• September 23, 2006- Autumnal Equinox It’s kind of gray and dreary outside. Welcome to southeastern Michigan and the wonderful weather patterns. But, on the bright side, I turn fifteen the day after tomorrow! The only person I’m going to let make a huge deal of it is Amy. I would be embarrassed otherwise. The first day of fall. So far fall isn’t that great. Well, before I know it, it’s going to be snowing. That’s actually good, because I hate heat. I get all lazy and don’t want to move until nighttime. I would say what I did today, but the truth is not much happened. I slept on the couch last night, just because I was too tired to move. I didn’t wake up once. I love that couch. The only thing that woke me up was a call from Dr. Williams, probably with “important... Huron announcements”. He may be a nice guy, but I think he’s completely oblivious to what’s actually happening inside his school. Otherwise he would take other courses of action. I went to the library today. In the rain. I got soaked, and when I was walking towards the street getting wet, I realized I’m wearing the same shirt that I was wearing my freshman year at Interlochen during that Helm’s Deep rainstorm. Have I ever told that story? It was last year, during the third or fourth day. It had been pouring down rain the whole day. I remember sitting in sectionals with Caleb, Zach, Luis, and Laja asking our section leader if Mr. Roberts was planning to call off marching practice. Chara, our leader, said he wasn’t going to unless there was lightning, and even then maybe not. We were kind of disappointed, because by that day, we were all dead and wanted some extra rec time. So, about an hour later, we were on the marching field. The rain had started to let up a little, but it was short-lived. It started coming down even harder than before. We had to stand at attention with water dripping down our faces. My glasses were impossible to see out of, so halfway through I ripped them off and shoved them into the pocket of my wind pants. I do remember that day was one day where Peter Winters didn’t shout at me too much. I was starting to do better. I almost wish today was a weekday. I like school, even though lately I’m having a problem with the caliber of the people that go to Huron. I had to go to the dumbest high school in Ann Arbor. Maybe it’s because all of the smart people got filtered out into Phy Sci and Algebra 3/4, so there goes two of my classes. My Latin class is dumber than last year, but they’re okay. I’m going to be okay in there. I might actually have fun in the process. After all, would Mr. Vogel show Augustus? Most likely not. He doesn’t really like movies. Mr. Julius makes little comments while we’re watching it, funny comments. At the beginning of the movie (it’s a flashback movie), they have Augustus on his deathbed, and he says, “Have I played my part well in this comedy called life?” That’s about all he says until they flash back. The bell rang right after we saw that, and Mr. Julius said, “Okay then! Good movie. He has played his part well in this comedy called life. See you tomorrow.” We watched that part again a few days later. They put this deathmask on him at the beginning, and someone asked, “What, do they just smother him or something?” “No, no,” said Mr. Julius. “He’s already dead. That’s a deathmask they put on him.” “I don’t think he was dead yet,” someone objected. The class laughed. “’I’m not quite dead yet,’” joked Garrett next to me, quoting Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I had to laugh at that. That’s one of my favorite movies. It’s just goofy. I like the part where they eat Sir Robin’s minstrels, and there is much rejoicing. I should ask Dad to put that on the cue again. It cracks me up. Anne’s kind of going through a hard time right now. Her dad and her aren’t really getting along. He takes everything out on her. I suggested that he’s depressed, which it sounds like he might be. He’s going to be forced to retire soon and they have a lot of expenses coming their way. He’s either majorly stressed or depressed. I’m just a kid, so I’m not about to suggest they go in for counseling, but maybe they should. It’s stuff like this that makes me want to be a psychologist. There are lots of people out there that need help. I want to help them. If I were about ten years older, I would do that, but I hate being out of control of stuff that I see happening and want to fix. The most I can be right now is a listening ear for the people closest to me. Maybe that’s all they need. I’m going to head out now. Goodbye. September 26, 2006 It’s good to be fifteen, baby. Sorry I didn’t have time to write yesterday. It was kind of a busy day. It was great going to school on my birthday, though. I have such great friends. Mataeso pretty much shouted it from coast to coast that it was my birthday. It was also Capsule Night. Dad had fun. He liked all my teachers. Even Julius. Which is good, because I’ll grudgingly admit that I like him now. I’m currently blasting Blink-182 and singing along. I wouldn’t do that if anyone was in the house. I love Blink, although I won’t admit it to most people. Well, some people. I told Hurley that I loved Blink. I don’t know what it is, but I can talk to him. Maybe it’s because we’re similar people. Are we? I don’t even know. I had a good day today. We took a Geometry quiz, which I kicked ass at. I love Geometry. It’s so easy, and people make it out to be this huge hard thing. Maybe I’m better at formula-based math? Or it’s because of Mr. Kim. I get everything he’s throwing at us. I turned in my interpretation of the Three Bears, which I wrote for Mr. Wilson. We’re studying the wide subject of “point of view”. I rewrote it from Mama Bear’s point of view. If I do say so myself, it’s pretty damn funny. Anne thinks so, too. I file shared it to her and she was cracking up. She said it was pure gold. Mr. Wilson gave everyone the option to read your story out loud to the class for extra credit points. No freaking way, I thought. I hate public speaking. It’s my Number One Fear these days. There were some... interesting ones. My old buddy Arthur Tsai (from Bio last year) read his out loud. That was in a category all by itself. It was the Three Little Pigs, only a bit different. You see, the wolf had a red Game Boy Color (Arthur’s electronics obsessed) to keep him from depression. The Three Little Pigs run off with it, and he’s trying to get it back. The whole time I was looking at the ceiling, trying not to crack up. During the middle of his story, I made the mistake of looking at Hurley. It was during the