Detention!
If only I hadn’t kicked him in the balls! No, literally, in the balls. Jacob, the jerk from gym class, was dancing around, holding two basketballs to his chest, teasing me just because I developed a little sooner than everyone else. If only I hadn’t kicked those balls. It was funny, the balls had flown up, hit him in his smug face. Then his nose started bleeding and I was done for.
Now I’m standing, covered in rotten meat, balanced on the roof of the school. I could hear the sounds of banging and crashing behind me as I prepared to jump.
But wait, you probably have no idea what I’m talking about. We better go back to the beginning. My name is Lauren. Stupid, dumb, boring, Lauren. Do you know how many other Laurens there are in my grade? Four! Four other Laurens!
There’s Lauren P., the teacher’s pet, and Lauren R.,the mean one. Then, there’s Lauren D., the one that dresses funny and smells like my brother’s old gym socks, and Lauren B. She’s okay I guess; we don’t really talk. It’s like we both want our names to be just ours and no one else’s. Like, if you got a brand new fluffy blue sweater, soft and warm with sparkly blue threads woven through. You love your sweater until you get to school and find someone else is wearing one just like it. You don’t hate that person, but you don’t want to be seen with them.
I’m Lauren S., for Sullivan. I think, if you asked around, kids would say I’m the shy one. It’s not that I’m shy, though. I got lots to say. I just don’t always say it. That’s not shy, that’s being selective. I’m selective about who I share my thoughts with. At least, that’s what my grandma says. That’s smart, NOT shy.
My best friend is Julie. She’s funny and a blast to hang with. She’s also one of the top players on our basketball team. We’ve been friends since kindergarten, but lately I feel like she’s pulling away. We always said we’d be best friends forever, but lately it seems like forever is to the end of fifth grade. Sixth grade started about a month ago and she’s acting strange, hanging out with girls that wear makeup and shave their legs. Girls that pay more attention to how many likes they have on Tik Tok and less on how many points they scored last weekend. We still have fun at practices and games, but we don’t hang out after school anymore.
Today, in gym class, Jacob started in on me. I’m about four foot eleven with straight brown hair and hazel eyes. I play basketball so I’m in shape. Over the summer I started getting boobs. I knew it would happen one day and I wasn’t too worried about it. What I didn’t take into account was that twelve-year-old boys— they suck.
Jacob was prancing around chirping in a high falsetto that he was Lusty Lauren with the big boobs. People were laughing, looking from him to me. Hoping for a reaction, I’m sure. My face flushed when I saw the phones start coming out. As he strutted past, I just couldn’t help it. My foot shot out, kicking the balls up and out of his hands. The balls hitting him in the face, wasn’t part of the plan. I had to suppress a satisfied smile though, when his head shot back from the impact. I was impressed, and judging by the looks on the faces of several other girls, they were impressed, too. Mr. Ryan, the PE teacher, was not. He gave me detention, the jerk. But, he also gave Jacob detention, so I guess he’s not all bad.
Rebecca Lamprey 