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Left to right: The suspect, Mr. R, me (15), Mrs. P, me (13) |
My First Two Detentions
The Fire Cracker Incident
In 13-Year-Old Me's Words
"It wasn't a broken pencil, it wasn't a book landing on the floor, it was POPPER. You know, those things at birthday parties and fireworks? So immediately the class went silent and Mr. R just went off on us, and then said that if the person who threw it didn't fess up, he'd give the WHOLE class detention. Initially, I thought he was joking since he's said this stuff before, but no, he legitimately was saying by the end of class if the person wasn't being a chicken (hey, his words not mine), we'd be in his class at 2:20 - 3:00. I was immediately horrified realized he was being for reals, and immediately panicked that someone's churlish out of pocket stupidity would lead to not only my 3rd detention but to everyone's else's after school plans being ruined. I bet this was a multitude of people's first detentions as well.After that, everyone, and I mean EVERYONE turned on each other. There was yelling and frustrating [sic] shouting, people randomly pointing figures at each other. I was worried that this wouldn't even be in the school's conduct- I mean, you can't give 30 KIDS punishment for ONE KIDS actions. I actively recorded some of the drama in case the detention did get served. Of course, I didn't want Mr. R fired, but I did feel this was a power imbalance.As the class silenced down, Mr. R redirected us to the next lesson, and I already completed most of it, so I uh, continued to panic as the clock approached 1:15. So...I wrote this ahead of time. Yeah, I haven't already been served detention yet, but I feel this story is so unnecessarily bizarre that I just have to write it down. Right now, there are 4 minutes of class, and he hasn't fully confirmed if we all have detention. Oh- it's 3 now. I better finish my assignments before I update you. If it's a false alarm, I'll still send it because it's kinda...kinda...honestly, I don't know. Grammarly says I sound concerned, assertive, and confident. :shrug: I'll just put a clarification at the beginning."
"1:20 - NOPE WE'RE ALL SCREWED. WE'RE ACTUALLY SCREWED. NO ONE CONFESSED. NO ONE.Not all hope is lost though. We still have some evidence of who may done it, and if the person confesses during detention, we'll be let out EARLY. Unfortunately, it looks like that's not going to happen, so...uh...I'll reply just in case it does happen.Anyway, gonna try and relax in math before suffering my fate. To be honest I was already sad and angry this morning because my terrible deadline skills meant I couldn't finish an assignment in time. But at least I would just get a lowered grade from that. NOT 40 MINUTES OF MY LIFE DOWN THE DRAIN."
The Erratic Email
"2:38 - Update...HE WASN'T JOKING. I REPEAT: HE WAS NOT JOKING. I am actually in his classroom now when I could be home enjoying myself. (I mean, I'd actually be in the lobby, more on that later) I hope that person's happy. I hope they go home and feel ashamed of themselves. I know that sounds kinda cruel, but could you really feel happy for yourself in a situation like this?This detention will probably be talked about for the rest of the week, as it's already been talked about a million times in the hallways alone. In fact, I hope this incident continues to be talked about because I just want JUSTICE and PUNISHMENT on whoever did this even though they've already been punished with everyone else, I think they deserve DOUBLE detention because think of it- not only did they cause a disruption in the class, their cowardness caused a whole class of children to basically be held hostage (again Mr. R's words), which probably caused their schedules to be disrupted."
"You know, Mr. R is being unnecessarily cruel, and I've probably written him to be the villain of this situation, but on some level, I understand. I just wish it didn't have to come to this. He recently said that we should tell our parents what happened, and that birthed an ethical dilemma: should I tell either one of my parents that Mr. R gave the entire class detention over a kid throwing a popper? What if they think it's my fault? What if they try and deal it up with the school? I REALLY don't want to start much more drama over this than I need to, but at the same time, as I said, I NEED JUSTICE. My day was already starting off bad and in a flash, I mean, bang, it nearly got ruined. I will make the most out of the rest of the day I have, and try to let this incident get past me."
"Tbh I don't even know why I sent this situation to you. What are you going to do, call the police? I guess what you can do is (assuming you read this) is tell me how YOU thought of the situation and my response. Was I overly dramatic or immature? Did I leave out details that might change the situation? Tell me anything."
"Wait! One last thing...so um, I kinda managed to actually SAVE myself from my mom's wrath because I fibbed. Ok ok calm down- what happened was that last time, I realized I only finished half of my assignment, and it was late by FOUR DAYS. I finished it and submitted it, but worried that I'd get a detention for it the next day. So I came up with a clever evil plan...I simply told my dad this morning that I'd "have an extra school project after school, at 3 pm". That way, if I got a detention, Dad would think I was just doing a project. Is it malicious? Yes. But is it smart? Yes. And I actually didn't get a detention for that, so I thought I'd simply have 40 minutes of freedom in the lobby...how painfully ironic. Anyways, I got some homework to do now..."
"WE ESCAPED!!! MR R LET US OUT AT 2:43 AND NOT 3!!!!!I KNOW ITS ONLY 20 MINUTES BUT STILL! VICTORY I TELL YOU, VICTORY!The mystery of who threw the cracker however remains unsolved. But I know for a fact I'll get justice one day..."