line, “And then the wolf said ‘WELL THEN I’LL BLOW YOUR BRICK HOUSE UP WITH A FRIGGIN’ NUCLEAR BOMB!’” Hurley caught my eye and shook his head, looking dubious. I almost had to shove my whole fist into my mouth to keep from cracking up. Paul also read his out loud. He was partners with a kid named Nick Austin. They’re both awesome writers, so theirs was actually good. There were some funny ones. Taylor Anderson (who used to go to Tappan in 6th grade) had a hilarious one. I make sure to look at Hurley when things are funny. He has the nicest smile. Band was fun. As usual. We laughed, we played, we screwed off. The whole band listened to the actual recording of the Bohemian Rhapsody. I sang along under my breath. Luis did too. There were times where it was me and him practically doing a duet. I can tell he loves that song. Don’t we all. I remembered today what song helped me get over him, or at least feel better for a time. “Sugar, We’re Going Down”, Fall Out Boy. Which is interesting, seeing as that song is a little disturbing and depressing. It’s good to have him back, though. I only realized recently how much hell I went through after he switched. And I’m usually not the romantic one. Latin’s getting better. Those are actually some really nice people. Mr. Julius isn’t bad, too. Dad really liked him, like I knew he would. Today we watched some more of Augustus, that really cool Roman movie. Michael Toner and Garrett joined our little antisocial island for the movie. I said, “You guys should sit over here more often.” I meant it. They’re great guys. This is only the second time in history that I’ve liked a tuba player. Funny how some things change. Speech wasn’t bad. Mr. Fox went on about Communication for awhile. The freshman moved out to her own seat, which is the one in front of me. I was glad. Everyone needs their own seat. We drew diagrams of the Communication Process to turn in later on. School is so easy. I swear we had a harder curriculum last year. I think I’m going to go exercise or something. I’m looking into losing weight. Okay, I’m out. See ya. September 27, 2006 I’m listening to “Seasons Of Love” (from Rent) because we’re playing it in band. Now it’s “You’re Beautiful”. Great. Okay, maybe I don’t mind that song. It just has some bad memories attached to it. I actually had a great day today. Some of the best news I gotten in awhile came. So, we were sitting in Speech. Hurley and I were talking as usual (ironically, while Mr. Fox was going through the Listening Process) and he asked me a question about me and the Walrus. “Weren’t you guys going out for awhile?” he asked. I nodded. “Yeah. I’m not sure if we still are or not.” I hope we’re not, I added in my head. We kept talking. Well, I should give some background first. I turned the Walrus down for Homecoming, but for a different reason than the obvious one. When Amy and Alex first hooked up, Amy said that she didn’t want to go to Homecoming because she would probably get all depressed. I said, “Hey, you don’t go, I don’t go.” So we agreed to just hang out together that night like we did the night of Coming Home. So, anyway, I turned him down. Hurley told me that he asked a girl named Grace to go with him, and I guess she said yes. That was some great news, for two reasons. Number One: I was almost sure Grace was Hurley’s girlfriend. They always act like they are in English. I guess they’re not going out, though. Number Two: If the Walrus can just turn around and ask another girl out, then he must not like me that much. Two words. Thank God. Maybe we’ll never have to formally break up and it will just be understood that we are or something. I actually had the best time in Speech with Hurley today, not just because of hearing that. We compared hellish middle school experiences. It sounds like St. Francis was a terrible, terrible school. If half of what he says is true, then Tappan is the Garden of Eden or something. I told him some of the true stuff about how oppressive my parents are. I don’t know what it is, but I can really talk to him and not worry about being judged. We share a lot of the same beliefs. Turns out he’s Catholic, too. Cool. Latin was actually fun. I think Garrett took my “you guys should sit over here more often” to heart. He sat next to me today. He’s an amusing guy. He made little comments all through Augustus. That’s a really sweet movie. Mr. Julius is cool for showing it. He also made a few comments during the movie. Halfway through, Garrett attempted to poke me, but his seat was too far away. I leaned into his finger. We both cracked up. Juniors are funny. I think I have a trumpet lesson tonight, so I’m going to go look over the stuff. ‘Bye now. September 28, 2006 Wow, it’s almost October. That month went fast. In Latin, it’s Octobres, with a long E. Unfortunately, no one speaks Latin, so there’s no way of putting in the long marks on this thing. Whatever. According to Mr. Fox, Hurley and I have one more chance until he moves us both. Actually, he said that to me. If we get caught talking during his lectures again, I guarantee that it’s going to be me that’s moved, not Hurley. He stopped the lecture twice yesterday to tell us to shut up. What he said was actually, “Claire, please hush.” Geez. Way to play favorites, Mr. Fox. I got an A on my Geometry quiz. Wow. I’m blown away. I have a B- in that class, now. It’s just because I got a shitty grade on my homework packet. All that means is I have to start doing my homework. No big stuff. We’re playing “Living On a Prayer” in band. Ah, I love marching season! We actually play well-known stuff. I found out today that Ashley’s my squad leader, though. Well, assistant squad leader. I think they made Ashley and Caleb squad leaders to split them up. Ryan Schrauben (our section leader at Interlochen) said that Ashley and Caleb had come up a lot in the staff meetings. Huh. I’m not surprised. I used to think they were going out, but they’ve just been together for a long time. It’s not their fault. Stupid people keep putting them together! We actually have a proper squad this year, believe it or not. A full five people. Wow. I did have a little moment of remembering when Mr. Roberts announced Luis as squad leader of the tubas. We used to stand next to each other. He was on my left, Amy on my right. We crashed. A lot. All three of us. It had been his first year, too, because he had been in Varsity Band the year before. I can hardly believe that was almost a year ago. Latin was pretty good, as usual, even though we didn’t watch the movie. We learned a little about the Roman gods and goddesses. It amazes