The horror . . . the horror . . .

The horror, the horror. Sometimes I wonder if it’s worth it to take a day off. The room was a disaster. Guess who got in trouble? It was the usual list including my little friend Rodney. As usual, he left his notebook in the room instead of taking it with him. I’ve written “Don’t Leave in Room” on it in big, black letters. It doesn’t seem to matter. I’m so sick of seeing it in my room that I feel like throwing it out but I don’t want to give him another reason to slack off in class.
Ms. Morris, the counselor, approached me today. She said that she’d heard that I had a “meeting” with Rodney’s father. I told her no but that he’d had a “meeting” with me. She seemed to know what that meant so I asked her what the history was. All she would says is that it goes way back and the family still doesn’t “get it”.
Malcolm got a ten-day suspension for leaving his gang-graffittied binder in my room. I guess he’s got a history too. The school police officer was livid. I guess she’s worked quite a bit with the family and Malcolm is still getting in a lot of trouble in the community. He was one of the kids that they brought in this summer for a big gang mediation. That was supposed to be the end of it. Malcolm’s mom thought that ten days was too much but he’s had a history and he’s been warned before. Personally, I like the guy. He’s got a good sense of humor and he’s smart. I admit that he can get on my nerves but he’s usually polite—at least in my class. I’m not sure how he’s always getting in trouble but he’s smart enough that he could get into some real serious trouble.