Where Two Sides Meet

I...hate...school

Dear Journal,

It's the first day of school and Freeman High is like the haunted house from my dreams.

Looks like my homeroom teacher is Ms. Sus. She says it's pronounced Seuss but I refuse to believe that.

Anyway, Ms. Sus has the reputation of being the meanest teacher in school. Last year I heard the juniors talking about their FIVE PAGE ESSAY!!!

I guess I'm a junior now, but last year felt so short.

Usually, when you think about a long time feeling short you think that it was probably just fun but the truth was I missed a month of school trying to pay rent.

It went up by twenty dollars which sounds like only a little bit of money but my boss does not like giving out raises.

After I got employee of the month, he hesitantly gave me the completely deserved raise but I was ridiculously behind on schoolwork.

I don't know how but I managed to get my grades back up, but friends, let alone girls, were the last thing on my mind.

But last year doesn't even matter because school starts today.

I pick up my bag and shove my baloney sandwich in it, making sure not to crush it in the process.

After I slip on my shoes in a hurry and walk out the door, there is a faint smell, it's familiar.

I remember elementary school and the smell of fresh mulch on the playground.

As I look around the outside of my door I see a large, white, truck with "Mr.Mulch" written across the side of the vehicle.

I pinch my nose and run till I'm out of breath and panting.

I see the school, it looks far away but I know it will only take 10 minutes to get there, walking.

A few minutes later I arrive at the school's front entrance. The metal doors glistened in the sun.

I check my phone for the time then quickly shove it in my back pocket.

I think about my aunt Cassy who I am terribly grateful for because she pays my phone bill. I wanted to live with her at first but she is a drug addict and I didn't want to transfer schools.

It's not like I had many friends, I just didn't feel like it.

As a walk down the crowded school halls, I spot Felix, "Hey Felix!" I yell. He gets red and says hey back. "Hey, who do you have for your homeroom? I have Ms. Sus."

We both laugh, it looks like he might even cry, it only makes me laugh harder.

I peer over his shoulder, at the bottom right corner of the paper in his hands it has homeroom: Ms. Sus written. I jump up and punch the air, " Heck yeah!" I shout.

We walk over to her room and get our seating chart. Of course, we don't get to pick our seats, this was Ms. Sus we were talking about.

At Least Felix was in front of me, it felt good to finally have a... friend in class.

Ms. Sus had us all write down some dumb stuff on the paper. But she said it didn't count towards our grade so I started doodling on my paper because I wanted to look like I was working but when I looked at the character I had drawn, I realized that it looked an awful lot like Felix, what was it about this boy that had me stuck on the thought of him!

Ms. Sus noticed Felix not doing the task and she scolded him. I felt bad, "Ugh!" I said, leaning my head back. Ms. Sus heard me and gave me a grumpy old lady look. I wanted to roll my eyes but I didn't feel like having her call home just to have my phone start buzzing.