me how much other writers take from mythology. Mr. Julius loves mythology. You can tell. I can see why the guy wrote a whole book. I had to hurry to Latin, because we got out a little late in band. I was walking quickly down the 3200 hallway when I felt a tap on my left shoulder. I spun like an idiot and looked around. To my right was Garrett (he had pulled the old tap-your-victim-on-the-opposite-shoulder thing), grinning. I smiled and said, “Hey, what’s up?” as we went down the hall together. He showed me a funny video of his lunch hour. He and his friends put those orange cones on their heads and went running around. It was hilarious. There was a lot of screaming involved. He seems to have taken up permanent station in the seat next to mine. He knows a lot about mythology. We took notes in Earth Science. Oh boy. Mr. Drake seems to like notes a lot. I guess it’s easier than teaching. The Walrus was absent, so it made for quite a stress-free class. I pretty much just talked to my friend Samantha. She’s pretty cool. She kind of dresses emo, but she’s the farthest thing from it. This song reminds me of Mr. Vogel, but also my new Latin class. “Make You Feel Better”, Red Hot Chili Peppers. It was one of the first songs I heard after I knew that Latin was going to be fine. Third hour also always made me feel better last year. It was the bright point in the day. Somewhere out there When love is your only friend We are the ones that will make you feel better Someone to spare When love is the only end We are the ones that will make you feel better Apparently, it’s about how the Red Hot Chili Peppers try to write music that will connect to their fans and make their day better, even if they’re feeling crappy or having a bad day or something. That song works for me. I like the line “when love is your only friend”. I don’t know why. It does make me realize how much I owe Mr. Vogel, though. He taught me how to work. I’d still be getting Cs if not for him. Well, I’m officially part of Key Club. Yay me. I took Amy. Sometimes it’s frustrating to be friends with someone who doesn’t really know much. She had never heard of the achievement gap, so I was explaining it to her. She asked me, “So would we be tutoring black people?” An Asian chick turned around and said, “Wow, that was so racist.” We got into a whole thing about it. It pissed me off so much. It took about a century and a half to convince her that we’re not racist. I said that we have a very dear friend who’s black (that being Fuzz) and that we have other friends that are black. People are just stupid. I think I’m just going to find my article for Mr. Fox and then head off. Get some exercise. All right. ‘Bye. September 29, 2006 It’s Friday! I love Friday! No homework, no nothing. I did have to baby-sit, but that’s okay. I love Ross. He’s the easiest fifteen bucks I’ve ever made, at the risk of sounding bad. Amazing how video games bring people together. I got kind of pissed at Amy today, though. It was at lunch, and she told me that she had been describing my school picture (which sucks) to Alex. That pissed me off. She knows damn well that I don’t look like that, plus I had allergies that day. I straight out accused her of sabotaging me. I could see what was happening here. She’s afraid that Alex will think I’m prettier or some crap like that. So therefore she shows and describes shitty pictures of me around to the guy who’s opinion actually matters a bit to me. She’s kind of mad at him, too. Apparently what happened was she called him last night and was telling him about how we got our pictures today. She asked him to say something about her picture when he gets it or something and he said, “Does it have to be positive?” Even I winced at that, when I heard. I usually just tell her that he “didn’t mean it like that”, but this is unmistakable. Nice one, Alex. But strangely I see why he said that. He doesn’t want to get into the whole “don’t you think I’m pretty?” stuff with her. Amy’s very sensitive about how she looks to other people. She takes it hard if she finds out one person doesn’t think she’s pretty, especially her own boyfriend. But still, she didn’t have to take me down with her. She actually TOLD me that she had done that so he wouldn’t flirt with me. I can’t believe they’ve actually been going out for two months, or not going out. This isn’t going to work. It’s strange, I want them to break up, but then again I don’t. I don’t want Amy to be depressed. Still, Alex is officially A Touchy Subject. I’m not sure it’ll be any better if they break up, but if they did maybe I would actually be allowed to be friends with him. He couldn’t flirt with me then, either. Who knows. We may never be at peace again. Luckily, I didn’t get moved or kicked out in Speech, because that freshman took his seat again. Damn, I hate freshmen. Otherwise, pretty normal period. We were outside for the first time today in band. I have a good squad this year, although I think I miss the one of last year, the one with Zach and Luis. We had some fun. I think that the freshman next to me, goes by the name of Peter, is kind of into me, though. Whenever I look over, he’s either smiling or staring at me. I just hope that if he is, I don’t become like Luis was to me. I don’t ever want anyone to like me if they’re going to be in that much pain. And I shouldn’t be talking, because I’ve been known to start liking people during marching season. Ashley’s not a bad squad leader. Laja is our head squad leader, which means that Ashley will be running the show. Laja’s the quietest guy ever. Not so great with the orders. Usually I just ask Mr. Roberts when he’s walking by what’s going on. He likes me these days. I guess sixth chair is a lower-profile position in the band, as opposed to Dead Last. Well, as the reader of this knows by now, I was Second To Dead Last, until events beyond my control screwed things up. Damn tuba players. We went to Outback Steakhouse for my (belated) birthday. It was great. I had five Cokes. What can I say? He kept bringing them out! I’m sure I’m going to have to go to the bathroom like aaaaaalllllll night. The night that I won’t be sleeping through at all. Okay, I’m about to head out. Until we meet again. September 30, 2006 The very last day of September. Dang. How’s that for a fast month? I’m trying to think of what today would be in Latin. Saturday, Saturn’s day? Who was Saturn in Rome? Maybe I should look it up. It’s the day before the first day of the month. I forget what that’s called. Starts with a K. Wow, I’m a great Latin student. I almost don’t want it to be Saturday. I love