeps picking on me. I don’t know what I did to this guy but he keeps doing all kind of rotten things to me. He’ll hit me for no reason when I walk down the corridor, spits on me and just generally makes life miserable. I wish he would leave me alone. A weird thing happened the other day though. Eddie hit me when I was in the schoolyard and out of nowhere, this other kid came by on his bike and smacked Eddie across the face. Then he drove off. He didn’t stop so I could thank him but I really appreciated it. It will be nice to get out of here and go to the…

Ninth grade. Now I’m in the first year of high school. The regular high school can only hold so many kids, so they make us all spend our first year at the Garfield school. It’s great because it’s on the beach. We have a principal, Mr. Waxman who is pretty cool. If we have a study class, he doesn’t make us sit in a classroom. We can go down to the beach if we want to. One day, most of my teachers went on a field trip to Washington so I only had to go to one class. It was my last class of the day, which sucked, but at least I spent the whole day at the beach. He’s a great guy but I don’t like the vice principal at all. He is just nasty. One day, I walked the entire length of Revere because I missed my bus. I really do live on the other side of town from the school. All the way there, I thought that he would be proud of me because I showed some determination and I was looking forward to it. When I arrived, he yelled me for being late and told me I would have to stay after school! I couldn’t believe it! I walked all that way and he yelled at me? He’s lucky I showed up at all. What a creep! But when I get to…

Tenth grade, it’ll be great. It’s my first year at the high school although it's actually my second year of high school. It’s pretty cool but it’s also a little scary. This building is so old that the wood floors buckle up from old age. You have to be careful not to trip over them. I have a whole new batch of teachers too. My favorite is Mr. Curran because he is really funny. He looks like Dick Van Dyke and he should be a stand-up comedian. We discovered that all we have to ask is “Hey Mr. Curran, what did you do over the weekend?” and he talks for three days. The bad thing is that he teaches math and I hate math. I just don’t get it. I try to understand it and try to do my best but the results are always the same. I'll probably never get it. But at least he makes us laugh. Hopefully when I get to the…

Eleventh grade, I will have a teacher like him. Now I’m a junior. I still have most of the same teachers but now I have a new history teacher. His name is Mr. Murphy. I like him because he makes us argue with him. He gives you a lesson about, say, World War Two and then he’ll get in your face and say something like “I don’t think Franklin Roosevelt should have done this or that! What do you think?” Then he expects you to state your case or at least give him an argument. He makes it interesting and exciting at the same time. I still have Mr. Curran and he still makes me laugh. I still don’t understand the math though. Maybe I will get it by the time I get to…

Twelfth grade. Now I’m a senior and I have to admit that I do feel like a big shot. I have most of the credits I need to graduate in spite of the fact that I'm not really a great student. So now I can cruise a little bit through the rest of the year. It’s great. I can sneak out for a butt anytime I feel like it and nobody really cares. Unless they catch me. I don’t even go to gym class anymore because I don’t want to. The teacher is a maniac who makes us run around the block five times until he’s satisfied. And unless you're on the football team or basketball team, he yells at you constantly. I don’t see that jerk running though. What he doesn’t realize is that once we are out his view, we walk. I went to the first class and then just stopped going. Now I understand he just crossed me off the list like I don’t exist and that’s fine by me. I still have Mr. Curran but now I feel bad for him. I don’t know if he ticked somebody off or not but what he or she did to him wasn’t very nice. They took all of the kids who he failed in the past two years and put them all in the same class. Honest to God, the look on his face when he walked in on the first day was great. He literally just shook his head and sat down. Now I got a friend of mine who sits behind me and makes rude comments. Nobody else can hear him but me so it looks like I’m laughing like a fool for no reason. They changed the drinking age to eighteen so we all got fake ID’s and spend our lunch at a local bar called the Dublin. We have Mr. Curran for our last class. We think he’s funny anyway but after a few beers, he’s even funnier. I love it. I also graduate and I can’t wait. In spite of Mr. Curran and Mr. Murphy, I hate school and if I never see one again, it will be too soon. Maybe I can get a job when I graduate. I'm not going to college because nobody has ever talked to me about it. Besides, only the good students get to go. Hell, I never even took the SAT's. I don’t have the money anyway so why even bother with it? I couldn't even afford my to buy my yearbook and the only reason I got one is I think my mother talked our welfare social worker into lending her the money. Maybe I will go later but right now I want my freedom.