My Middle School—Spring Is Here!

Science

My friend Phil is a genius, the real deal, but his grades are less than perfect. In science he got a C, even though his mother is a nuclear biologist. We think it is because he messed up in class. He sits next to a kid that falls asleep. Phil is supposed to keep waking him up, but sometimes forgets. We had the science fair last week. It has been crazy busy with presentations and projects. If you went, some of the projects you would have seen were: how music affects pet fish swimming patterns; the affect of gummy vitamins on plant growth; and what happens when you put a bar of Ivory soap in the microwave for one and a half minutes. 

We’re America's future, so pay attention!

You may remember Phil because he is the Ron Paul fan. Also, he does this weird, but fascinating thing where with a serious look on his face, he rapidly fills his cheeks with air and lets the air out, 10 or 20 times. Then he sucks in all the air, holds his breath, closes his eyes and pushes his cheeks in as far as they can go, pauses for a dramatic moment and then … lets out a puff of air, which turns out to be smoke (or water vapor, steam or condensation)! Now that is really a science experiment!

Spring Sports

This spring, I decided to play a spring sport. After school, we usually have two busses to pick us up, one for baseball and one for track. Today there was only one bus and we all had to cram in. It was a tight fit, a total squeeze, packed. Then we had to go to Isaac Leonard first to drop off some of the kids—really most of the kids. Suddenly oil or something started leaking from the engine and formed a stream down the driveway. People stepped into it with their new sneakers.  We all had to file out and wait around. The bus driver was talking animatedly into his cell phone in Portuguese, which nobody understood. He acted like he was mad at us, and grimaced and groaned. Finally another bus came, took us to the high school and we missed the entire warm up being 30 minutes late. 

We have four coaches, who are a cast of characters. One is injured and can't run.  One is older and serious. The woman writes on the clipboard a lot and has a stopwatch. The fit and athletic other coach never stops yelling at us for going to slow or some miscellaneous little thing. I was absolutely exhausted, wiped out, starving and tired. I ran the best that I could, and when I passed the finish line, the stopwatch coach said nine minutes, 10 seconds with disappointment. He wanted nine minutes, he said, and try harder. He made me do an extra 30 push-ups after practice for 10 whole seconds. I thought I was going to miss the bus, but was completely wrong.

After I did my extra push-ups I ran to where the bus was supposed to be, but it wasn't there. My first thought was it left without me, but then I saw the rest of the kids inside waiting. The bus apparently didn't show-up yet. I guessed we were one bus short because of the engine breakdown earlier. It turns out the driver went to Isaac Leonard and then Albert Young, but we were all at the high school.  I was even more starved and tired. Finally, after what felt like hours, the bus came, dropped us at school and I walked home with all my stuff to find my viola teacher eagerly waiting for my lesson.

Other Stuff

The Albert Young dress code does not allow for short shorts on the girls. If they have short shorts on, any teacher can tell them to put on their gym shorts, which the girls hate. Then they tuck their shirts in and try to look fancy, but really look ridiculous. Will they ever learn? Girls …

Thanks for reading! :)