The Intersection of Hwy 6 and Junior Year

Party because I didn't want to write a paper and partly because I've been kinda emo lately, I did something I haven't done in a long time. I drove. I just drove.

I ended up on Highway 6, the road I used to take home . . . when I still went home. I became really homesick all of the sudden. I wanted to go to sleep in my old bed.

And wake up the next morning to the sound of my mom's knees cracking as she walked down the hall to the kitchen to get her coffee. I would get up, take a shower, then plop back down on my bed and pass out. I would wake up 20 minutes before school started, scramble to get my books, and jump in my car. I'd speed down Highway B at 80mph so I wouldn't be late. I'd get to school just as the bell rang and run to Pre-Calculus. I wouldn't sweat that I probably didn't have that day's homework done; I'd just do it in class. The same would be true for my next two classes. Junior year was a breeze.

Fourth hour was my time. I would go to 'help' Mrs. Breeden with her speech class as her assistant. Mrs. Breeden was in Kazahkstan for a large portion of that year adopting Mia, so I got to do whatever I wanted. Most likely I would just go to lunch for both shifts. I might stay in the Green Room with the Freaks: Adam, Luke, Brian, and Brandon. I'd listen to their tales of publishing thier own 'zine, making movies, and planning parties. They would be gone after that year, and I, thier apprentice, would be left without any mentors.

Or I might go to my mom's office and hang out with the drama nerds: Mark and Marlena (and their creepy relationship), Stephen, Ryan, and Joe. That was back when my mom thought the world of me, and loved my friends.

Or I might go the Commons and hang out with my popular friends: Clair, the future Homecoming Queen who hated the title. I would take her to Prom that next year. Lauren, the stuck-up prude / track star. She was so haughty and boring, and only I laughed at her lame jokes, mostly because they were so bad. Bart, who would move away half-way through the next year, leaving me depressed. He was more than a friend, he was a role-model. Jerry, the bumbling, lovable lug. He was always so "melonlochy." Zack, who could somehow pull off being a prick and a nice guy at the same time. And, of course, Kim. I had had a crush on her for two years and would for two more. After finally gathering up the courage, I would eventually ask her out twice (once to Prom) only to be rejected twice.

After lunch I would get on the bus with Kim to go meet Justin at the Vo-Tech, where Mr. Marley taught Physics. While Marley tried to teach us, Squeak, Justin, and I would teach Kim how to do the homework. Somehow she got a better grade than all of us. Only feeling slightly guilty for taking advantage of Marley's too-niceness, we would skip out of class early and buy snacks in the breakroom.

After we were shuttled back to the High School, Kim and I would go to Journalism, where we would quickly scribble out an article for that weeks newspaper, so we could go down to Mrs. Meneely's class and bug Justin and Kyle in the back room. Watch them play putty-ball or play with the extruder. Sometimes we might take outings, walking out of the building as the principal Mr. May watched us leave. Kim was supposed to go to Prom with Kyle that year, and that was why she couldn't go with me when I asked, but he changed his mind, so they didn't end up gonig together; however, I didn't know this at the time and so I asked Claire.

After school, I'd stick around for Academic Team practice. I was on Varsity that year. Or I might go to a play rehearsal. We put on A Midsummer Night's Dream (I was Puck) and The Boy's Next Door (I was co-stage manager and Clarence).

Then I would hang out at Marlena and Brandon's house for an hour or so before going off to work at Wal-Mart.

After I got done at Wal-Mart I would wearily drive back home and slide into my bed.

I woke up half-way home. I pulled into the first driveway I came to and turned around. Lighting a cigarette, I started back to Kirksville. The headlights did a poor job of lighting the way home on the dark highway in the moonless night.