• October 14, 2006 Well, it’s Homecoming night and I’m here. Well, it’s not like I have no life. Amy and I went to go see a movie. This week sort of got me sorry that I made the pact with Amy. Especially since she and Alex broke up. The pact was originally because she didn’t want to be at Homecoming missing Alex. I was maybe sort of hoping she would want to go if they broke up, but I guess not. Oh well. Nothing I can do about it now. I’ve had the music for three or four days and I already kick ass at my audition piece. It’s already much better than last year. Now I’m trying to perfect the articulations, because I can just hear my trumpet instructor saying, “Wrong articulations.” That’s all he says. He just simply states the problem and you fix it. So I’m trying to fix it. It was so much easier when I could just slur it all. The bad part was that Michael’s date came while I was practicing. Now, I’m okay with the family hearing me, but other people is a no. I thought they were commenting a little too much to be normal. I heard Dad say, “Yeah, she’s busting her chops.” I was doing some really high notes (screwing them, I may add) while trying to get all the right rhythms and articulations. I hate public performances. They suck. I can’t do them, anyway. Amy and I actually talked on the phone for exactly two hours and sixteen minutes. Turns out she thinks she likes her lab partner. She told me last night at the game. I’ll get to the game in a second, after I’m done with this. I need to meet the guy first, to find out if he’s worthy or not. She accused me once again of being attracted to Garret. I had to concede to the truth, which is that maybe I am, a little. Which is interesting, because I haven’t gone for a blonde and blue-eyed guy since Cam. Amy freaked out even though she knew all along. So. The game. Rejoice, for marching season is officially finite. I was actually kind of sad. It wasn’t as painful as last time, even though we lost by a lot, and on our Homecoming game, too. I say we should have brought in the Canadians because they play by only three downs, not four, plus some other rules. I guess they determined that immoral a few years ago. We actually had fun. On the way back, when we paraded to the band room, we didn’t march. We danced. I can’t imagine doing that last year. I’m going to miss our squad. Peter Dalack really grew on me. He doesn’t act like a freshman. He acts more mature than some of our sophomore guys. He’s a real joker, though. You just have to get to know him. At the very last “Ho!”, given by Adam Collins (for the last time, as Pat Wakefield is replacing him), I was actually really sad. I had fun this year. And who knows what band I’ll be in next year? I went to Driver’s Ed. today. I drove with an instructor named Dana, who was really cool. She’s about Todd’s age, so she was pretty much just as cool. Nicest person in the world. I swear she has nerves of steel, because she really didn’t seem bugged by anything. She was just sitting in the passenger seat, chatting away, telling all the horrible Driver’s Ed. stories and making me laugh. Which almost made us go off the road a few times, but whatever. I did really good today. I’m going to be a great driver, even though I tell people the opposite. She wrote that I did “pretty good”. I’ll take what I can get. Okay, I’m going to wait for people to get on or something, while I sit here with no life. Just kidding. ‘Bye. October 15, 2006 I was having dreams about Homecoming last night. I dreamt that Amy and I sneaked into the dance, and we went around back. I was thinking in the dream that I didn’t want to go in after all. I saw the Walrus and he told me that he had to smoke weed or something like that. I told him that it was okay, but I said, “Well, I think I’m going to go find people.” Inside, I saw Amy, who was wearing a mask. She told me that she was going to join this dancing line of people and I laughed at her, which is probably what I would normally do. Then I dreamed that I was in Huron’s football stadium. It was pretty much empty, except for me, the Walrus, Hurley, and a horse. Dad’s car was sitting on the outside track. We all got into the car, but there wasn’t room for the horse. The Walrus was messing around with the radio, but none of the stations were set to stuff we listen to. “Bear in mind that this is my dad’s car,” I said warningly. Bailey was also there, and the guys were trying to make her do stuff. “She’s kind of low-key,” I said, because she wasn’t doing anything. I was kind of mad that the horse couldn’t come, because it was my horse. It probably means that I wanted to go to Homecoming, but didn’t. I wonder how it was. I haven’t talked to anyone yet, so I don’t know. With my luck, something big probably went down and I missed it. Well, whatever. I made Amy a promise, which I kept. I was just bored today. I picked up Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles for the first time in awhile today. What was really going on was that I wanted to hear the theme from Shella, which is one of the towns. Then I went to the Veo Lu Sluice (just to see if I still had it) and one thing led to another. I also beat Tida, the creepy haunted village (that level freaks me out but it was the only one left). Now I’m on Year Five and things are about to get even harder. Alrighty, I’m going to read for Mr. Wilson’s class, because