Things I'll miss:
-Some of my yr 12 teachers I really loved:
- Ms P, my ext eng teacher who somehow managed to make it my favourite subject, because she was so engaging and just...plain nice. She's the type of teacher no one ever bitches about, people respect her because she's like one of the best English teachers in the school. She definitely knows her stuff, and she never has an issue getting even the junior classes to shut up I'll bet, because no one would want to miss a word of what she says.Even though she was the English co-ordinator she was still, well I don't know the exact word but humble, I guess? Still relatable. Unlike some english teachers at old school who think they are the shit.
- Mr C, one of my two maths teachers. He was pretty damn awesome too. Strict in terms of talking and stuff, but he really really cared, always around for help and had a really good teaching style that gets through to everyone.
- Ms S, even though she was my yr 11 adv teacher and left the school. Taught me yr 12 ext for 1 term though before she left in term 1 this year, so semi counts I guess. Basically one of those teachers who fully understands introverts in the classroom, never pushy. Had a weird sense of style (people always immaturely bitched about her fashion choices). But she was so intelligent, hilarious, sarcastic, quirky, knew her stuff. Pretty awesome, improved my essay writing skills by a tonne.
- C, the music ext teacher the principal hired for me after I complained about old music ext teacher. Most amazing teacher I've ever had. Has her doctorate. Working on her second one. Had in addition to that a law degree and an arts degree. Taught by concert pianists. Heck, practically was a concert pianist herself. But she was so humble and let me call her by her first name, not Dr whatever. Gave me a giant confidence boost. Gave me countless explanations on music and why it was beneficial and gave me a reason to keep practising. Told me tonnes of interesting stories. Looked like she was in her 30's even though she was in her 60's (that gave me a shock). Last lesson before my exam, stayed with me in the lecture theatre from 1-3. Then she had to go. Back then I always practised in the lecture theatre until 9-10pm sometimes (no one ever stopped me, I closed the door). She knew this, and guess what? That same day, she came back at 7pm and stayed with me until 10pm. Even though she was only paid for a 2 hour lesson by the school. Found me a last minute violinist. Came to my exam just for moral support, when my own piano teacher didn't give a shit enough to even call me afterwards or ever hear me play at school. Knew my examiners. Always arrived at school 15 mins before lesson started rather than starting 30 mins late like my piano teacher. Most amazing teacher I have ever met, even though she only taught me for a month. Insanely passionate about music in an inspirational way. Made me really jealous of girls who went to the musically prestigious school she taught at. Miss her more than I ever miss my piano teacher of 6 years, even though C only taught me for a month. Did wonders for my playing. I could go on and on about her. Told my principal I was excellent after the first lesson, even though I played crap for her.
-I'll miss the routine (sort of) and the feeling that going to school gives you some sense of direction.
-The occasional school scandals or gossips.
-The old senior study (BEFORE they got rid of it in favour of 'modern' furniture, equalling permission for junior invasion).
-Strangely enough, getting to play on the grand piano in the lecture theatre. Hated that thing for 1 and a half years until it finally got tuned, then it grew on me.
That's it, I think. Not too much stuff I miss.