school. Okay, I just looked up Saturn on Wikipedia, and the Roman equivalent is Kronos, father of Zeus. This would be a good time to learn my second declension noun endings. Anyway, I love school. This has been the best year ever. And the best part is it’s only September. We have eight more months of this to go. October is good, though, because in October, D.J. MacHale is going to release the title of the next book. It was originally going to be Pendragon the Great, but he changed it for some reason. I hope Spader comes back. He’s the coolest, and he had to be taken out right when he had done some growing up. If he dies, heads will roll! It’s good that Mr. Drake was gone on Friday, because that means no homework. Zach Baker’s mom was the sub. The first time she was the sub, I suspected that she was Zach’s mom. They look a lot alike. Zach’s little brother Nick must look like their dad or something. He’s kind of a loud freshman. Well, I was too. I guess I shouldn’t be talking. We’re going to the Tigers’ game tonight. I’m not really a baseball person, but I think I have to go. It’s more for David than for anyone. I’m going to go see if Mr. Kim’s homework is doable. Damn geometric proofs. ‘Bye. October 2, 2006 I’m starting Drivers Ed. today! Yes! Of course, we won’t be driving, but at least it’s a start. I bet I’ll be the oldest in that class, with a bunch of punk freshmen. Fourteen and nine months is the legal driving age around here, at least to start the course. I hope it’s not too boring. I hear the first day is. I got a job! Tappan officially hired me to help with the practice club. Mr. Smith said he’d work it so I get volunteer hours. Nice guy, Mr. Smith. Michael actually came in with me because he thought I was up to something sketchy. I wanted to say hello to some teachers and I knew Michael probably wouldn’t want to hang out. Mr. Smith was happy to see us. I haven’t seen that guy since last February or January. Turns out we did visit one teacher. We were walking away from the music hallway and Michael stopped and grinned at me. “Should we go find Thobe?” he asked. I nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah!” Mr. Thobe is probably one of our all-time favorite teachers in this world. He teaches seventh grade World Geography and Language Arts. He had both Michael and me. Now, in seventh grade, Michael was a smartass troublemaker and I was lazy as hell. So one might see why we respect him. I respect anyone who can deal with the two younger Beaulieus. We were terrible. This time around, I apologized for being so stubborn. I drove the poor man crazy. He laughed. We had some fun there. He hasn’t seen Michael in about five years. He laughed, shook hands with both of us, and then told us all about how life at Tappan is going. Sounds like the seventh grade is calmer this year. Some years it’s really bad, other years it’s okay. “But I’ll quit the year no one acts up,” Mr. Thobe said, nodding sagely. He has a kid now! I couldn’t believe what he named him, though. Solomon. I had figured Mr. Thobe more for a name like Zach or something. I do remember Cam had once straight out asked him in seventh grade whether he wanted kids or not. He was going through a string of these really personal questions. “Are you married?” Cam had asked. “Yep,” he shot back. “Do you have any kids?” “Nope.” “Are you trying to have kids?” The result was immediate from all us who used to eat lunch in Mr. Thobe’s room. “Cam!” “A little personal, are we?” I put in. “What’s wrong with you?” Ha. Poor Cam took a lot of abuse in seventh grade. People liked him, they just thought he was a dweeb. Which he is. But he’s a good friend. School was actually good today. For a Monday. My face got kind of sunburned from the Tigers’ game yesterday so all day long I was hearing, “Wow, Claire. You’re really sunburned!” Amy flat out laughed at me. Which I was kind of annoyed with, but whatever. It’s not my fault I’m fair. Hurley also laughed at me, but it was a goofy laugh, not a condescending one. Just one of many things I love about that guy. We had fun today in Speech. I talked to Hurley, but made it up to Mr. Fox by answering every single question he asked until he said, “Okay, someone who is NOT Claire, please.” I think he’s starting to like me a little better. Probably because I hang out with the esteemed Matt Hurley, though. I swear Mr. Fox is about to adopt him. I had some fun with that freshman Gwen, though. I would whisper “Gwen!” and when she turned around I would be like, “I didn’t call you. Hurley, did you call her?” He was quick on the uptake, and would grin and shake his head every time. Turns out he was at the Tigers’ game, too. We were talking about it in Speech (as usual). “What row were you?” he asked. “Uhh, about seventeen-ish.” “Seventeen?” asked Gwen, turning around. “What’s seventeen?” “That’s how old we are,” I said, straight-faced. “We’re very old sophomores.” “Seriously?” she asked. “No!” Hurley and I said together, rolling our eyes. Freshmen are so impressionable. I hope we weren’t that bad a year ago. Something tells me I was. Freshmen are fun, though. As is Speech. It’s so great to just look to your right and be able to admire the guy you really like. Sometimes he's just so cute I want to cry. Wow, that doesn’t sound like me at all. It’s true, though. Hm. Okay, I think I’m out of here. Peace out. October 4, 2006 It’s been awhile. I haven’t had a lot of time. My schedule just exploded with activities for reasons I don’t know. I started running the practice club with Cam yesterday. The middle schoolers are actually kind of fun. I was with two low brass players I kind of know from around. They’re good. Really. We didn’t have such good low brass my year. Frankly, we don’t have good low brass right now. Driver’s Ed. is going good. I drive this Friday. I already warned everyone off the roads. Right now, I know I’m going to be bad. I like the instructor, though. His name is Todd. Todd Heck. No joke. The class is full of these really spacy girls and a bunch of quiet freshmen. Oh boy. The class can be fun, though. I shouldn’t be complaining. I’m getting a permit out of this. School was good. I really have to start doing my Geometry homework. I completely forgot last night. We’re doing proofs, which I am predictably bad at. I sort of get it, but I get algebraic ones more than geometric ones. In an odd twist. I thought I was supposed to be bad at algebra. That class is annoying. It’s a good thing I have Wyatt. He livens things up a little. We took a test in English. It was incredibly easy. I got it done in about twenty minutes. The only hard