I’m fairly certain we have a quiz in there tomorrow. October 18, 2006 It’s been a few days. I’ve been really busy lately, so that’s probably it. The last few days have been pretty good. Because the freshmen are taking the MEAP, we’ve had block scheduling. Yesterday was math, English, and Speech for me. Today it was Earth Science, band, and Latin. I like it so much better this way. I wish they would change it. It was not a happy hour for Earth Science this morning at exactly 7:40. Mr. Drake had all kinds of stuff lined up for us. Hurley didn’t even show. I knew he was here, just skipping. After school, when I was waiting for Michael outside the portables, I saw him. I crossed my arms across my chest. I knew he had seen me when he looked down, grinning. “Someone skip Earth Science today?” I called out merrily. He laughed and said that he didn’t want to see Drake that early in the morning. Can’t blame him. Weirdly, band was before lunch today. We actually had a lot of fun. It’s good to have a friend right behind me. I adopted Michael Toner as my freshman today. “Can’t you find anyone better?” Garret muttered during Latin. I do have other, better ones, but Toner’s cool. Today was mostly organizational stuff, passing out music and such. We actually got around to the warm-ups. We’re apparently not allowed to play loud anymore, however, which totally sucks. The rest of us stepped up to Caleb’s sound and now we overpower. Caleb is actually my stand partner this year. That’s good. I’ve always liked Caleb, even if sometimes he doesn’t like me all that much. The tubas had another tuba moment today. We were playing the warm-ups and they starting complaining that they didn’t get a second sheet. “Look on the back!” the entire trumpet section said. “Well, how about that,” said Luis, feeling stupid, while we laughed at them. Unfortunately, he’s Toner’s hero or something. Well, I guess freshmen usually look up to someone older. I looked up to Mataeso last year. Latin was pretty good, for a two hour period. Mr. Julius was getting sick of us by the end, though. He’s actually a really interesting guy. He was talking with us during the hour (while we were supposed to be translating). He really seems to like me, Garrett (who was actually in that class last year- he failed or something), and Toner. I told him to be nice to Mom tomorrow, and to tell her I’m awesome. I also told him don’t be surprised if she’s a little skeptical of him, because he was following up Mr. Vogel’s performance. He nodded and said, “I’m not scared of parents anymore.” Anymore? Does that mean that he was at one time? We are slowly seceding from the antisocial island. Garrett started it. He had moved his backpack from his normal seat to closer to where he used to sit. “Hey, are you ditching us?” I asked. “Yep,” he replied, grinning. “Fine,” I said. “Then I’m coming, too.” I moved my seat to the seat in front of his. Toner followed us and sat next to me. We pushed our desks together for the translation. We let Michael do the first part, since he’s a total power translator and he’s faster than both of us put together. Garrett’s actually not that great at Latin, which is interesting because he seems smart. I wonder if he has a learning disability or something. He doesn’t seem to be dyslexic, because he was helping me near the end and he can read. I’ll study Garret more and figure it out. Now, I have some serious homework and a trumpet to practice. ‘Bye. October 19, 2006 Well, Driver’s Ed. is officially over. I was actually sad. I’m really going to miss Todd and that class. Todd actually had to be proper for the parents today, so he wasn’t as fun as normal. I had a good day, although I’m a little nervous right now. Mom’s at the parent/teacher conferences. The phrase “parent/teacher conferences” has always made me nervous, like my dear brother before me. I would be downright scared if Mom had gotten a conference with Mr. Fox. That’s my worst class and I’m constantly talking and not turning in homework. Mr. Kim is going to be the worst class, that being my worst grade. I have a B, which is apparently bad these days. Also, I don’t talk. Lucky for me that I can make the excuse, “But Mom! I’m never awake!” Okay, update. She just got home and we talked. Everyone loves me! I really can’t believe it. Mr. Julius apparently said that he wishes there were more students like me. That almost makes me laugh, because he’s yelled at Garret, Michael, and myself a few times for talking while we were supposed to be translating. Mr. Wilson also really likes me. He says I have “excellent command over the material”. Well, he can’t really say anything against me. I have 95% in that class. School was good today. Nothing incredibly remarkable happened, but it was a good day all the same. Latin was probably the most fun. We were translating, only we were talking. Mr. Julius has given up. We were talking about ILC, and how it impacts school attendance records. Any student using ILC counts as two people or something in a class. Both Toner and Garrett used it. Well, Garrett used it last year. Turns out he has something similar to dyslexia, but a little different. Michael has weak hands, so instead of being ambidextrous, he’s no-dextrous. “That’s why he plays tuba,” Garrett joked. He has fully joined in on my tuba-bashing these days. Well, I was not under the impression my