The Countdown Begins: Ninth Grade- Part One

After I graduated the eighth grade, it was time for high school. I chose to go to a vocational school instead of my assigned high school because the boy who I liked since the fourth grade, (who was also my neighbor) went to that school. He was in a grade above my own. And I knew that I needed to go where he went so that I could see him every day. LOL!! There weren’t school buses available to go to this school. So, I had to take the RTA. (The RTA is Cleveland’s public transportation system.) I was able to talk my mom into going to this school because it was a career-focused school. I honestly didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life at this point. I just knew I wanted to go because Tony was there. On the first day of school, I walked to the bus stop at the end of my busy neighborhood road and waited for the bus, listening to music on a secret Walkman that my mom and second stepdad didn’t know I had. (My friend from eighth grade gave it to me at the end of the year, so I could listen to music when my mom and second stepdad weren’t around.) I waited. And then, Tony walked up to the bus stop. I was SO excited and full of butterflies. I said, Hi. And of course, that was it. (Hello, I was an insecure introvert. So, anything more than “Hi” would have overwhelmed me at the time. HAHA.) We rode the bus together sitting separately and I was SO excited. Not only would I get to see him every day, but I also would get to ride the bus with him to and from school. 

We got to school after two bus rides downtown. I walked into the school not knowing anyone. (I mean Tony and I weren’t exactly friends. I was always too shy to talk to him up until this point. Other than saying “Hi.”) I went off to my assigned homeroom, and I met a couple of girls who ended up becoming my friends for the school year and my social media friends to this very day. We were given tours of the different career program environments so that we could choose which career program we wanted to take, besides our normal core classes. I ended up choosing the culinary program. It was the program my friends were taking, and it sounded the most fun. My mom did not take the time out to teach me how to cook, other than scrambled eggs, spaghetti, and mashed potatoes. So, I was excited to learn how to cook. AND… we got to eat. I mean what kid doesn’t want to have the opportunity to eat food while they are in school!?!HAHA. 

Fast forward a couple of months later, I met two other girls that became my friends who weren’t in my culinary friend group. They were neighbors and really good friends. I remember talking with them throughout the year and they would tell me about their other neighbor named John. I ended up getting his phone number. After one of my girlfriends told him about me. I wasn’t allowed to have a boyfriend or even allowed to talk on the phone with a boy. So, I would sneak when my mom and second stepdad weren’t home to talk to him. He went to the Cleveland School of the Arts. And he played music. And because I loved music so much, I thought he was the coolest person. Until he introduced me, over the phone, to his friend Reggie. Reggie was a singer and went to his school also. He was a cousin of Michael McCary from Boyz II Men. And I was so excited to have a friend who was connected to my favorite music group. Reggie and I hit it off well. We talked all the time, for months actually. And became really good friends. I liked Reggie. We laughed. And he would joke with me about Wanya (My crush from Boyz II Men.) How he sang with his head. And how one day his head was going to fall off into my lap while singing to me. (It was funny at the time. LOL!) Reggie’s friendship meant so much to me. And I knew that I needed to meet him face to face….

Because things were so controlled for me at home, I decided to take back some control over my life. I thought it would be a good idea to start cutting classes so I could have some freedom. I started small. I would cut lunch, and my friends and I from the culinary program would go to Burger King down the street and get food. Or we would go across the street to the community college and get lunch from their cafeteria. We would always be really careful about sneaking back into the school. Until one day we got caught. I remember sitting in the principal office just crying. Because I knew how much trouble I was about to be in. (Even though my mom once told me that she used to cut school too.) The principal was nice and told me that he would wait to call my mom until I had the chance to tell her myself. But he was going to call later that evening to also tell her. I was so scared. That bus ride home I was full of nerves. I knew it was about to be bad. I got home, and my mom wasn’t there yet. I did my homework and all of my chores. So that maybe that would lessen the trouble from the news I was about to share with her. She eventually gets home, and I tell her what happened. I told her we only cut school to get lunch because the school lunch was gross. (I mean that was technically the truth, right!?!) I surprisingly did not get into too much trouble that night. I think maybe because my mom used to cut school, she was more lenient with me at this moment. Or maybe she was tired from work. Or maybe my plan of doing all my homework and chores worked. I’m not sure. But my actions did not go unpunished though. I had to start taking a sign-in sheet with me to each class and have my teacher sign it, to prove that I was actually in class. This did not stop me from cutting class. I just got more creative…. Part two next week.