part was identifying the conflict in a short story he gave us. Otherwise, I nailed it. I was the first one to turn it in. Hurley got done a few minutes after me. “How’d you do?” I mouthed when he sat back down. He grinned and gave me a thumbs up. I nodded. He went back for the extra credit. It was only one question, so it took him only a short amount of time. He caught my eye and mouthed, “Where do you turn it in?” I glanced at Mr. Wilson. He nodded. We had a ClassZone.com assignment for Earth Science, but the site was acting up, so Mr. Drake pushed it back a day. Turns out the site is still being weird. I like Mr. Drake. He’ll always listen to what you have to say. Even if it’s something totally random. I wonder if he has any kids. I think he would be a good dad. In band, we marched. As usual. In the rain. Mr. Roberts flatly refused to call off the practice and just let us play inside. We were learning some new arrangements, so we screwed up a lot. It didn’t help that Ashley forgot the sheet that has all of our positions on it. She eventually went over and snatched Luis’s sheet. He stands right behind me. Flashback to last year, anyone? I don’t talk to him, anyway. If I’m turning around, it’s to talk to Michael Toner. He’s a cool guy, for a freshman and a tuba player. That’s usually a bad combo. Damn tuba players. Today, Mr. Fox went on and on and on and ON about plagiarism and cheating. Damn, that guy can ramble. I bounced the freshman out of Hurley’s seat. I straight-out told her, “No. Don’t even try it.” It’s way more fun to sit next to Hurley. We tried not to look at each other during his plagiarism speech. According to school rules, we should both be expelled by now. Heh. Okay, I’m going to go eat. See ya. October 5, 2006 It’s all windy and cold today. It made for nice weather on the marching field today, though. We need weather like that more often. I wouldn’t say we’re good yet, but we’re getting there. I think we had a better drumline last year for some reason, though. They just don’t seem very loud. I must say, this year in marching is a definite improvement over last year. For the first time in history, I actually have all my paperclips and rubber bands on my flip folder! Last year, I almost got kicked out of the game because I didn’t have any of that during inspection. I was confused. It really didn’t help that we had no squad leader. Zach kind of took over, but he was only a sophomore then, technically too young to be head squad leader. He still isn’t very good at lining up. Well, he’s a junior. There’s still time. Standing between Henry (from Tappan) and Peter is turning out to be okay. Henry is dumb these days, but he’s funny, I’ll give him that. Peter is honestly one of the wisest freshmen I’ve ever met. He’s not with the stereotype of the stupid freshman. Wish I could have been like that. I almost didn’t talk at this time last year. It wasn’t until about January that I started running my mouth. I’m more outgoing now, I think. Amy and I have sort of started a new thing. We have these phrases that, when taken out of context, make absolutely no sense. We have about three so far. 1. “And, if you will look to your left, that person is not your door.” 2. “Are you avoiding a certain walrus?” 3. “Explain why we are running from Sexy Li’l Convict.” That’s just a start. Knowing Amy and me, it’ll expand. Oh, and Sexy Li’l Convict? Amy’s been calling Luis that for awhile now. It came from a shirt he has that says “inmate” on it. It went from there. I think by now it’s gotten around to him that I’m less than fond of him. I honestly don’t know why I keep telling people that. I don’t mind the guy. He’s funny as hell, and he’s perfectly friendly sometimes. Maybe I’m worried it’ll come back. I had just about the worst dream last night. I dreamed that Michael was dead. It’s funny, because I’ve had this dream a couple times before, but the last time it rattled me this much was when I was about six. I swear it was incredibly vivid. Somehow, I just got the news he was dead. I went up to the computer and pulled a face like I was about to cry. Turns out, I did start crying. I think David tried to comfort me. “I just can’t believe he’s gone,” I said. All of Michael’s dreams shot through me, like being a pilot and being in the Air Force. I knew he would never do any of that. Then, it was weird, because he was sort of hanging out with me, even though he was dead. If possible, it made the fact that he was dead even harder, because I knew he would have to leave for wherever he was going next. We went to some railroad tracks for some reason. I was still crying that my brother was dead, even though his spirit or something was right there. I think I actually heard someone say, “He will always be with you.” I was still crying, and this girl made fun of me for crying. “For your information,” Michael said (even though he wouldn’t start out like that), “Her brother just died.” She made some other comments, and Michael tried to punch her but stopped short because he couldn’t hit a girl. She was laying on the ground, so I strode over to her and said, “Stand up.” When she did, I punched her. Really hard. She went down and I got on top of her and started punching her face, but for some reason, I wasn’t doing any damage. I wanted to hurt her and I think I wanted to kill her. Then we were back home and Michael was sprawled out on our green couch like usual. He pulled out his cell phone and said, “Yeah, this guy from beyond the grave is going to give you a call.” I knew from his tone that he meant himself. Then I woke up at 6:00 sharp. As I turned my clock to switch off my alarm, my first thought was, “Oh, thank God! It was only a dream! He’s not really dead!” I haven’t had one of those dreams in a long time. I know what it means, though. Fear of separation. The most vivid thing was just how sad I was and I knew he was never coming back. October 6, 2006 It was my first day out driving! And I didn’t crash or rear-end or maim anyone! Todd said I did really good. I thought the first hour was going to be really boring, with him just going over stuff I already knew. But, nope! He just asked me some basic questions, like, “Where’s the speedometer?” or “How much gas do we have?”, stuff that was pretty easy. We got done with that in about three minutes and he said, “Okay, go straight.” He would give the command for where to go, but he did no grabbing of the wheel or screaming. We went out on the busy roads after about fifteen minutes. How cool is that? Any other teacher would have had me going around in circles for hours. He steered me onto Scio Church