teachers liked me that much. Mr. Wilson in particular, although he doesn’t seem to outright hate anyone. I like him because he has never once acknowledged me as “Mike’s sister”. I HATE it when people say that. Is it so hard to understand that I want to be my own person for once? I’m going to go eat then practice my trumpet. ‘Bye. October 20, 2006 The Huron vs. Pioneer game is tonight, but in the end, I decided not to go. I wouldn’t be able to see anyone. None of my close friends are going but Amy, and she’s in Symphony Band, so she’s in the half-time show with the Pioneer band. Anne of St. Francis is going on a youth group retreat, so I’m on my own, here. For once, I’m glad it’s Friday. I need sleep! This morning, I didn’t want to move at all. It was so warm in my bed. Plus I always forget my dreams when I’m going to school and thinking about other things. I’m really into dreams lately. They’re actually really interesting. The mind is amazing. It was an easy Friday. Mr. Wilson actually assigned homework and it’s not going to be very easy. It’s this characterization paper thing. We have to describe ourselves or a close friend or just make someone up. I’m torn between just making something up completely or describing myself, which won’t be hard. I should be okay, though. English has been so easy this year. I don’t have to do my speech until about Wednesday! That gives me the weekend to throw together something. Yeah, that’s right. I haven’t done it yet. I know, I’m such a terrible student. Let’s face it, though. I hate public speaking. As does Hurley, as I found out today. I was talking to him about his speech today during English (while doing Mr. Drake’s homework). He admitted to being scared as hell about his speech. It’s almost weird how many similarities there are between us. Maybe that’s why we get along so well. Still, it’s creepy. Pretty much the only difference is that he likes the Killers and I say they suck. Which they do. His speech wasn’t bad. I volunteered to be his poster holder person. Moral support onstage, I guess. The speech was on the Greek gods. It was interesting. You can tell he’s been trained by Mr. Vogel. The people who have been taught by Mr. Vogel really stand out sometimes, in good ways and otherwise sometimes. It was a test day in Mr. Drake’s world. I think I did okay, although with Mr. Drake it’s never a sure thing. I better have done well, because it’s totally degrading to be in that class in the first place. I might as well be in remedial, because there are some dumbasses in there. At the end of the quarter, I’m going to try to have an A in there. An A- at least. I have a B now, which people say is good for Drake’s class, but it’s not good enough. Band was fun and we actually played. For our winter concert, we’re doing an opera theme or something. Everything seems to be getting easy. Funny how it seemed so hard last year when I was second to last and couldn’t count. I picked up the counting system over the year. I count as loud as Caleb and Ashley now, who pretty much grew up with the system. I’m actually going to be sad after this chair arrangement is no more. It’s nearly as good as last year. Sometimes Ashley and Caleb make the most random comments. There’s this one song where the tubas play a staccato quarter note once every couple measures, so Ashley pretended to hit Blake over the head with her trumpet when those notes came around. There was another thing where Ashley just started laughing randomly, so we asked her what was funny. She said that she had been picturing those little Jell-O people that you make when you’re about five and something about the Pillsbury doughboy and how you poke him in the stomach. Blake, Caleb, and I exchanged looks. “Ashley,” Caleb said. “There are some things that sound funny in your head. Don’t talk about those things.” We cracked up. Then Mr. Roberts got mad, like he usually does when we start laughing during rehearsal. I failed my Latin quiz. Flat-out fifty percent. Straight E. Turns out, everyone failed, even Garret, who’s doing Latin 2 for the second time. Mr. Julius was not pleased. So, now we’re going through everything on the synopsis to make sure everyone gets it. I’m glad because now I can just write everything down to make sure I get it too, and I can remember it. No more failing! Latin is my subject and there’s no way I’m failing anything else. Garret and I have been hemming in Toner, at least when he does that thing where he drags his fingernails across the chalkboard. He’s one of the few who doesn’t mind that sound, unlike the rest of the world. I’ll never admit it, but he’s one of my favorite freshmen, and he’s smart as hell. Plus, I can’t let Luis be the only person corrupting him. Garret and I have to offset that a little. That reminds me, I have to figure out a way to block Garret’s two-way trap in tic-tac-toe. I never see it coming and he beats me every time, even when I start with my X in the middle. I haven’t won since the first day I met him. One of these days I’m going to figure out how he does it. Okay, I think I have a phone call to make. I’m out. October 21, 2006 Unfortunately, it’s Saturday. Mom and I attempted to go shopping (which I hate with a vengeance) but we didn’t really find anything. I wanted some more cargo pants, but they don’t really sell stuff like that anymore. Too bad, because I really like those