Average Joe

Surviving School

Josh gets off the bus and I follow him. We talk on the way to our lockers. Just about how our holidays were. We receive our timetables. We have history and geography classes together, score! But unluckily, I don't have my first class of the day with him. He's got French and I've got P.E.

The writer could have easily chosen any other first-period class for me but no, physical education it is. At least this gives me another reason to be miserable and complain so I'm not that unhappy with it. Being happy about getting to not be happy, I hope that makes sense.

I walk into P.E class and I don't know what to narrate first, the stereotypical oversized gym teacher in bright red shorts or the fact that Brittney, with Dee and Dum standing right behind her, is in my Gym class too. Or that Kevin, the inactive emo kid, is apparently in my gym class as well. There seem to be about a dozen other kids in this class. And I can tell what's about to happen next.

"Dodge ball," the coach whistles. I repress my instincts to smirk, wink and bite my lip. Not that I have a reason to do any of those actions. It's just that most fictional boys in teen fiction do those unnecessary actions all the time. So it's a gut instinct. I do however curse my life for putting me in gym class with Brittney.

A red ball, the colour of my gym teacher's shorts, is flying directly at my face. My life has just started to flash before my eyes. I can see all the Starbucks drinks I've had, recall that one cute thing my annoying sibling did before kicking me in the shins. I can see the first time I met Josh. His first words to me were," Hi, I'm Josh." I will never forget. I can see my parents smiling at me, telling me they love me. I can see myself telling them," Shut up, you guys just don't understand me." Good times, I will miss this life. This unnecessarily angsty life.

I close my eyes. I hear a loud thud. Am I in heaven now?

I slowly open my eyes and I see Mickenzie collapsed on the floor in front of me. She was in this class too? I didn't notice. Unintentionally this time.

She groaned and slowly got up. The ball was tightly hugged to her chest. Mickenzie just saved my..face. As a teenage boy in a fictional book there's nothing more important than having good looks. My life could have gone downhill. I could have been just as unpopular as her. I shiver at the thought. She deserves my gratitude. I'm going to tell her exactly how grateful I am. In fact, I'm going to ask her out. She deserves to be asked out.

I help her up. She's blushing the entire time. At least she didn't pass out yet, this is good. Ok, I'm about to say my first words to her ever,"Mickenzie.."

I messed up. My instincts kicked in again. Instead of showing her my sincere gratitude I accidentally ran my fingers through my hair and licked my lips. She started hyperventilating after that. I feel so incompetent. I couldn't even thank her correctly.

She got rushed off to the nurse's office to calm down and I just stood there. What a great start to my first day in school.