Rd., which is pretty busy on a Friday at five o’clock. We went all around. My only flaw is that I take left turns a little tight and fast, and I tend to floor it when the light changes. Going through intersections was a little scary at first, because of all those people. I can’t believe Todd actually let me go through intersections on the first day. Maybe it was because I told him I had driven a little before. The extent of my experience was the parking lot at Allen, going in circles while Mom shouted, “Hit the brake! Hit the brake!” And it was for fifteen or less minutes last night. Whatever. He bought it and I had a lot of fun. Going straight is actually harder than it looks. You have to move the wheel a lot, even though you’re going straight. I let the other kid go first because he came late and I knew Todd would cut him off at five (he came at twenty after four), so I would get more driving time. I know, I’m so devious. I went farther than him and it was great. Can’t wait until Tuesday. We watched Shrek in English because Mr. Wilson wanted us to identify similes and metaphors and such. I had forgotten what an awesome movie that was. It’s pretty funny, too. Not as funny as Hoodwinked, which we also watched for “point of view” but still pretty good. I love the park where Donkey and Shrek go to the Information part of Duloc and the little wooden figures sing the funny song. Another good part of English was that Hurley gave me an interesting book that he was telling me about in Speech. It’s called The Overachievers. It’s about how students in America are pressured by parents and teachers to get into a top college and how it destroys kids. I love it so far, because I’ve always said that kind of thing. If it were up to me, I would change the whole system of Huron. We have a terrible reputation for being “rough” and the reason is because the discipline isn’t strong enough and they’re focusing on the wrong areas. Not to mention our curriculum sucks. There’s absolutely NO help from our “police officer” who’s supposed to be enforcing the law (he’s really a Rent-A-Cop). We need competent people in authority, first of all, including counselors that are actually in their offices half of the time and do their jobs. And we shouldn’t be shy about firing people who can’t do the job right, even if they are black or a woman or whatever. Substandard teaching should not be acceptable. It’s only ruining kids who could be influential in the future. We need people like Mr. Vogel and Mr. Julius and Mr. Drake for EVERY subject. One teacher can change a kid’s life. Mr. Vogel turned my school career and my work ethic around. Why is it impossible to find people like that for authority positions? You know, I don’t know why I can’t give speeches. I just reread that and that’s pretty good. If I do say so myself, I’m a pretty kickass writer, but still. That’s one of the best things I’ve ever written. Wow. On that subject, I’m going to go read the novel Mr. Wilson gave us. ‘Bye. October 7, 2006 It’s Saturday and I have no homework. Wow. The only homework is to kind of look through the new book that Mr. Wilson gave us and to study for Mr. Drake’s test. Damn, never mind. I do have homework. Mr. Drake’s review questions. I would be bitching about it if I didn’t respect Mr. Drake so much. This morning, I woke up at four and was ready to go, even though I went to sleep at 11:30 at night. I woke up again at six, when my alarm went off because I totally forgot to turn it off. Funny that I should need less sleep right after our discussion in Latin about how teenagers and old people need more sleep and kids and young people need less sleep. That kicked off when Mr. Julius read his sententia of the day, which said that seven hours of sleep is cool for everyone and the whole class begged to differ. Garret had actually read the study and described it to the class. That guy knows just about everything. I’ve been reading The Overachievers obsessively today. What an awesome book. I’m going to recommend it to every teacher I know. It’s an interesting story, because it follows six kids but also talks about other stuff in the education system. I have to say, it seems like something Hurley would read. I swear, he’s going to become a visionary or something. He’s always thinking of ways to change things that are obviously screwed up, which would explain why he’s into politics and such. You know, in some ways he reminds me of Zach. Or how Zach would have been, maybe. Why am I not happy it’s Saturday? I didn’t realize I liked school so much. Want to hear something funny? Latin is once again my favorite class, and Mr. Julius is probably my favorite teacher this year, followed closely by Mr. Drake. I think I owe everything I love about my current Latin class to that ninety-year-old man who was our sub that day. I also give credit to Garret and Michael Toner. That day saved my ass, but those two gave me back my Latin bug. Not to mention Mr. Julius. I love that guy. Not to say I don’t still miss Mr. Vogel, but it’s good to know that I’m going to be okay. I think I’m going to do Mr. Drake’s homework so I don’t have to do it tomorrow. Peace out, y’all. October 8, 2006 Okay, I’ve got a problem of morals here. Right about now, I could step in and save Amy and Alex’s whole relationship, or I could let them break up. Amy’s going to ditch Alex if he doesn’t react to her school picture in a satisfactory way, “like a boyfriend”, as she says. I don’t know what to do. Lenel says to just let this work itself out, because it’s their crap. Maybe she’s right. This doesn’t concern me, unless you count that Alex is my friend. Today has really been uneventful, almost boring. I finally got around to doing Mr. Drake’s homework, because I didn’t really get to it yesterday. It was actually hard. Well maybe I made it harder, because I was listening to New Found Glory while doing it. Oh yeah. They have a new album out. I love it. Their style is just a little different this time, but it’s good because they’re not so whiny. It’s a better sound. I bought six songs out of the twelve or thirteen available. “When I Die” is my favorite so far, followed closely by “Love and Pain”. You can tell it’s still New Found Glory, just more distinguished. School is tomorrow. Yes. These weekends are almost too long. I think I’m going to run into trouble with my informative speech, though. I haven’t done much research or done any of the handouts. Not to mention I forgot my current event last Friday. No wonder the man hates me. I talk during his class and don’t turn stuff in. We may be eating right about now, so I’ll