The Classroom Conspiracy (ft. Mrs. P)
"Hi [A.B]Wow, what a story! As you know, you're an excellent writer and I really felt like I was there. I'm glad you ended up getting out early, but I understand how frustrating it is to be kept after school for something you didn't do.Do you have any suspects in mind? I don't know who's in your Civics class, but there have to be 'the usual suspects.' Do you know if Mr. R involved the principal?I can't say it's good to lie to your parents, but 'little white lies' are necessary sometimes in life. Don't beat yourself up over it.Thanks for sending me such a well-written email about the situation. Maybe we can try to find a few minutes to talk more about it tomorrow.Hang in there. You're a wonderful young man & a wonderful student!! Don't ever forget that!-Ms. P"
"Thanks Ms. P!Here's the As to your Qs (stole from Odd1sOut):"Do you have any suspects in mind?"Yes, there is some suspects, mainly the clowny boys who always get yelled at our have to leave. [Look at that.]I'll try not too look like I'm gossiping when I say the two main suspects named were M and J. Both were around the table where the popper wrapper was left (which was STILL there when I went to detention), but honestly I (PERSONALLY) think M is more suspicious because he managed to describe most of the incident in oddly accurate detail. He also wore red today- I'm kidding. [Why is there an Among Us reference? ...oh wait.]But I DO know M is acting kinda weird. Even if he didn't do it, SURELY he witnessed what happened. In fact- that's another thing- there were apparently no witnesses. How? There were like 6 people surrounding the tables and NO ONE didn't snitch? Were they too scared to tell on them? Or were they a friend of who did it?It's like a murder mystery. Huh...maybe I could write a horror story based on this where a group of adults will all go to jail after someone gets murd-...put to indefinite sleep but everyone's there. (I know that wouldn't happen in real life, but could a man create a wretched being that murders his brother, cousin, and mom?) [I'm referencing Frankenstein]"
"Yes, I think Mr. R is related to the principal. I quite literally saw the principal enter the room as everyone was complaining and stuff, whilst Mr. R stood by, and the principal moved on. So I guess the principal agreed for this? Or just didn't care? Woah woah I'm jumping for conclusions. I don't know man."
"Now that I think of it, the more I think of the situation the less I'm mad at Mr. R. I feel most people forget teachers are people to. And just put yourself in his shoes. You're trapped for 9 months with a group of rowdy obnoxious loud teenagers who constantly misbehave and annoy others. And you still have...uh...7 months to go.Admitely, I do have my own opinions on my teachers. For example, I don't like how strict [the math teacher] is to our class. I've heard the statement "Ok, I am very disappointed with you" 15 times. That's not an exaggeration, it's probably 15 by now.BUT, after the whole uh...[7th grade math teacher] fiasco where I was like "uGH yoUr faILng uR stOodEnts I wUz sO smOrt nO oNe pAssed" SHUT UP. SHUT UP 12 YEAR OLD ME.You're- you're not smart. I mean, you're smart academically...but you still gotta learn stuff mentally. [Well Jesus Christ this got way too real!]Anyway, as I said, I learned not to mess around and gossip around teachers and kinda keep my opinions UNLESS I'm actually concerned.Oh. There were only two questions. Uh....now what? I guess I just gotta say that the last statement you said reminds me "Don't ever forget that!" is something my brain tends to forget. Like, I'm complimented by both my friends and my teachers like 4 times a week, and yet I'm still obsessing over the thing I did 2 months ago. It's a struggle, yes, but I will try and get past myself to stop overthinking and move on and grow. [Seriously, this is getting too real...]Perhaps maybe I have such low confidence in my school performance is because GRAMMARLY IS POINTING OUT...how many mistakes? Wha- NINETEEN?! Oh- it's twenty three now. -_- (Note to self: delete Grammarly soon)Anyways, see you hopefully tomorrow! I can't wait for our next meeting honestly, we haven't had one in A MONTH.- A.A"
Of course though, because I'm 13, I still had to end the note on a somewhat immature note. You see for some reason I was sensitive to my counselor misspelling my name in my emails, so I got a bit heated at her in the end with an overdramatic comment.
"This is just to ironically point out how EVERYONE SPELLS MY NAME [A.B.] LIKE MY NAME IS SPELLED [A.A.A.] DO YOU THINK [A.B.] IS HOW I WRITE MY NAME??!"
IS IT ME OR DO I HAVE THIS WEIRD OBSESSION WITH SCREAMING IN MY WRITING??!?!
Also...chill, bro. It's a nickname.
Before my counselor sent one final email in that chain, I somewhat redeemed myself with this extra email:
"EXTRA!! EXTRA!! [Seriously, obsession with screaming.]
I also initially had a theory that maybe the cracker was released accidentally. And whilst it may have...the real question we need to solve is...why did a student have a fire popper in the first place?
'Yuh oh! We just had a birthday party in the middle of Science class, and I have an extra popper! I have no time to put in my locker. I guess I'll just bring it with me- [BANG!] ...oop.'"
You're getting there, 13-year-old me. My counselor sent me one last email:
"[A.A.]!!! (Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry. I never even thought about how [A.A.] would be spelled. It makes all the sense in the world that [A.A.] NOT [A.B.] would be the nickname/shortened form of [A.A.A.]. Hopefully I won't forget this.
Seriously, look, SHE'S apologizing and being empathetic after stupid 13-year-old me sent the most back-handed explanation ever. If that doesn't tell you what type of person she is, I don't know what that is. She is one of a kind. Which, by the way...thanks, for considering that, Mrs. P. I don't think I ever said thanks for that.
Your email made me laugh out loud (lol) in several places and you made a lot of really good points. I can't believe that no one has "given up" the culprit yet. It will happen soon enough if it hasn't already. Teenagers aren't very good at keeping things like that quiet.
I know, I can't believe we haven't met in an entire month!! We could always schedule time during one of your exploratories or maybe SEL/WIN if there's anything you'd like to touch base about. Just let me know. Keep on being the wonderful student & person you are!! See you tomorrow :)"
*sniff* She is amazing and more people should be like her.
Ending (of Sorts)


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