Now things I WON'T miss, besides the fairly obvious:
-Some of the teachers I am happy to get rid of (as in really really hated, not just merely boring or disliked):
- Mr L, the music teacher was plain frustrating. Knew his stuff but was totally absent-minded in a really annoying way. Goody two shoes, scared of the music co-ordinator. New teacher who started the same year I did. Took him a month before he let anyone use the bathroom without having to consider it for 20 seconds. Took him even longer to let us work on the verandah outside one of the rooms, like he thought this was against school rules or something, even though he was supervising us? COULD NOT teach properly, didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with making me go into a classroom by myself while he taught the Music 1's. To rebel against this passive aggressively, I used to hide in a tiny corner of a room or work on one of the balconies of the music building where he wouldn't think to look for me. Gave me satisfaction when he had to spend 15 minutes looking for me and still failed to find me. Until a girl from Music 1 texted me saying he was now 'cranky'. Heck, I was the one who had good reason to be cranky, he never taught me and only checked on me for 5 minutes each lesson. Always took him 10 times longer to explain something than a normal human being would. Gets sidetracked often. So many things wrong with him. Didn't ask to mark a single musicology essay until the last week of school! Didn't give me back my trial exam until day before graduation, because he kept 'forgetting'. Procrastinated worse than I did, seemed absolutely relaxed about leaving my composition 3 days before it was due (heck, we were finishing it up at 7pm in a tiny practice room the NIGHT before it was due!) Also not to mention he freaking forgot to tell me I had to submit my portfolio with the composition. Had to ring my mum and make her drop it off before 3pm. Did not go down too well with music co-ordinator, who I accidentally admitted to not having done anything in my portfolio since it was last due a few months ago (because Mr L never asked me to). Gave both me and Mr L The Look, and the Tone Of Voice. Anyway, Mr L still owes me work from the last term of yr 11. Has lost a lot of stuff I've handed in to him. SHOULD NOT be a teacher, but the reason he gets away with it is because he is crazy submissive and non-confrontational. Scared of parents, other teachers, students too. Has a baby he can't hold properly, super tall, egg-shaped head, member of the rose growing society of NSW, wears polka-dot bow ties on occasion, proposed to his wife and forgot to take the tag off the ring. Screams absolute pushover. Because of this, I'm less annoyed at him than I probably should be. Funnily enough, has accidentally sworn in front of me ('shit') about 6 times, probably because so much shit has happened to me doing Music. Really funny when he blurts it out unexpectedly, hard to keep a straight face.
- Ms B, the music co-ordinator and ex-music-ext teacher. An absolute nightmare. Deserves her own blog post, all to herself. Worst thing I have ever met, worst teacher by far, most manipulative cunning arrogant bitch ever.
- Ms M, the yr 12 'transitions' co-ordinator. Where to start? No one liked her. I once said to someone, 'I feel like cringing every time I see that teacher'. Well, 5 other complete strangers I never talked to agreed with me. Fake smile, classic bitch-face. Annoying tone of voice. Told her my mum couldn't come to grad dinner because she just got out of hospital. So I asked for the $100 refund. Kept repeating to me that I HAD to find someone else to go with me. Finally I got pissed and said to her, 'No one else can come, and I'm not going to ask mum to get out of hospital just so she can eat dinner with me'. She got pissed at that, told me to watch my tone of voice and told me how rude I was being. Well, I have never been rude to another teacher besides her, ever. For me to be rude just goes to show the extent to which she was annoying. Later found out she gave 2 other girls grad dinner refunds, but not me. Even after she phoned up my mum to check up on the truth (like I would lie about that?) Grrrr...
-Expensive canteen, repetitive food.
-Bitchy office ladies. 1 of them was half bitchy half nice, another was really really nice, and the regular one was plain bitchy. Kept questioning my use of the piano in the lecture theatre. Had to phone up my ex-music teacher to double check if I was allowed (of course, she told her I wasn't). Looked at me doubtfully when I told her I got permission from Ms H, who's in charge of all the academic stuff and pretty high up. I wasn't about to graffiti the piano, idiot. Always always asked me for my ID or laptop when I got the key, in case I ran off with it and didn't give it back? Once when my new music ext teacher came to teach me, office lady purposefully wouldn't give me the key. Pretended it was lost. Yeah right, you only have one key to the lecture theatre??? Every teacher had one, but she wouldn't go and ask a teacher in the office for me. Made me run all the way to the music building, huffing and puffing, so I could ask music administration lady for hers. She was like, 'they definitely have multiple spares of that key'. So that office lady bitch was lying for sure. Then 15 mins later (looking pissed because I managed to get a key), came in to tell my music teacher she had to sign in at main reception, and we were already running late for my music lesson. Once when my ensemblists came to rehearse with me, she questioned my cellist bitchily when she took an extra chair from student services. Really?? God. Day of my HSC exam, kept giving us suspicious looks when we waited outside the lecture theatre, and kept questioning us. Took her awhile to let us wait outside the freaking door when it was my HSC, for awhile wouldn't even let us because she thought it looked bad for people to stand outside the door when parents were passing by. Well, I guess spending your whole career (25 years I think) being an office lady may do that to you.
