Hello
there, friends!
We're
sitting down today to talk to Terrence✨,
a 17 year old girl who is in her Senior year of High School at
Silverleaf Academy✨.
Terrence
is a nice young lady, and we appreciate her willingness to sit down
and discuss all things writing, as she herself is a writer as well.
Me
– Good morning, Terrence! How are you today?
Terrence
– Hello, Rea. I'm doing well, thank you for asking. How are
you doing?
Me
– I'm good. Thanks! Now, Terrence, I just want to first say
thank you for taking some time out of your study hall to speak with
me today about this month's writing challenge. I understand you're
having a discussion with another person, a… Bear with me here, his
name's in my notes…
Terrence
[wrinkles nose] – You mean Morty?
Me
– Yes. Morty. I understand you two are in disagreement as
to who gets “Screen Time,” as he called it, first? What seems to
be the difficulty? Is there a way I can maybe help diffuse this
argument somehow?
Terrence
[rolls eyes, sighs heavily] – Well, first, let me just
start by saying it's not that I have anything against him. I really
don't. I rather like vampires, even those that have ZERO sense of
fashion…. Or a sense of boundaries and personal space. Now, my
issue with him lies solely with the fact that my story was the one
that came up first. Mine. His came up later. He's pulling rank in
age, telling me I'm just a high schooler, and he thinks since he's
been around seemingly much longer than I have, well, then he should
get the attention first. Now, I ask you, how is that fair?
Me
– I see. I am aware of how things played out, as far as
whose story came up first, and you're absolutely right that it's rude
to “pull rank” and say that just because one's older than the
other, then that's just rude. No, that's not okay at all. Have
you tried to talk to Morty and explain your side of things, that
you're the one who's first in queue to be written about?
Terrence
[bitter laugh] – Yes. Well, that is to say I tried to
talk to him.
Me
– By your laugh and tone, I'm understanding that it didn't
go very well?
Terrence
– Are you kidding me? No. It didn't! I mean, I'm bullied at
home. I'm bullied at school. And now I'm bullied by some
jackass who can't seem to get with the times and carry himself better
than he does? You should hear some of the stuff he's said to me.
He has tried using puns. He has tried just being domineering and
telling me that since I'm female, I'm secondary because he's male and
therefore I'm the weaker sex. No, bucko, that's not how this works!
Me
– Yeahhh… He's tried that one on me, too, to convince me.
And now he's pouting off in a corner. He'll live. Sorry he's being
such a pain.
Terrence
– So, yeah. I mean, he and that guy you know could easily
be besties, you know what I mean, with all the chauvinism being slung
about! [eye roll] What a JERK! Tell me, do
you have to let him have his way? Do
you have to even give him the
satisfaction of attention to his story? I am not going to make a big
stink of things like he's doin', but I can't understand why pigs like
that get any attention at all. It doesn't seem right. Guys throwing
about their weight like that. It's almost like they're
overcompensating for what they're clearly and obviously lacking. Ugh!
Me
– Okay, Ter, it's understandable you're frustrated, and
it's understandable you're disgusted with Morty's behaviour, but can
we stop lowering to his level? Yes? Now. My question for you is how
do you want your story to be written,
because clearly you've got something to say, too. I can see it in
your face, your posture, your body language. I mean, we all have
stories to share! What is yours, how do you
want to be portrayed in the written word? I know about the bullying
at school and home. And I promise you, you're not alone in this.
Don't tell Morty I told you this, but he's aware from first-hand
experience, too, kiddo. Trust me, hurt people hurt people. It's
just ingrained somehow. It's a learnt behaviour. This is in no way
whatsoever to sweep this whole fiasco under the proverbial rug, nor
is it to make excuses for his clearly obnoxious behaviour. It's to
hopefully shed some light on why he's being such a heinous pain in
the arse.
Terrence
– Blah blah blah. He's an ass. Plain and simple. The jerk
tried to hit on me until I told him I'm only 17. He backed off after
that one. Something about, “Did it hurt when you fell from Heaven?”
Seriously, who comes up with this crap?! How is it even possible that
nonsense works to get a girl's attention! You want to get my
attention? Just come up and say hello and start talking to me about
books, or hell, even the state of honeybees, something other than
just ridiculous pickup lines! It's insulting! Not to mention
irritating.
Me
– I getcha. I do. One time, this was many years ago now, I
had someone come up to me and ask me if I had ever used Windex in my
laundry. Quite a strange question, so I told this person no, and why
did he ask me such a thing? His reply (though funny now) was just
disgusting: “Because I can see myself in your pants!” How about
NO. What a douche canoe, y'know!? Now, enough about Morty. Tell me
about YOU. What's going on in the world of Terrence?
