Over the Years

by sk8rboi

For me, middle school has been the most difficult situation I have had to overcome. During my 6th grade year, I moved to Walnut Creek. The reason my family had to move was because my mom and dad were getting a divorce and my mom couldn’t afford the house we were living in. So we decided to move to Walnut Creek to be closer to family.

At my old school, hardly anyone did anything right. Everyone was tardy to class, cutting, smoking all the time. Out of all the people I hung around, hardly anyone had good grades, so I fell into the trend of being tardy to almost every class and even skipping some days. The only thing that kept me on track there was skating. When my mom and brother and I moved to Walnut Creek, we stayed in my auntie’s two-bedroom apartment with her son because our place wasn’t done yet. This was all right because my cousin was my age, and he was the reason I was going to the school.
For the first few days at my new school, I was in shock. I had never seen so many white people in one place before. Right at the beginning of the year, I got into a fight in my P.E. class. Some girl tried to hit me with a hockey stick; I have no idea why. So then, being the smart boy that I am, I pushed her, and she went to the side to cry. I watched her boyfriend walk up to her, and I just knew I was going to get in trouble. Next thing you know, he was in my face, and I didn’t like that too much, so I knocked him out.

The same day I came back from suspension, I got into another altercation. I was walking to my first period class when someone bumped into me so hard I almost fell. Guess who it was? It was the guy’s friend. Now I was thinking to myself, I came to school to stay out of trouble, but it doesn’t seem to be working. When I got in the office, this time they were already talking about kicking me out of school, but they gave me one more chance to get it together.

My 7th grade year, I didn’t get into any fights. My only problem was my grades. I was sitting in class almost every day, not knowing what they were talking about. I felt like they were already on a college level, and it made me feel three years behind. I slowly got back to my old ways of being tardy and skipping class because I felt so out of place. There was one class I went to faithfully, and that was acting. Yes, because it was easy, but because of my teacher also. I guess I could say she made acting fun.

My main problem was English class. I failed the first three quarters of the course. If I didn’t pass the last quarter, I wouldn’t graduate the 7th grade on time. I had never failed a class in my life. I found out I failed the last quarter of English with about one week left in school. I don’t think I’ve ever been that mad before in my life. A few weeks after school ended, I took an English class in summer school so I could go to the next grade. I passed the class with an A, and boy, did it feel good.

Middle school was a big challenge for me, but it helped me to see all the things I needed to fix for the next level. I’m doing better in my 8th grade year- I’m not skipping school anymore, I don’t get in fights anymore, I do my work, and I’ve noticed some improvement in myself as an English student. I don’t know what the future holds for me… I’ll get there when I get there.