February 3, 1995

This is actually quite nice for D0n Bu55¹ to give us some quiet time after that test we just took, my fourth of the day. And I had meant to write here last night, but it was sitting alone in my locker because nothing that I need do I ever have, in terms of non-essentials like journals and lists of classmates' birthdays, a new-found hobby of mine. Plus, I was fretting over the fact that I forgot to copy down the math homework; never fear, big JW² didn't collect it. Perhaps what was most on my mind was not the ongoing, 3-week-long dispute between Ryan & I, a story I have told countless friends and lovers, and teachers, like Nick Schuli3n & EJ Br0nkema, both of whom are pro-Ryan, but this new kid from South Dakota, one Les Lawr3nce, who has threatened to disrupt the famous "intellectual clique" we have carved out for ourselves among the junior class. I realize our competitiveness has really gone too far (I am demanding to know of Mr Bu55 whether he changed Shanna's chem grade or not, mistakenly typed on the report card as an "A"), but it just really pisses you off when Mr. Advanced Placement himself, a preppy jerk in calculus, of all things, calculus! As a junior!³ -- comes hopping along & decides to place himself in the top ten or some such forbidden place. The boy is eligible for valedictorian, which would be an immense crock. But I promised myself & Stacie that I wouldn't talk about him, and this a form of talking. It's for my own good, anyway -- that way, the prosepct of Les Lawr3nce writing beautiful essays and scoring perfect quizzes in his four AP classes will not trouble me as much. Mmm... there is a circle (a hexagon, rather -- a diamond, to be more specific, geometry experts) of gossip running about this chemistry class that I shall be delighted to join soon. And praise be going home directly after school today -- although I have been enjoying stage crew. More Lawr3nce talk... look at all of us, though.
JMC 1:19 PM

1 Bu55 taught chemistry and, with his patient demeanor and nondescript tie and slacks, had an air of the 1950s about him, like you could almost imagine a black-and-white Jack Lemmon inhabiting his lean frame.

2 J0hn Wils0n, in addition to teaching 9th-grade geometry, also taught my 11th-grade math class, the precise name of which escapes me.

3 The way our school tracked students allowed only seniors to take calculus.