Terrence
– Oh, you mean other than the fact that I'm flunking PE and
Chemistry? Not too much, just trying to get through the rest of
my high school years, counting down till graduation (not too long
now… FINALLY), and anxious to get to college, as far from here as
possible, start my life and in a new place. And let me quantify
on those two classes as to why I'm failing. PE – because I don't
like dressing down in front of the other girls. Part of the grade the
teacher gives is our attendance (punctuality is a MUST. I swear she
was toilet trained at knife point!), and I tend to wait till AFTER
all the girls are gone before getting dressed for class, when I can
be arsed to dress down in the first place. Chemistry – Well… I'm
not sure what's going on with that one, honestly. I feel like I'm
either bored or I'm not really registering what the material being
presented is trying to teach. I mean, don't get me wrong, the
teacher's wonderful. I really like his style, he's funny and all, but
the book work is difficult and my parents don't really know how to
help and refuse to hire me a tutor. None of the kids in my class want
to sit down and explain things to me, and getting to school early
enough in the morning before class to talk to the teacher isn't a
possibility because I live in the sticks, but I'm hoping that my
Guidance Counselour will let me just take the D- and transfer to a
different course.
Me
– A D- isn't too bad, though. It shows you're at least
trying to understand the material being presented. I getcha,
though. D- is not good when trying to get into a decent college. What
are your plans, speaking of college, as far as a major? Have you
given it any thought, or are you just going to get your pre-req's out
of the way and decide when that's all done?
Terrence
[smiling, this time sincere] – Oh, I've been accepted into
one of the best schools in this country. I'm going to be attending
Ocean View School of Fine Arts✨. My goal is to do a double-major in
writing and graphic design, with a minor in ASL. I'm going for
my Bachelors in Graphic Design and in Writing. No small undertaking,
I know, but it'll keep me busy and I can land a really good job after
I graduate. Once I get my career started, I'm going to go back for my
Masters in Writing and in ASL, so I can teach. I'd love to work with
Junior High kids. My grades overall aren't too terrible, and I've
managed to survive this long without anything lower than a B, but
this Chemistry course…. I can't seem to get the information to
stick! And PE? Well, eh. I do a lot of exercising on my own, anyway,
out of school. I walk everywhere, I even go jogging when the
weather's decent. Basketball is a pastime that I don't seem to get to
do as often as I'd like, but I'm seriously considering buying an
elliptical one day. My cousin and I went to a gym just to check it
out, and we enjoyed using their ellipticals, so now I want one.
Me
– Congratulations! I've heard of Ocean View. It's a great
school, to be sure. I'm proud of you. And hey, look at it this way:
no Chemistry courses to endure! I understand you're getting high
marks in your language courses in school, that's wonderful. I really
struggled in tenth grade, but I was making good grades in Spanish
class. Funny how that works out. Do you know any ASL now? Or are you
starting from scratch when you get into OV?
Terrence
– Thanks. No, I know a few things, simple little things
like, “What's your name,” or the alphabet, stuff like that.
Rudimentary at best, but I want to learn more. I had some deaf
friends in elementary school, that's how I learned the signs I know.
Me
– Well, at least you've got some groundwork laid out, so
you're not completely lost at the beginning. I went to a retreat and
had a couple times where I was really confused, but they were a good
bunch of people and quite helpful. One social faux pas on my part,
that was quickly corrected and a good laugh was had. Well,
Terrence, do you want to meet up later this week, I'm going to sit
down with Morty this week at some point and discuss his side
of things, and then we'll go from there. I'd like to gauge where
everyone's coming from before making a final decision on what to do
about this whole fiasco. I don't want to leave you or him in the
lurch and I'd like to give you both equal keyboard time.
Terrence
– Oh, yeah, sure, no problem. I've got homework to do,
anyway, so yeah, if you want to meet up later this week, I'm free
this weekend. Just let me know, okay? Oh, and if you wouldn't mind,
can you please talk to Morty and tell him enough with the obnoxious
behaviour, and please, for the love of all things shiny in the world,
check his teeth before interacting with people! Good grief. Man's got
braces and he's always, always got something stuck in his teeth. It's
disgusting.
Me
[laughs] – Yeah, will do. I'm always on him about that, but
like with using vaseline to keep his hair slicked back, you know he
won't listen. Only thing we can do is keep reminding him. Poor sod.
Alright, go do your homework, and we'll catch up this weekend and
touch base. Thanks for speaking with me today! See you soon!
-fini
✨All
names and establishments herein are purely works of fiction and thus
the intellectual property of myself, T Rea Okerberg. Any
copyright infringement on the part of myself is purely coincidental
and unintentional. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED!