Middle School

Entry 1: Start of School - 8/26/20

Hey journal, call me Ralph. Wow, is this something girls actually do? Whatever, It's not like I'm very "manly" anyways. School starts today. I have like, 1 class with my friends. I don't have any classed with Charlotte though. She's pretty. Gosh, I sound like a loser when I put it like that. But saying something like, "She's hot." or "She's a babe." makes we sound like an a-hole. Anyways, I've known her a while, since we were still in grade school. I know she's totally out of my league, but that doesn't change how I feel. And anyway, after hanging out with her a little over summer, I really want to get closer to her. When we went for fro-yo, I wanted to cry of happiness. God, I really am a loser.

I'm pretty sure she has a crush on my friend Paul. Because apparently girls always go for the jocks. I'm going to be honest, Paul isn't the brightest. Not to mention he does some, let's say, not school appropriate activities. But that doesn't really get in his way. He can break tension with his one-liners any day, plus he's one of the best athletes at the school. I like to think I'm pretty good at math and basketball, but I'm pretty awful at most other things I try. It's honestly no wonder she likes Paul so much.

Crap, the bus is gonna be here in 10. I should probably get going. I'm not too worried about losing my friends just because we aren't in any classes. We've known each other for a long time, and they're pretty much the only people who can tolerate me. Crap bus is gonna be here in a sec. Gotta go.

Back from Hell. Mom signed me up for basketball. I'm pretty hyped, but the season doesn't start for another two weeks. Here's a breakdown of my schedule:

My first two periods are science, with Mr. Wilson. I've never seen him around the school before, so either he's new or I'm blind. Probably both. Science is pretty boring, like when am I gonna need to know the difference between electrons and neutrons.

But I made it through, mostly by thinking about the time I got fro-yo with Charlotte. Even though we're a bit old, she wanted to go to the park and play Hide-and-Seek. A bit strange, but hey. I'm not gonna turn down an opportunity to spend more time with her. I couldn't find her and she was ignoring my texts, so I just assumed she ditched me. I went to a bakery to by some brownies and ended up buying one for her in case she was still there. I bit of time went by and she still wasn't coming out, so I ended up eating both of them. I just sat at the park for a while. Turns out she was still hiding, even though it's been almost an hour. I asked her why she didn't answer my texts and she reminded me that she gave me her phone. Whoops.

After so much time had passed, she was pretty hungry. I took her to the fro-yo place nearby. I didn't realize that I didn't have enough money after the brownies, but Charlotte was fine with sharing one. I was still short a few cents, but the employee was really nice and said I could take out what I still owed from the tip jar. Of course, being me, I dropped the coins and couldn't pick them up for a good minute. Anyways, I walked her home, and that was pretty great.

I was pretty startled when Mr. Wilson snapped in my face. Ralph, what was rule number one of class? I responded with, "Not to eat anything." which was technically true, working with chemicals and such. Good thing he thought I was joking 'cause I wasn't paying attention to anything he was talking about.

Art is third period. I got assigned a seat next to Regina. I've known her for a while, but we didn't really start hanging out until 7th grade. Actually, scratch that. We were hanging out in 6th grade, but that was just because we had the same friends. Regardless, the two of us were cracking up while the teacher, whose name I forgot, was talking about some crap like "expecting out best effort" and some other start of the year bs.

After art, I walked with to her next class with her because I don't want to go to tutorial. Tutorial is a "free period" where kids who didn't make it into Spanish go to. I wouldn't even consider tutorial a class. I always finish my work in class, so it's not like I have anything to do. Not to mention this year they started making us fill out sheets with our grades and what missing work we have. The teacher never believes me when I write "I have no missing work." So I need to show her my grades every freaking day.

After 40 minutes of doing nothing, I went to writing. It was a breeze, mostly because it's the first week of school, where nothing happens. Mrs. Smith even let us choose our seats, which I guarantee is a mistake that she will soon correct. While it lasts, I sit next to Paul, mostly because he needs to ask me for help so he doesn't end up flunking. I used to give him wrong answers just to spite him, but then I realized that if Charlotte knew I was helping him and he was still flunking, she would either think I'm a jerk or that I'm just as dumb as he is, which is the only leg up I have on him. We just traded quips all class, and I don't even remember a word Mrs. Smith said.

Lunch almost sucked. Our school has this really backwards system where you need to sit with your homeroom class. Luckily, Paul's in my homeroom. During recess, a hair tie fell out of Charlotte's pocket. While she was picking it up, I said "Don't drop the soap!" Only I could manage to say something so unfunny that it makes her fall back down. One awkward shared laughter later, my chances with her are only getting lower.

We had PE next, but nothing noteworthy happened, except I realized that I gained 20 lbs. over summer and I needed a new uniform.

I ended the day with two periods of math. Normally I would be excited, but being in an accelerated math class means that at the start of the year, the teacher needs to explain what "accelerated" means and how well be "advancing faster than the other students." The only interesting she told us is that we have a placement test in April, which will decide whether or not we get into Algebra II in freshman year.

Today was a pretty good first day of school. Better still, I only thought of Charlotte three times. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new world record! Last year I told Charlotte that I liked her, which was when I found out about Paul. She told me she thought of me too but that Paul was a better choice. Kind of a cold thing to say, but I get it. Too bad Paul doesn't even like her. I wonder what would've happened if she gave me a chance. Maybe she wouldn't be staring at Paul during their shared classes. It was foolish of me to think that she would pick me over Paul, despite his multiple shortcomings. But, hey, this isn't anything new to me. After all, who would pick me over someone else?