see you later. Peace. October 9, 2006 It’s official. Amy’s ditching Alex. I don’t know what to do. She was going on today at lunch about how much he sucks as a boyfriend. Alex was right, she is clingy. Well, it’s as we predicted. This is the breakup we were all dreading. The only thing to do now is pray for the best, and hope he doesn’t take it personally. School was good, as always. There was a sub in English, and he wasn’t out of it, but he liked to think he was more in control of the class than he actually was. It was almost funny. He didn’t care that much when I crossed the room to pick up my science homework from Hurley. I was so proud of him. He actually did his own homework except for two questions. And part of the flow chart. Oh, whatever. I’ll take what I can get. We did research for Speech in the library. We get these really cool Apple laptops now if we want to do research. I took full advantage of the fact that Mr. Fox wasn’t paying attention and played on Addictinggames.com for the whole period. Gwen (our freshman buddy) was actually doing her work, while Hurley searched the crime statistics for Ann Arbor and Detroit. Turns out he’s not going to Homecoming with anyone, which has me confused. I thought he was going with Grace, who I thought the Walrus asked. Maybe she broke their date or something? And whatever happened to her and the Walrus? It’s so damn hard these days to follow who’s going out with who. It was an easy lab day today in Earth Science. It was sort of hard to grasp at first, but we got it. I helped my friend Samantha so I didn’t have to work with the Walrus. Lucky she was actually here today. I hate it when she misses school because then I have no one to talk to. Except the Walrus and Hurley. But it can be hard to talk to either one of them. I really dug myself a hole here, didn’t I? Band is getting grueling. I think I’ll actually be happy when marching season is over, even though I make such a thing of how fun it is. My arms burn constantly and Mr. Roberts is always like, “Posture, people! Posture!” Means that we’re not supposed to let our arms droop, even if we can’t hold the freaking piece of metal up anymore! My arms were still burning in Latin. Maybe I should feel more sorry for Michael Toner, because he plays tuba. They have to carry the brass ones now, not the crappy white ones. This former Latin guy came to Mr. Julius’s class and hung out for awhile. Garrett seemed to know him and they laughed for like the whole period. He’s actually becoming a really good friend. Funny how Latin brings people together. He saluted me today in the hall before lunch. Today, he decided to have some fun with my phone. The compartment that I keep my phone was open, and his eye caught my phone. He pulled it out. I thought, “Well, whatever. It’s just Garrett. I guess that’s okay.” He started beeping through it, and he kept it awhile. Finally, he grinned and slid my cell back to me. I glanced at it. My phone banner now read “Garrett Owns Me”. Oh great. I had to enlist Michael’s help getting it off. He took one look at my phone and exploded with laughter. Well, Alex is on, but I can’t say anything. That’s not what friends do. And anyway, what would I say? “Hey, Alex, Amy’s about to kick your ass to the curb”? Poor Alex. He doesn’t deserve this. Maybe he’ll be better off, though. He always does tell me how Amy calls him a million times and he’s busy anyway. I wouldn’t be going out with anyone if I had the schedule he has. Especially with a girl like Amy, who likes her attention from her boyfriend. Alex probably needs someone more laid back, someone who wouldn’t freak out if he didn’t call. Someone who is not Amy. This is getting too hard on both of them. Let’s see... I don’t have such a bad schedule tonight. I go to Driver’s Ed. and that’s about it. Wow, a free schedule. That’s a new thing for me lately. Whatever. I’m out. ‘Bye. October 11, 2006 Amy and Alex broke up last night. I can’t decided if I’m happy or sad. I’ve been wanting for them to break up for awhile, but I’m not sure this is going to make things better. I need to talk to him. Hopefully he’s okay. Amy said he took it well. That’s good. I don’t need any more complicated stuff. It turns out I have a 96% in English. I never thought my highest grade would ever be in English. I kind of screwed it last year, although that might have been Mrs. Wright’s fault. When Mr. Wilson called me up and showed me, he actually smiled and said, “Good job.” I haven’t gotten a compliment in English in forever. Latin, yes. English, no. Actually, truth be told, Latin is my highest grade. Mr. Julius says I have something around 100% because I do so much extra credit on his quizzes. Michael Toner has about 150%. No joke. We had fun in there today. Garrett had more fun with my cell. He changed the background to the surfer dude and wrote, “Death to All” in the banner. “Oh, that’s cheerful,” I said sarcastically after he gave it back. He’s a good guy, for a junior. Hurley was actually gone today. I started pumping the Walrus in Earth Science as to where he was. In the end, he said he didn’t know. “But we all miss him,” he said, mock tearfully. I laughed. “Grace misses him,” he muttered almost- angrily? I thought I saw something there. That would be hilarious. The Walrus and I, who are supposed to be something of a couple, like Grace and Hurley, who are also supposed to be going out (apparently? I still don’t get that). This is starting to get screwed up again, like last year. We got our audition music today in band. Unfortunately, it’s not the same song as last year. Not that I did so great on that. I know I could have, but I didn’t practice. It was actually Luis that made me realize I was out of time to practice. It was about halfway through October of last year, and I was outside at lunch throwing a football with Cam. I saw Luis come across the arch with a girl I assumed was his girlfriend. They came out every day to get his marching cornet, which was on his bike. Every day I tried to throw a perfect spiral when they came out. Yes, I was a stupid showoff freshman. This day was different though. He caught my eye after pulling his cornet off his bike and said, “Hey, Claire, have you been practicing for the audition?” I threw the football. Perfect spiral. “Yep. The auditions are at the end of next week, aren’t they?” Shit, I realized. They are. “Whoa, are they?” he asked. “Yeah, I think.” I think we both kind of gave each other a wake-up call, there. The irony is that we ended up being eighth and ninth chair anyway. I always thought that it should have been me that was last chair