The Fifteenth Year

December: Part 4

Friday, December 17, 2004

Dear Friend,

I was so nervous once I remembered that Miss Burgess was handing out our report cards today for the end of this quarter. My progress report a month ago was decent, but I wanted to try and raise my overall math grade. With shaking hands, I opened the flap and looked over all my subjects and let out a breath of relief. All is well. Barely hanging on in math, but everything is steady and to my satisfaction. I made honor roll. Hopkins gets to stay the dream. I'm not exactly sure how hard of a school it is to crack into. It's not Ivy League so it's probably unlikely that they'll reject me if I get a B on my records here and there, but the reality is: this is my freshman year. The classes are going to get harder. If I can't step it up and be on my game now, then what will become of me later when I get to the really advanced classes? Like trig? And geometry? It's nice to know I don't need to study more than usual yet. I like having spare time on my hands. People think I'm smarter than I actually am, so they'll probably be shocked when I don't have a social life my senior year because of how much I'm going to have to keep my nose in my textbooks. I hope I'll get the hang of all this by then. I really don't want to have to miss out. Prom, showing school spirit, games, etc... those are milestones. Ones I plan on having in my memories too.

Saturday, December 18, 2004

Dear Friend,

Winter Formal's tonight for the upperclassmen. I would've been able to go had I been asked by a junior or senior boy, but it's cool. I don't think forking out over a hundred dollars for a dress will be exciting until dances are closer to the last half of high school. None of my friends are going either. I was nervous until I found out that Jason wasn't going either. He was asked by three girls and he shot them all down. When I asked him why while he was walking his dog this afternoon, he said that he was disappointed by his grades on his report card and wanted to focus on stepping it up so he didn't get benched. He's also not looking to get back out there yet since Lydia, or spend money.

"Why am I going to waste money on yet another suit or blazer? If it's not homecoming or prom, don't bother me," was his logic.

Come to think of it, I didn't even go to homecoming. Little freshmen were the ones picked on. It's not fun for the newbies that have no idea what's going on or who anybody is anyway. Me and the girls all ditched. I asked Jason what he did for homecoming. 

"We had a football game we won..."

Of course. They're still undefeated.

"...and then I hung out with the guys afterwards. Lydia wasn't too happy about that."

"Who were king and queen again?" I asked.

"Uh...I believe it was Tristan Markov and Lydia's friend Kate. Kate Larson."

"Tristan? Really? The new kid? That shy Russian exchange student?"

He laughed. "Apparently all the girls thought he was hot, so they voted for him."

"Did he even have a date that night?"

"I'm not even sure he was aware of what was going on. I just heard that a flock of girls followed him around all night."

"I'm shocked you weren't voted for, Jason."

"Eh. When there's fresh meat at the right time, the rest tend to be forgotten. Besides, Lydia would've been pissed if I had a queen that wasn't her."

Maybe that's what happened. If they voted for Jason, they would've had to vote for Lydia if they didn't want her wrath. And nobody was going to vote for her if she's overbearing and mean. Is she popular, with a lot of friends? Yes. Is she praised by the whole school like she wants? No. There's more of us misfits than there are of her. She didn't have the votes. Therefore as long as Jason was with her, he wasn't going to either. If they stay broken up, I have no doubt he could be prom king.

Sunday, December 19, 2004

Dear Friend,

It's sort of chilly out today. Jeremy's at a friend's house and Brendan and I actually spent a couple hours playing video games. He kicked my butt, but it was fun.

Monday, December 20, 2004

Dear Friend,

There's only a few days left of school before the week comes to a close early for winter break. I guess I naively believed we weren't going to have homework for that week. Welcome to high school. The students groaned, but Miss Burgess assured us it was only some worksheets to make sure we knew the material we'd learned so far this year in our subjects before we moved on. I guess if the work is all review, I'll be able to breeze through it. I'm going to try and get it all finished in a couple of days so I don't have any left to do after Christmas Day. Hopefully Miss Burgess spares us like she claims. She's a great teacher and I love her. She's sweet but she challenges us. That makes a teacher I respect. But she better not be messing with my Christmas!

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Dear Friend,

It's the first day of winter. Well...as winter as it can actually get in California. We even got a small tree to decorate in our living room. Is that weird? We live in a snow-free state, but I still want to get in as much of the Christmas spirit as possible. My parents wanted to raise my brothers and me with traditions, so we get a small tree every year and decorate it with ornaments and ribbon. We're going to go that tonight while listening to all our favorite Christmas music classics! Just a couple more days of school left to go. Woohoo!