pants. On the way home, Mom and I were talking. I was telling her how I don’t like to be dependent on stuff, like caffeine or drugs or anything, because that automatically makes me a weaker person. She said that would serve me well, which I know it will. I’m not a true Beaulieu, since they’re all flat-out drunks. Then she started talking about her health class, and how they were doing a chapter on violence. She was all like, “If you were in an abusive relationship, you would get out, right?” Geez. I wouldn’t be with a guy like that in the first place! It does make me wonder, though. How many guys I go to school with are going to turn out as abusive husbands? I thought of my guy friends. The Walrus won’t. I know that. He once told me, back in May, “You won’t ever go home with bruises on your body.” He has potential to be an alcoholic, though. Fuzz? Ha! Fuzz is the most mild guy in the world. No way would it be Fuzz. I doubt Hurley will be an abusive husband, too. He’s got the righteous anger thing going on, but he usually doesn’t direct it towards people, just ideas. Yeah, I think my friends are safe. Today, I did absolutely nothing. I drove a little, but that’s about it. Mom and Dad are in no way as cool as the Driver’s Ed. people. Dad is an alarmed passenger and Mom is a nervous passenger. Dad will totally freak out if I don’t make one stop when he tells me to. Mom “needed air” at least three times on the way. They both act like they expect me to drive like a nut. Or like Amy. Okay, that was a cheap shot. I’m a good driver. Zach and I were discussing my driving abilities last night. I talked to him for the first time in a long time. He was really animated last night. He does sound good, though. That’s great. I’ve got to show him a picture of me to negate the old (bad) one. I was thinking last night, I wish I could meet him. Zach and Alex are at the top of my list of people I want to meet before I die. I’m tired, so I’m going to find something to wake me up. Until next time. October 24, 2006 The teachers seem to think it’s funny lately to pile on the homework. I’ve been overloaded. Mr. Drake is the worst, and this is where his reputation of a hardass for homework comes in. Luckily for me he really likes me. I’m sure of that now. I asked him straight out if he was going to tell Mom that I’m a bad kid. He raised an eyebrow and said, “I’m going to tell her you’re a terrible kid.” I know I’m fine. I’ve been working hard on my audition piece. I think I’m going to do good this year. Also, I got all my scales down. I’m not the least bit nervous like last year. Band is good. We’ve started a few pieces. I did nearly get kicked out of band yesterday. It wasn’t my fault! Ashley and Caleb were joking around like usual, and Mr. Roberts scowled in our general direction. “Trumpets, can we end it?” We nodded and muttered, “Yeah, sure.” I glanced over at Caleb. “Claire!” “Uh, yeah?” I stuttered back. “Do you need to leave?” “No,” I said quickly. “You’re sure?” “Um, yeah.” All the time I was thinking, what did I do! Apparently looking at one’s stand partner is now a crime. And Mr. Roberts and I were getting along so well this year, too. Concert Orchestra has started. Too bad I’m not first or second chair. I have to say, though, I don’t think Zach Baker and Laja are the best guys for the job. I would have picked Blake, because he has a real eye for orchestra music. I can remember Mr. Roberts reading off what Mr. Mark needed. “Three flutes, one oboe, three clarinets, two French horns, two trombones, and two trumpets.” He looked to the tubas, waiting expectantly. “No tubas for this one,” he said. Luis made a noise somewhere between a gasp and a scream. The second trumpets sniggered. In a way, I’m glad there’s no tubas, because I have a feeling Toner would get shot down again, and that guy deserves totally to be first chair and to be getting all the privileges. He only gets downplayed because he’s a freshman. It sucks, but he was telling me there are some good parts to it. He’s automatically in Symphony Band next year and he’ll be first chair more likely than not. He’s sucking it up nicely, and I think that was Mr. Roberts’s deal with him. I gave my speech today in, well, Speech. It’s amazing, I threw it all together last night and it was a success. I was waaaaay below the time limit, though, because I was rushing through it. The Aztecs have pulled me out once again. Man, I love them. I know Mr. Fox is going to grade easy on me, on account of my severe performance anxiety. Heh. Comes in handy sometimes. Latin was, well, great. I have so much fun in that class lately. Maybe it’s because of Garret? Amy hit the nail right on the head there, lately. I do like the guy. A lot. I just need to figure out how he keeps beating me with the two-way trap. I need to win one. Mr. Julius said today, “You guys need a new game.” I love him, too. He’s like something out of a comic strip, but he’s the nicest guy in the world. How did I hate him at first? It’s my favorite class. In some ways, I like less structure. It gives me time to talk to Toner and play Mercy with Garrett. Toner’s probably going to have a crush on me by the end of the year. I already think he’s got something because me and Garret were playing Mercy and he was all like, “Aww, they’re holding hands.” Sign number one of a jealous person. It’s not like I can date Garrett