a bit of reminiscing fun

I thought I'd write a bit about the kids and adults of my childhood. This will be mostly happy and really strange stuff, though a few of my classmates had unfortunate lives. So it shouldn't be triggering but I will put a ** by any names that have especially disturbing/bizarre stories attached.


The Kids:


Melody - my neighbor across the street that I knew when I was age 3 or 4. She was older than me by a few years. She could get me to do anything by saying "if you don't ___ i won't be your friend anymore!" I remember she had a great collection of Barbies. She liked to play Teacher and Library and House and Nurse and all the stereotypical female roles. I went to her birthday party and cheated at pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. Our friendship ended when I refused to play some game... I remember I was like dang, you really won't be my friend if i don't play with you... 


Sharri - We met when we were about 5 years old, she was my BFF, my rebound from Melody :-P  We did everything together always. She'd call me and we'd talk on the phone, then I'd go over to her house, then she'd come and spend the night at mine, then we'd go back to her house, etc. Around 6th grade she started growing up in ways that I wasn't ready for yet. She started wearing hip clothes, she joined cross country and band, she wore makeup and had rigorous hair routines. Then for junior high she went off to a private school so I saw even less of her even though she lived just down the street. Then I moved away.


Joy - we met around 4th grade, became close friends and often walked to school together. Her family was "religious" a concept I knew nothing of then since both my parents are devote atheists. Her room had the usual kid stuff, plus a cross and WWJD posters. I loved a big old hand carved noah's ark and the pairs of intricate animals that sat in the parlor. She invited me to Sunday School and my mother firmly said no when I asked if I could go. I was fascinated by her and her family and their house. I was usually early when I stopped by on the way to school, so I'd watch her get ready. She always brushed her teeth and used mouthwash and combed her hair. (I didn't see a reason to do any of that!) Her mother was always clean and wore "fancy" clothes. Our big falling out was when I promised to go to one of her basketball games and totally forgot. Though I'm sure I did or said something else that lead to that...


**Brooke - we weren't the best of friends, but she often sat next to me at lunch in 5th grade because she didn't object to my lunch as much as the other girls did. I ate "weird smelly food" apparently. I think the other kids were just confused about my vegetarianism, but whatever. Brooke also had "weird smelly food" so it all worked out. (Her bagged lunch contained light tuna on four saltine crackers and carrots and celery every day. At some point I started swapping my desserts for her carrots.) One day I remember she asked me what my mom looked like. I gave some generic answer like "brown hair, brown eyes..." She said "no, i mean is your mom pretty?" I said yeah i guess so. "But is she thin?" 

On the playground and at school Brooke was as much of an outsider as I was. But behind her back the majority of kids made fun of her. They sucked in their cheeks and walked around hunched down, then burst out laughing. Brooke was short and slight and had concave cheeks. She asked me one day what the other kids were whispering about and when I said it was because of her face she started to cry. I never have been very tactful. 

She invited me to her house after school. I assumed her mom would come pick us up, but we walked instead. She lived several miles away, a hard walk for little legs. She and her mom lived in some other person's house, they shared a room. The room was stuffed absolutely full of knickknacks, clothing, makeup, a small bed she shared with her mom, and a treadmill. We played for a bit then her mom came home and said I must leave because Brooke had to exercise. I never really found out what (if anything) was going on in that family. But as a kid it really bothered me. Brooke moved away before 6th grade started.


Susanna - My arch-nemesis in grade school. She was almost as tall as me (I was taller than everyone else, my one advantage over other kids). She was blond, thin, athletic, snobby, and rich. Teachers always confused our names because "we were so similar". On the playground when I was reading or cautiously climbing the jungle gym, she would incite other kids to throw handfuls of sand at me. She was smart though, she so perfectly orchestrated these attacks that she never was the kid that got caught or in trouble. Looking back, our whole relationship is quite comical now.


Bruce & Chris - some rough and tumble boys that I liked to hang near on the playground. They provided protection from other kids that liked to tease me. They're the kinda boys that started watching South Park in 2nd grade.


Krystal - Her folks made their living by holding and betting illegal cock fights. I wanted to like Krystal, but she smelled so terrible and just always looked dirty. This was compounded by her pooping her pants one day in music class. I was just too germaphobic to handle being her friend. I remember her front porch was always covered with chicken cages and poo.


**Cindy - Her dad was the park ranger and it was common knowledge that she was too far involved with taking over her dead mother's role. I always wondered why she continued to live with him, why teachers or social services didn't step in. She later stabbed a teacher with a pencil, then threw a chair at a window and was sent away.

Hailey - I was tentative friends with this girl for a few years in grade school. She was a skilled liar. She broke into cars and stole things (mostly CDs) that she later sold on the playground. She sold me a Tamagotchi at a discounted price, but later stole it back. She also had an impressive collection of "dirty magazines", considering we were in 3rd grade...


**The Teachers:

1. We had an art teacher for less than two months who would bring in supplies for us to use from her own home. These supplies kept getting more and more "creative". I remember covering a whiskey bottle in colorful paper and scraps of cloth from old clothes to make a vase... She went away one day and never came back. I heard teachers gossiping that she was locked up in the asylum.
2. There was also a teacher who was obviously a domestic violence victim. She would come to class with mysterious injuries and lots of excuses. The black eye? I'm so clumsy, I bumped into a shelf last night. The broken arm? Should have turned on the basement light! She was gone for a few months to work things out at home and we had a substitute teacher. I didn't really like the sub as all we had to do was work on our readers, and I had finished mine cover to cover so I spent most classes sharpening pencils. I was in the hall one day, during a class time. Don't remember why, but I did wander the halls a lot and never got in trouble... Anyway, I saw my teacher and my substitute teacher arguing on a landing, then my teacher pushed the sub who tripped and fell down the stairs. My teacher was screaming at the sub about the lesson plan and that she should never sub again, etc. The sub had a bloody nose. The principal turned up and pulled the ladies apart and directed them to his office. He looked at me briefly and said "no students in the hall! Get to class!"

The rest of my teachers and classmates were quite normal. But really dramatic and strange things happened in our little town of misfits. I wonder sometimes that if I observed all this bizarre crap happening around me, what was going on that I didn't notice?
 
Feel free to leave your own weird teacher/classmate stories in comments!