Black Hawk Middle School
Our band teacher's name is Mr. Dick. I heard that his first name is Herb, which would make him Herb Dick, and we laugh about what we think that means during lunch hour. He's actually very good at what he does, training all of us, some 70 band members individually, and conducting the orchestra. We play mostly stuff that we know, so its pretty fun. I'm in the trombone section. I wanted to play saxophone, but by the time they asked me, they already had too many of those, so I had to pick something different. I asked, what's the long thing that slides out and back, and so they gave me a trombone. Celia is also in the trombone section, she is second chair and I'm third, so I sit next to her nearly every day. Trombones collect spit in the bottom, so once in a while we would need to open a valve to empty our spit onto the carpet (not a lot, just a few drops) so we'd make a point to get the clarinet section's attention and we'd drop it beneath their chairs. There's always a short gag reflex, Celia and I laugh, and then we go back to playing Star Wars, or whatever the tune was that day.
And then next period we have PE. Our school is only a year old, so it has an indoor pool. The teacher, before we get in every day, reminds us that the water has a special chemical to detect urine, so if we pee in the pool, all the water around us will turn red, and everyone will know. It makes me have to pee just thinking about it. We do laps width-wise and it always starts with the breast stroke. Maybe in middle school they should just give it a different name, cuz they keep saying breast stroke, the girls giggle and look at us to gauge our reaction. Doesn't bother me any. If they wanted to make me feel uncomfortable, they'd call it the tits stroke or something. Ah, shoot, now it is bothering me, thinking about tits stroke. Celia nudges me from behind in line as we're filing out, to let me know that she's there. Its fine, since we're buddies, but now this year she's got two bumps where there didn't use to be any. They stick out, and the water from the pool does its best job to make you notice them. She doesn't even act different about it, which is awkward for me, because they're hard not to look at. I've never seen her like this before. She's got a dark complexion, different than anything I thought I'd get into, but alas, here I am, trying to think about anything other than that, to no avail.
At her house after school, we eat a snack in her kitchen and then start hanging out in her room. Its different than mine, there's a lot more going on. Stuff on the walls to look at, and stuffed animals all over the bed. Feels cozy. Celia pushes me on the bed and starts tickling me, which, I absolutely hate being tickled, so I throw her off of me, she lands on her side, and then I think I see her fingers running down her own self, and she's kind of looking at me kind of funny. Something below my pants line is developing an achy pressure, but there's no time to address that right now. She's taking my hand, and bringing it underneath her shirt, up to where I can feel her those soft bumps. This may be the best feeling I've ever felt, ever in my life.
Its dark in the room when I wake up. Frustratedly, I clean up the mess that's been made, which, frankly, I don't know what it is or how it got there. Change pajamas, its freezing in the room, and hop back under the covers. Anyway, its done now, not much more to say about it, so I get back into sleep mode. Its still really dark out. Falling back asleep, I think, I really do like band class. How do I find out if Mr. Dick's first name really is Herb? And how odd, for parents to knowingly name their kid that… Herb Dick.