anyway. Turns out he’s seventeen, and I’m only fifteen. I think it’s about time for dinner, so I’m out. ‘Bye. October 25, 2006 Life is much easier now that I’ve done my speech. Now the only thing to worry about is my audition, which is the week after next. Damn. I’ve been practicing and all, but I HATE auditions with a passion. It’s good that I know my scales now. Plus I kick ass at the piece. I doubt I’ll get first chair, but hopefully I can maintain my chair this year. The fundraiser kickoff was today in band. It took the whole hour, like I knew it would. I was distracted by the jokes of Ashley and Caleb. Ashley was talking about how some hobo had set up a tent near her house or something, and we were talking about how cold it was. “Hopefully they have sleeping bags or something,” said Caleb. “Or a generator,” I said, half-joking. Caleb looked at me like he wanted to say something but Ashley piped up with, “That plugs into what? The ground?” “Ashley,” Caleb started. “That’s the whole point of a generator, that you don’t have to plug it in!” I’m honestly surprised that we’ve never been kicked out of the band room. Toner and I agreed that if we were to hit up Mr. Julius to buy stuff from us for the fundraiser, we would split it. I love the freedom of that class. You can pretty much say whatever the hell you feel like saying and no one will make fun of you. In fact, Mr. Julius will probably add on something funny and teach a Latin root. I miss Latin 1, but what am I supposed to do about that? The other class is nothing like it was last year, in spite of Mr. Vogel and all of the old class. From what I’ve heard, anyway. Paul’s actually thinking of switching into our class. That would be cool. I bet he and Garret would get along and maybe he and Toner, too. Amy and I gave Garret a nickname. I made it up. He’s Banana Who. It came from something he and I were talking about. He was describing this thing called “Rejected Cartoons” on YouTube. He was telling me all about it in Latin. “’My spoon is too big!’” he started out. “Then a banana comes in and it says, ‘I am a banana!’” I told Amy that and she completely missed it, but now he’s Banana Who. Cam and Anne were completely not following our conversation today at lunch. It started out with something with the Walrus. Oh, yeah. Cam came behind me and said, “Attack of the killer walrus!” Amy and I looked at each other and we knew we agreed. “You are NOT the Walrus,” I stated. Amy laughed. Then we went off on one of our conversations. “The Walrus is a title,” I explained to them. “No, it’s not,” Amy said. “It’s not? Is it specific to that person?” “Yes. It’s like Salad Boy.” (Note: Another one of Amy’s nicknames for Luis- he had several) “Dexter!” “Salad Boy!” “The Walrus is specific, then?” Then Chris Jalilivand (who one might remember from Interlochen) walked by and said, “I am the walrus!” Amy and I outright laughed at that. “He is not the Walrus,” I said. “Hey, the Walrus and Dexter were legit!” I said to Amy. “No, they weren’t. Well, Salad Boy, slightly.” All the while, Cam and Anne were standing by with slightly perplexed looks on their faces. “Salad Boy?” asked Anne, confused. We laughed. People say that Amy and I have a language all of our own. No one ever knows what the hell we’re talking about. This business of nicknames for the people we like has made conversations kind of hard. It was usually Amy, me, and Fuzz, and Fuzz could usually keep up with us, since he was around for everything. Man, I miss him. I love Fuzz. He’s like a brother or something. October 26, 2006 Mom just got back from her conference with Mr. Drake. He says I’m doing fine and I’m a good person. Thank God. I’ve been thinking lately, Mr. Drake is not stupid. If he grades his own homework assignments, then he probably notices that the answers of Claire Beaulieu and Matt Hurley are remarkably similar. And Hurley isn’t subtle. He copies it right there in the middle of Earth Science, with Mr. Drake standing in the room. I thought that Mr. Drake would have noticed by now, but then it hit me. He doesn’t grade the homework! His student teacher does! She’s kind of dumb, so she’s not going to see a pattern. This is a good day. I got my permit, and I’m officially done with Driver’s Ed, with the times and everything. I drove with Dave today. It’s funny, I used to not like Dave, but he’s the most interesting guy ever once you stop driving like somebody’s grandmother and he doesn’t have to be critical. I’ve gotten stories on the people who work at All Star Driver’s Ed. a few times. Todd in particular. Dave was telling me today about how Todd started when he was “just practically a kid”. He suspects Todd is getting a little sick of classes that keep talking and won’t quiet down. “It annoys him,” Dave said, nodding. “Yeah, that was our class,” I said back. “Only we made him laugh, so he was okay with it.” Dave smiled. “Yeah, he likes that. Todd has a good heart.” I had to agree. I didn’t really like the kid driving with me, my “partner” as Dave says. He was really pretty surly. His name was Martin. We dropped him off at his house at the end of his hour. Dave watched him go. “I was a little nervous driving with Martin today,” he stated. “Why?” I said. Martin had seemed like an okay driver, if not the best. “He’s not a good driver,” Dave said. “He’s a cocky one. Way too fast.” He went on to tell