Last heard the lovely ladies 3, we had said our goodbyes on the finale of the school play and we parted our ways. At this point I felt a strong connection to Big Girl, Lady Jayne and Ringer. They seemed like fun, good girls however fate would not bring us together properly for another 2 years… In the middle of those two years were probably the hardest of my scholastic career. Billy had just screamed out of the closet, bless him. However that is another tale…. (remember how chronology was not my thing…. pissing you off yet?)
We had entered our 6th year in secondary school. Up until that point it was a single sex environment only ever mixing in school productions or a tiny crack in the shutters at lunch. All other mixing was prohibited. Even the crack in the lunch wall was frowned upon. We had this one corridor where the two schools linked and we would talk to the girls during break. This is where the majority of the pubescent mating rituals would commence. Some teachers viewed this as a cardinal sin and I do believe their view was that some girl would end up impregnated in a 5 minute conversation in the hallway. That is of course my understanding of how it works.
Lower 6th as it was called (we had a lower and upper, why it wasn’t 6 and 7 is beyond me) this year changed all the rules. The sexes were mixed. I think this is rather ironic seeing as this is the point they choose to mix the two sexes. Hormones have reached a crescendo, females and males are introduced…. sound logic here. Of course for me that wasn’t an issue. I went to my first class that was English. I sat down beside Billy and two girls. The first girl was ‘Lexxy’. She was a gorgeous brunette, quite tall and oozed self confidence. She seemed very sure of herself and knew what was going on. The other was ‘Nadia’. Nadia was tanned, beautiful teeth and probably one of the prettiest girls in our year. Pretty but quite withdrawn. We talked to the two girls and instantly I found Lexxy a hoot. She was the chattier of the two and I knew straight away I loved her sense of humour. She had a sardonic sensibility that really appealed to me. I could tell as well that she was giving away the full story and this onion had layers. I remember thinking at the time that I would love to be there friend. I had a difficult two years myself and Billy and really wanted the next two to be great…. I would get my wish.
Over the next few days Lexxy dropped out of English, actually this was the only lesson she took, it obviously wasn’t for her. It didn’t help that the English teacher was a complete bitch. I’m not even talking slightly bitchy- the women was the word personified. One of the pupils walked in and instantly she looked at him with a steely gaze and said; “IM NOT TEACHING YOU. GO TO THE PRINCIPALS OFFICE!!”. To this day I have no idea why she refused to teach him. This demonstrates the women’s professionalism. She would also sit with her mobile out and text her ‘boyfriend’ at the time and giggle away to herself while shushing the class if we as much as moved our chairs into a better position. How this ‘English’ teacher taught Shakespeare was enlightening – “read it!”. She was clearly in a job she lacked any sort of passion for and was coasting from pay check to pay check. She had about as much interest as teaching as I do for becoming a professional footballer. Needless to say Lexxy had seen enough and decided to take a more structured class. She was more a science girl anyway so it worked out for the best. Nadia would remain with us, constantly complaining about the teacher and how much of a ‘cow’ she was. That was what out English lessons were like… good times. Thankfully for me I actually enjoyed Shakespeare otherwise my A levels would have been a joy with the amount of ‘learning’ I received.
The best thing about 6th year was the 6th form centre. It was an upstairs area exclusively for A level students. Fully kitted out with a quiet room, a large social area (which would only remain so for 1 year due to our shenanigans) and a café… yes a fully functioning café. No canteen crap for us! Many a day we would raid this little café of all its wears…. although I think It will have its own blog as their are too many stories to share from it. From the Alcoholic manager that worked there, to the students operating the till…. yes that’s rights… but more on that soon. The 6th form centre felt like an exclusive gentleman’s club or a V.I.P section in a nightclub. We felt like celebrities… in our own heads we were! I remember walking in with Lexxy and Nadia, we sat down in a little group of seating and they said; “these are our friends”. Low and behold it was the 3 thespians I had grew so fond of 2 years prior. What were the chances. I smiled, eat my pasta and we all chatted. I felt home.
More tomorrow. Lots more.
A Grievers Guide to the Galaxy 