-All the distinction between the different friendship groups. All of the groups had 10-20 people in them. Even more confusing, all these larger groups would be separated into about 2-3 smaller groups. There were 2 large groups of 'wogs' (everyone called them that). Filled with majority Lebanese and Italian girls, about 20 of them in total. Half these girls I'd say were annoying (loud, semi bitchy) and half were nice or ok. They were all loud, though. One girl in our grade hated them and once punched her fist through and shattered a window in the common room accidentally, because she was so angry that the 'wogs are loud during study periods', even though ironically she herself was half Lebanese, and quite bitchy too. By the way, none of these 'bitchy' girls were ever bitchy to me, it's just stuff you can tell from observing and others gossiping. I actually don't have anyone from school I consider I'm enemies with, maybe wasn't here long enough to make any. Anyway, the wog groups were actually considered 'popular'. There was the 'aussie' group who were also the 'popular' type. Filled with majority idiots though, and you could tell they were quite bitchy. Whereas the wogs were intelligent and got good grades (some of them), most of the aussies were the ones asking yr 6 questions in gen maths. The type to have super rich parents, fancy cars, ugly fake tans, blondes, skimpy outfits, do the 'cool' stuff with their uniform. There was the Asian group, about 15 people. All Asian except 2. The majority of this group were nice actually. About 3-5 of the super smart Asians were the condescending judgemental type who think they're above people who do general maths. But some of them were nice. Then there's the self-proclaimed 'nerd' group. All intelligent, full stop no doubts. God, I was actually jealous of their group because they were legit like the perfect group (well in my eyes). K was this one girl who always got first in so many subjects, I remember beating her only once in Modern and that was literally like, and insane feeling. And she was one of those really nice on the outside, bubbly, confident, nice looking girls who just happens to be super rich and super intelligent and have 3 older sisters who also went to the school and has a dad who is a medicine professor at the most prestigious uni. She was part of the debating dream team that won each championship since yr 7. To top it off, she was super nice (always complimented me after my performances, but didn't get to know her too well). Then there's her friend E, who is the daughter of one of the school deputys and has a twin brother who goes to our brother school. Everyone said she was a bitch but she'd never talked to me before so I never knew if she was or not. She basically was like Einstein. Topped 5 subjects by graduation (even more than her friend K), part of the dream team again for debating. Did like 8 co curricculars. These people I'll never get...they were all part of the nerd group (out of the 6 people who got like the 'best grades' awards, 4 were from that group). The entire debating dream team too was made up of that group. The super nice school captain was part of that group (and also topped advanced tying with E, I don't know how she does it). So yeah, that was definitely the nerd group. Then there was Apple's group. Oh God, Apple. Actually she was my only enemy (if we could call it that, because she was rude to everyone). Won't even go into how annoying she is. Totally brainless, C and I nicknamed her Apple. Apparently, made C cry in year 9 camp, and spat at R in the face during drama. Weird creature. Used to plagiarise Modern essays, then boast about it. Made my history teacher Ms P cry during parent teacher's. Apple's group consists of only like 7 people, one of whom may also be in the close-to-enemy-category. For reasons I won't go into because they seem to be pretty stupid (she's passive aggressive, so it makes more sense when you're actually in the situation). But her mum was the school librarian, and let me tell you her mum was a bitch too, who the heck tells of girls that are in the same year as their daughter at school? So I guess it runs in the family. The last group could be classified as my group, I guess. They were the typical 'let everyone in group'. Kind of like the classic 'loser group', but that may be a bit too harsh a word as there were like 17 people in my group, and this main group was split into 3 smaller groups: the people who've been friends since primary, the new people they've collected over the years, and then my group, maybe the genuine 'loser group' or perhaps eclectic mix of people. One thing is, the majority of my 17 person group were nice people. Even though there was pretentious G (the type to correct the teacher, read out her creatives in class, the type everyone asks what a certain word means), and even though there was crazy possibly anorexic girl with crazy parents who punched the hole through the window. But only about 3 people in the group weren't that nice, and even then they weren't full on bitchy and were always pleasant to me. And funnily enough, all of them made very good grades, except for the people I hung out with mostly.