in the first place, because my audition was bad with a capital B. Maybe things would have been different, then, if our chairs had been switched. It would be interesting to know. Well, I’m actually going to practice this year, because I need to at least maintain my chair. There’s no way Ashley and Caleb are beating me this year. I’m just as loud as Caleb and have better tone than Ashley. Blake, well, I probably won’t beat him. But I can dream. I won’t be last, because there’s no way Peter, David Barrie, and Jay Bouma are beating me. Matt Stern might beat me. Probably not, though, if I practice. Which I will. Okay, I need food. I’m out of here. After this song. ‘Bye. October 12, 2006 It was just snowing outside. I swear. Snow in October. Wow. I bet it’s going to be a bad winter. Well, I don’t have my old paper route anymore, so I guess I’m cool with that. I have no idea what happened at school today, because I stayed home sick. I had a bit of a stomach ache this morning, but I just felt like I shouldn’t go today for some reason. Today was my one day off of the year or of the semester or whatever. I give myself one per semester. Lucky for me Mom bought it, because she knows how much I love school. Last year she would have been like, “Uh... no.” Crap, we march tomorrow. It was okay last year, but I was in disarray with my flip folder and my clothes and all that. It was just more marching last year for some reason. We only march to one song this year, and last year we marched to all of them. Plus a stupid dance. Amy and I never quite got the stupid dance down. We ended up crashing into each other at the game anyway. I wonder what we did today. It’s actually a good thing I didn’t go. If I had, Mr. Fox would have chewed me out for not doing my outline. I hope we didn’t do any labs in Drake’s class. If we did, that means I’m writing a paper on whatever he made us do. I also wonder what I missed in Geometry. I hate falling behind. With my luck, Mr. Kim probably went over something really important. Whatever they say tonight, I’m going to Driver’s Ed. I can’t miss that. Todd will make me write a paper. I realized last night that I’m really going to miss him and that class once we’re all done. He’s a great guy. Driver’s Ed. has actually been fun, instead of boring like I thought it was going to be. I’m going tomorrow. In high school, you can’t miss more than a day unless you plan on dropping out. And I miss everyone. Funny how just one day can do that to you. I’m actually sorry I missed Latin. Latin has been so fun for me this year, strangely enough. Opinions can really change, although you would think I would know that by now. I’m heading out. ‘Bye. October 13, 2006 Friday the Thirteenth. Anne of St. Francis’s birthday is in exactly two months. Speaking of which, I got some news today, first from Amy, then from Cam. He and Anne finally kissed. I’m actually glad. For some reason, I can’t shake off the feeling that that was supposed to be me, though. I’m not jealous, but I can’t say I’m okay. It’s odd. Maybe it’s just me being protective of Cam again. Well, we march tonight. Maybe it’ll actually be fun. It was stressful last year, but I’m no freshman anymore. And it was so much harder last year. I think it was just a bad year to be a freshman. It’s going to be cold tonight. I just hope it doesn’t rain or snow or whatever. Turns out I didn’t miss much yesterday. I just have to go in Monday to Drake’s class to make up a movie I missed. And do some math, but I filled in most of it while Mr. Kim was talking. Mr. Samulak was hanging out in his classroom today. Man, I love that guy. Also, I got eighty out of eighty on my test! That has seriously never happened to me before. I stared at the paper in disbelief, sure that there was a mistake. It was great. I didn’t miss much in Latin, but I knew I wouldn’t. I caught Garrett at lunch and asked him. He said that we actually got homework, which is a first for Mr. Julius. He and Toner were probably screwing around again. After we were done, I walked away with Amy down the hall. “You so like him,” she accused. “What?” I asked, caught by surprise. “No, I don’t.” “Yes, you do.” “No, I don’t. I just think he’s cute,” I countered. “Well, that’s always how it starts, isn’t it?” she said knowledgeably. I had to roll my eyes at that one. I spent the rest of the day trying to convince her that I am in no way attracted to Garrett Schramm. She doesn’t believe me. I can tell. Maybe I can see why she thinks that, but she’s wrong. At least right now. She can shove it in my face if I ever do like him. We skipped the pep rally that was today. Amy, my good self, Karen, and Grace Saunders hung out in the 7200 hallway in the alcove where the wrestling thugs used to hang during late lunch of last year. We talked about Mr. Drake and band and all that. Karen and Grace both have Mr. Drake, too. They love him, as almost everyone does. I’ve told Amy a million times to try and switch into his class at the semester. She hates Snapke with a passion. Well, Michael is about to get his counselor, Mr. Gipson, fired. He and that guy have been going at it forever. Mr. Gipson is a lazy, incompetent little man who only holds the job because our school is afraid to fire black people. He hasn’t been faithful to Michael’s deadlines for his college applications and finally it came to a head yesterday. He threw Michael out of his office and told him he had a “bad attitude”. He also was so pissed off he told Michael, “I can change things, you know.” Meaning, that he threatened to screw with his applications to get back at him. So, Michael called Dad and said Mr. Gipson had threatened him. Dad was livid, as one might guess. He called up Mr. Gipson and he hung up on him after Dad started chewing him out. Dad called back and pretty much said that he had a lot of nerve hanging up on him, since he pays his salary (as a taxpayer). Mr. Gipson flipped out on that and he and Dad argued for awhile, and they ended up having a meeting today at 9:30. Apparently Mr. Gipson got his ass handed to him. Michael wrote up a list of his faults and pretty much the chronicle from the beginning. He said that he had nothing to back himself up. Dad pretty much called him pathetic, so Mr. Gipson attempted to leave a few times. In the end, Dad and Michael got what they wanted, which was Mr. Gipson keeping his hands off the applications. It’s in the hands of Michael’s principal now. Thankfully. Okay, I need to start with the marching stuff and make sure I have everything. And get some food. Until next time.

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