me all sorts of stuff. Martin is apparently kind of a bad kid. “One day, he came into the car smelling like something I didn’t want him to smell like,” Dave said cautiously. I thought about this for a minute. What? Then it hit me. Weed. He came in smelling like weed. “Was he?” I asked, meaning, was he high? “No. I checked him.” I had a thought. “Would... would you guys be able to tell the kid’s parents if you thought they had... a problem?” Dave considered. “I gave his parents a heads-up.” I assumed that Dave meant yes, you could. Dave’s a good guy. I’ve been thinking. If you want to have a good time while driving, then drive with Todd or Dana. But if you want to have an interesting conversation about politics or something with a guy who will talk to you as an equal, then drive with Dave. If you want to become wise, more like. In a way, he reminds me of Mr. Vogel. I had a good day today. We took a quiz in English, an open-book one. I think I did well. Hurley came over near the end and muttered almost inaudibly, “Yeah, I’m going to need to copy the science homework.” So what else is new? I rolled my eyes and ripped it out of my notebook. I’ve said it a million times before. If it weren’t Hurley, that would be a no. “You guys cheating?” asked Nick Austin, the kid who sits in front of me. I like him, most of the time. “No,” said Hurley quickly. “No,” I agreed. “He just copies my homework every single day.” “Not every single day,” he countered. “Close enough,” I retorted back. “I just don’t... feel like doing the Earth Science homework all the time,” he said. “That’s the lamest excuse and you know it,” I said, going back to my paper that I owed for Driver’s Ed a few days ago. He grinned guiltily. I shook my head but couldn’t help smiling back. Hurley’s the greatest guy in the world sometimes. I have once again changed my seat in Speech. I sit next to my friend Lisa now. She’s a new friend of mine. We palled up one day in the library and now we’re really good friends. She’s the only thing separating me from Hurley right now. We pass notes during the rest of the speeches. It’s really fun. She reminds me of my friend Lucy who used to go to karate with me. Latin was awesome, as usual. Mr. Julius gave Garret a book called Latin For All Occasions, because he said he needed an ominous quote for his movie production class. “Anything in Latin sounds ominous,” Mr. Julius argued. “You just have to say it with attitude.” “Mr. Julius,” I said, sitting in the first row with my arms crossed, “I’m going to get you a bumper sticker that says that.” So, Garret eventually started reading all the quotes out loud. There was one that he translated as, “I can’t hear you- there’s a banana in my ear.” He showed it to Mr. Julius, only he covered up the translation to see if he could read it. “’I can’t hear you,’” Mr. Julius started. “’There’s... the Muse of Wisdom in my ear’?” Garret uncovered the translation. “What!” Mr. Julius exclaimed. “How did they get ‘banana’ from ‘Muse of Wisdom’?” I laughed harder than I’ve laughed in Latin for a really long time. Mr. Julius then proceeded to look up the word “banana” in the dictionary to see where it came from. We never did find out, but we looked up a bunch more words. I love Mr. Julius. That’s an awesome class. I’m just glad Mr. Drake doesn’t hate me. I’m going to remind Hurley to be careful, because I’ve been thinking. Maybe Mr. Drake will write me a college recommendation at some point. He won’t, though, if my honesty has been called into question. I would do anything for my friends, but sometimes they’re just not smooth. Oh, well. October 27, 2006 Friday. I’m almost happy. It’s nice just to kick back and not do homework or anything. Free days. I don’t have many these days. That’s okay, though. I think I’m better when I’m busy, even though I like a break every once in awhile. English was... interesting today. We did this thing where these seniors come in and we had a discussion about school violence, since the brawls at Huron are getting worse and worse. We had two seniors lead our discussion. One of them happened to be a guy I knew, a guy by the name of Mike Beaulieu. I know. Talk about bad luck. Of all the classrooms he could have been assigned to, he had to be assigned to the one with his little sister in it. It made things interesting. Nick told me that we “kind of look alike”. You know, people have been telling me that lately. Before I got contacts, most people couldn’t even believe we were related. I guess it was okay that it was him, though. “Of all the classes he could have gone to,” I muttered to Hurley. “That’s your older brother?” he asked incredulously. I had forgotten that he and Michael had never met, or even seen each other. The discussion was pretty good. Usually I’m really very vocal in Wilson’s class, but I was being cautious. I didn’t want to say something that I would regret and have Michael never forget. So, I was pretty quiet, but I added some stuff here and there. Hey, I didn’t want to fail. I was actually surprised that Hurley didn’t contribute more than he did. He’s naturally a really opinionated guy. He’ll probably end up as a politician or something. I would vote for him, I guess. He knows how things should be and where they’re going. I actually finished my worksheet on subjunctives today in Latin. That doesn’t usually happen, probably because I’m