So that leaves us with the people I hung out with in Yr 12. Gosh, let's just say I'm not proud to say I was 'friends' with them. Now I'm a bit of a chameleon, so sometimes I become a bit of like a mirror image of whoever I'm associating with. But let's just say, my small group that made part of the bigger 17 person group consisted of:
-EP. EP is your classic ditzy 'huh?' daydreaming clumsy absentminded low IQ type. Is like a sheep, wandered into our school in term 2 of yr 11. Super scared of breaking school rules, always freaked out if she was late to class by even a minute. Never did any work. Obsessed with 1D and TV shows. She thought we were 'friends' but I don't think we were. Just didn't know her that well, I never had class with her. Took a really long time before she would start actually talking to me and sitting next to me in free periods. She seemed to have no personality, that's all. She only did like 8 units at school, because she did another 2 at TAFE or something. Got horrible grades. It was almost like she was too dumb to have a personality. She even talks in a sheep-like dull tone of voice and looks like she's stoned half the time. Lets everyone walk over her majority of the time (except if they are breaking school rules).
-Ro. Oh God, Ro. We were 'besties' for almost the whole of year 11. She came in year 10. Liked bitching about all the other girls. Every. Single. Girl. In. Our. Year. She had something to say about all 120 girls. We were both in the Asian group until she declared to me, 'I don't like those girls'. So we kind of became loners by ourselves for awhile which was ridiculously embarrassing in a year group where there is no such thing as hanging out with one person and all the groups have at least 10 members, so I ditched her by the end of year 11. Plus, she had a reputation for weirdness, which was why she was friendless and clinging onto me. Was nice at first, seemed normal, we used to talk on the phone for hours and have milkshakes at Max Brenner and we'd hang out with her guy friends from her old school (because she'd only ever had guy friends from 7-9). She'd cry to me about all the bullying and shit that happened to her. Hey, when you're a new girl like me, you take whatever opportunity you get. Until I realised something was a bit...off about her. She was plain weird. She'd make cat noises, and greet everyone with 'meow' because she thought it was funny, even when it got old and annoying. She told jokes that weren't funny and laughed at them. She'd say things over and over again repetitively and melodramatically, she'd do things like tell me 'I'm so over school', every day for a week. Frustrating to hang out with because the only type of convos you could have were ones where you agreed with her complaints about school, life and her 'curry' parents. You couldn't talk to her about your complaints or issues or even just a normal harmless topic, because she'd lose interest and just nod and be like 'mmm'. One of her favourite phrases when she got bored of what you were complaining about was 'You know what Joanna? Sometimes you just have to...' and basically she'd lecture about confronting people and stuff. Basically every conversation involved her complaining about a teacher, or a girl, or her mum. Super confrontational (not with me, but with others). Complained about everyone to everyone. Soon realised she had a mental issue (serious). There was definitely something off about her, and she had attention seeking tendencies. Once shaved her head and got a wig for a month, then started going to school without a wig on. Why? Because her 'hair wasn't growing fast enough'. And she gave that as a reason to everyone, when she could have just said 'I donated it to cancer'. And then complained to me when people started talking about her, even if it wasn't in a bitchy way but more in a WTF who does that intentionally kind of way. Weird thing was, she actually enjoyed people bitching about her. I realised this after awhile, when she'd purposefully go out of her way to tell people she wasn't going to formal, or wasn't going on retreat because she didn't like someone, and then she'd complain about them talking about her and convincing her to go. Well, stop telling them you're not going then. And believe me, she was absolutely normal upon first interacting. The more I got to know her, the more she revealed her weird sides. She once told me, 'you're the only person I can be myself around' and I was thinking, um yeah wonder why. By year 12 I magically did some maneuvering and managed to ditch her for C and R, who weren't that much better but at least weren't mentally deficient.
