Book 6 - 1970 (Michael Jackson)

Chapter 1 - The Uncontrollable

Chapter 1 - The Uncontrollable

Date: Wednesday, January 7, 1970

MICHAEL'S POV

It would have been a fantastic time to have an eraser. Actually, for that matter, I needed four erasers - two for paper, two for time. I'd give one of each to Kayla, who was sitting beside me on the school bench, and keep the remaining ones.

I needed a physical eraser because I had made a ridiculous mistake on my Pre-Algebra paper. My name was Michael, not Micheal, and I should have known that pretty well by the point of being eleven. The goof-up was enough to make me wonder whether or not my brain had been turned on.

I needed the figurative time eraser because of an incident that happened at school - not necessarily to just me, but to both Kayla and I. In fact, that was the reason why the both of us were still at the school, patiently and anxiously awaiting for Joseph to slither out from the principal's office and give us an unwanted talk. If we already knew it was not our fault, and that what happened was uncontrollable by this point, then how come were we getting punished? It made no sense to me.

In fact, I thought, attempting to rub away at the switched a and e on the paper, if the other kids started this mess, why didn't they get a talk? That was what really made no sense to me.

I was certainly not trying to say what happened was their fault. Heaven knew that if I was in one of those kids' situations and I met, say, James Brown, I'd have probably been shocked, myself. However, what they did was going beyond the typical admiration and craze. Not only was it bothering Kayla and I, but it was interrupting class and everyone's learning progress. In the end, those guys never got to talk to us anyways, so why did they make such an enormous deal out of getting our attention?

Maybe that's the problem, I figured. Maybe they just want attention. Could they be deprived of attention?

"Hey, Michael?" Kayla's voice was weak and small, most likely from being unused for over an hour. "Do you know the time?"

I checked my watch. "6:09. It's getting kinda late, isn't it?"

"Yeah, especially for tonight." She frowned, peering over her shoulder toward the school building. "I hope he gets out soon."

"What do you mean by 'especially for tonight'?"

She shot me a hopeless glance. "It's the seventh."

"Ah." I felt my own spirits go down, as well. "You think it'll be like every month?"

"I'd put money down on it if I could." She sighed, gazing at her finished science assignment. "But I'm broke."

"Same here." In an effort to change the subject, I took a slow pause and then asked, "What did you spend your allowance on?"

"Books," she answered. "I ran out of all the classics and fantasy things at home, so I've taken up a new topic: Anatomy."

I nodded. "That's interesting. I spent almost all of mine on those Snap-Its... and then used them all. At least I got a good bargain on that bubble gum." Remembering that I had some in my knapsack, I opened the bag and pulled out a wrapper in bold yellow, with tiny letters adorning the outer cover. "Imma have some now."

"Go for it," Kayla encouraged. "Maybe I'll catch some shut-eye and put off this monthly thing." She threw her books and papers into her own duffel bag and neatly situated it beside her other end on the bench. From there, she leaned back and closed her eyes in hopes of off-putting the effects of her sleepiness.