talking to Garret and Michael a lot of the time. Sometimes even Mr. Julius, because it’s easy to get him into a conversation. Today, Garret was writing something. He finished and slid it across to me. I scanned it. It was no language that I knew, some kind of strange alphabet. “What does it mean?” I asked him, curious. “Oh, it’s a phrase,” he said cryptically. “What phrase?” I said. He reached across and wrote “pizza” under one of the words and nodded slightly at me. I went at it. I used the letters that “pizza” gave me and used that to get a few more letters. “I will tell you than the K is less than... something,” he said cleverly. Scanning the paper again, I noticed that there was a letter that looked like a “less than” sign in math. That unlocked it. I ended up with, “I like to eat pizza a lot.” I wrote it out and triumphantly shoved the paper at Garret. He smiled and nodded. He later gave me the whole alphabet. Mr. Julius told us that the alphabet was old Celtic runes. Pretty cool. Okay, I should go. I think Mom wants to get on. October 28, 2006 I know I should be doing homework or practicing or some such thing, but I don’t want to right now. It’s Saturday, after all. Plus Dad’s not here. He went to Philadelphia for our grandmother’s birthday. I can cut myself a little slack when he’s not here. This song reminds me of early December of last year. “Perfect Grave”, Social Code. Sort of because that’s when Michael started telling me I needed to get my grades up, needed to work harder. Pretty much that I was digging my own grave. We were preparing for our concert in band, which I dropped a mute in the middle of, making a perfect ass of myself to the general public and Luis and the rest of Concert and Varsity Band. We were playing the “Second Suite in F”, which, to this day, still reminds me of that time. Now, this song reminds me of seventh grade. It’s a Celtic song, and one of Dad’s favorites. I wouldn’t admit it under torture, but I love Celtic music. I used to make fun of Dad for listening to these people, calling his exercise times with this playing “Celtic Variety Hour”. This is a damn long song, though, almost seven minutes, all instrumental. So. My day. Not much has happened, it being Saturday and all. I’m planning to do Mr. Drake’s extra credit today, since I have a B in there these days and Bs “aren’t good enough” lately. I think I’m scaring everyone, because I’m turning into a total overachiever. I went from slacker to overachiever. Hey, it’s not my fault, it’s Michael’s. I have to be as good as him or better, since I’m supposed to be the smart one of the family. I’m going to have a good GPA this quarter, though. I have As in band, Latin, and English, and Bs in Earth Science, Speech, and Geometry. Three As and three Bs is a 3.5 GPA. According to the new scale, that’s utter crap. Yeah, I think I’m going to go do that extra credit. After all, a B+ is better than a B. October 30, 2006 Another month almost gone. I freaking can’t believe it’s almost November. I was just hanging out with Amy and Fuzz and telling the Walrus how I really felt and being last chair and all that! I’ve been writing in this for around five months now. I read back, and my very first entry was the one where Mr. Vogel took us to the stadium for the mock accident. It had been canceled and he told us that it was “God’s way of telling us it doesn’t matter.” Damn, I miss him sometimes, even though Mr. Julius is just as good and I can see myself getting as close to him as I did to Mr. Vogel. I got eighty out of one hundred on my speech. Thank God. I did better than Hurley, anyway. He got seventy-one, which I was actually really surprised at, because Mr. Fox absolutely loves him. Mr. Julius says that the teacher liking you or not shouldn’t affect your grade, but in reality it does. One of many reasons why I like Mr. Julius. He sees things how they are. I got a B+ on my English quiz. Hopefully I’ll be getting an A on it soon, because Mr. Wilson said he would think about accepting our answer of situational irony, because I argued the point. Pretty much everyone else got that taken off, too, so he might change it. Apparently, like no one studied for this quiz, because Mr. Wilson was a bit annoyed at our scores. We got new music in band. I have to lead Matt Stern, because Caleb got a different part and I’m used to following him because he’s loudest. I didn’t even realize it until we missed our entrance. I like the warm-up chorale best, though. If I close my eyes, I thought, I might just be back at camp. I loved Interlochen this year. Sucks I only have two more years left. We got into a thing about whether or not bagpipes were ever used as weaponry in the middle ages. I say they did! I forget where I heard that, but I know it’s true. “That’s not true,” Caleb scoffed. “They just threw rocks at each other.” You know, there are times where Caleb really reminds me of Michael, denying things before looking into them. Caleb’s actually kind of sarcastic this year. Sophomore guys. Sometimes I just can’t stand them. It’s interesting to see how much Blake has grown up, though. He used to be a grouchy asshole, but he’s really funny now. Maybe he’s like me. I really came out of my shell after Tappan. I’m completely loving math right now. We’re doing triangles. I love triangles! They actually make sense. I’m actually talking, which I think is making Mr. Kim happy. I keep my mouth shut in there, partly because I’m not awake, because it’s first hour. Math’s never been my thing. It started in third grade, when I couldn’t grasp multiplication tables and it was all downhill from there. Mr. Samulak could tell, even though he says he had people doing much worse. I miss him, too. Okay, I need to go practice my trumpet and get a good chair. October 31, 2006- Halloween There are times where I really can NOT stand my family. It started today after practice club when I called Michael. Cam was there and he did a thing where he yells a little when his friends are on the phone. It’s a long standing joke between us, going way back. Michael started to tell me what a stupid person Cam was and that set me off. I love Cam. No one, I mean NO ONE bashes him when I’m around. Incidentally, that put me in a bad mood when I got home. Michael told me to get off the computer because David needed to email people. I didn’t like that he was ordering me around so I got mad. Maybe I was accidentally sarcastic about David’s surgery or something, because Michael flipped out on me and went up the stairs. When he was going up, I distinctly heard him say, “Prick,” with utter contempt. That killed me. It really did. It’s not that I don’t care about David, I was just mad at Michael! This is bad. Today was okay. I forgot my marching uniform. Michael had to drive me home at lunch to go get it. It was a happy fun day in band, one of those days where Mr. Roberts is swamped and we don’t play at all. I translated Latin while watching a card game that I didn’t know how to play. We didn’t see Mr. Roberts hardly at all. He was sorting uniforms. Lucky us. Turns out I have an A- in Latin, percentage-wise. I’m actually disappointed. What the hell is happening to me? Last year, a B- was good for me! November 1, 2006- All Saints Day Isn’t that appropriate. I got awful news today. Hurley’s dad is dead! Mr. Fox told our class. Poor Hurley. No one deserves to have their dad die when they’re as young as we are. I saw him at lunch. He was with Ted, which I can see, because Ted’s dad shot himself last March. He was holding it together okay, but when I looked at his eyes I saw so much pain. When he saw me he tried to smile and sort of half-waved. “I-I heard,” I told him. “I’m so sorry.” He looked at me and nodded, then went down the hall. Poor guy. I know his parents were divorced, but I guess that doesn’t mean he and his dad couldn’t have been close. I’ve been praying my ass off all day for him and his family. It would be nice if my friends’ relatives would stop dropping dead. First it was Ted’s dad, then later it was Cam’s granddad. Now Hurley. I swear, when Mr. Fox made the announcement, I thought Hurley was dead. I’m glad he’s not. I would miss him too much. This is weird, though. When Mr. Fox started with, “I have some sad news,” I knew it was a death and I knew it had something to do with Hurley. To speak the truth, I had a weird feeling up until Speech about him not being there, since he wasn’t in English. That’s why I thought he was dead. So what does that mean? Weird. Today was also Karen’s birthday. I finally found someone younger than me in the class of 2009. I think she’s the youngest in our class. For a present, I gave her one of my king-sized Butterfingers that I got last night for trick-or-treating. Plus a bunch of hugs. Now everyone’s fifteen, including me. They’re going back to two lunches, since it’s utter pandemonium at Huron during lunch. There are no words to express how lucky I got, though. Amy, Karen, and Paul all got my lunch. Amy was the person I wanted the most. I got everyone. Yes! Too bad it’s early lunch. I liked late lunch last year. Fuzz better have our lunch when he comes back from Chicago. I miss Fuzz so much. I had a dream he came back last night, but when I went to go hug him, turns out it wasn’t him, so I was frustrated. He’s never going away again. He’s got to stay here with us. Forever. Mr. Roberts ‘hoed my life today again in band, as we used to say in Driver’s Ed. He keeps putting Caleb on different parts for the new pieces, so I have to lead Matt Stern and David Barrie. I am in no way used to leading. I’ve gotten used to being ninth chair, Dead Last, whatever you want to call it. For one of the songs we’re playing (“Coronation March”, I think it’s called), Caleb has a totally different part from us and I have to be the person with the strongest sound. I know why Mr. Roberts did it, though. Together, Caleb and I tend to overpower. Separate, well, at least we’re playing different parts from each other so the sound is more divided. And I guess I need to learn to follow me and only me, not Caleb. The problem is, I’ve been following the whole time at Huron. I would even follow Luis when he sat next to me. All along, I should have been last chair. He was better at the time. The only thing I ever beat Luis at was the chromatic scale, so maybe that’s how I ended up with eighth. I’m damn good at the chromatic scale. They pounded it into my head at Tappan. The one good thing Tappan ever did for me, I guess. I hope they start to play the Christmas music soon. Last year, they started the first of November. I love Christmas music. “Do You Hear What I Hear?” is one of my favorites. I’m going to have to go check. ‘Bye.

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