-ES. Plain weird, cuts herself and promotes it, extremely sexual, claims she is bi (which I wouldn't have a problem with, except that I think she does it for attention), picks up friends in a snap and is besties with them for a month then gets herself a new one. Was on a scholarship and is actually intelligent but frequently gets in the forty percents for general maths, because she doesn't try and doesn't care. On the reserve olympic team for ice skating, is a huge horse rider too. Don't know her too well, because she tried the 'bestie' thing with me but we didn't really connect. She has tried it with everyone else in my 'group' too, and I'm only listing her here because her newest victim before graduation was EP, so she hung out with our group. Although I could tell she was already moving onto T as a victim, and going to schoolies with her and stuff.
-Rh. Rh was another weird one who considered us 'best friends'. Was in my music class, became 'friends' with her over a xylophone during 2nd music lesson. Extremely up herself about her singing abilities, even though she was just another average singer. Always tried to get me to tell her that the other singers in our class sucked compared to her. REALLY didn't take hints well sometimes, and was inappropriate too. Kept trying to get me to accompany her for HSC. Took her awhile to realise I wouldn't. Used to blame all her bad music and drama marks on the teachers, then got her mum to complain, then began making claims that the teachers were all JEALOUS of her musical and acting abilities. Couldn't even read sheet music, hadn't done elective music in junior years. Kept gave me annoying pep talks when I talked about my sucky performances. She never knew the difference between me being modest and me being genuinely upset about a music recital. Still convinced she will be a famous actress and singer. Legitimately. Naivest thing I've ever met, thinks she won't have to try for the HSC because she has already secured a spot at NIDA or a music college, when she's ranked bottom in Music 1, can't play keyboard or guitar and can't read sheet music. Her mum is crazy. Smokes and looks like a drug addict with smudged eyeliner and dried out fake looking wig like hair. Her mum loves, loves gossiping about other girls at school and also loves calling up teachers to complain about them. Also encourages Rh's arrogance, thinks it's Mr L's fault and complained to me that he was a 'dickhead', just because her daughter sung badly for her HSC (she was listening outside the door). After the final yr 12 music recital, me and Rh were in the foyer and I was waiting for her to get ready to leave as I didn't want to walk out alone. Her mum whispers excitedly with an annoying smirk on her face, 'Oh you girls should walk across the room to get a drink, so people can get the chance to congratulate you'. What. The. Fuck. No other words. Rh was partially responsible for encouraging me to complain to the principal about music teacher, and was also responsible for introducing me to concerta. So I guess she gets brownie points for that. Rh is especially annoying because she always harasses me to hang out with her and Ro (yes, she is the only person in the year who takes her seriously). I reject all the time, and Rh gets frustrated and declares me boring (only half jokingly).
Rh was best friends at first with C. I think I accidentally broke them up. C had told me about her mum's secret boyfriend/affair and stuff (C has a dad who lives with them). Then I semi mentioned it in passing to Rh one day as we were hanging out after school, this February before a music concert. I don't remember how the topic got brought up but I kind of casually said something about C's mum's boyfriend. Oh yeah, I think it was about how C's mum's boyfriend buys her expensive designer bags. Which C had never told me to keep secret, so I assumed R knew as they'd been besties since year 9. Well, turns out Rh didn't know. She was furious and hurt, because they were meant to be besties and C had told me when she'd only known me for a few months. Rh is the nosy type, and wants to ask about everything. C is the complete opposite. So am I. Sometimes, the less you ask about someone's personal life the more they share, because it becomes less of a big deal. Plus C has the lowest self-esteem ever, and would die if she thought someone was judging her. And I am absolutely non-judgemental, whereas Rh would gossip with her mum about it.
Then, there's the thing with Rh and C's mothers. C's mum (Chinese) got sick of Rh always wanting to hang out all the time with C (Rh gets really bad grades and so does C). One day C stupidly went home with Rh without letting her mum know. So her mum randomly called up Rh and told her to stay away from her daughter, as well as sending texts that claimed she'd call the police and would come to school and find her. Rh's mum, fuming, texted C's mum back and a digital catfight ensued. Let's just say, Rh's mum has a huge tendency to gossip about C with me. And now that the boyfriend thing had slipped out (my fault), Rh had even more reason to bitch about C's mum with her own mum.
Then there's C. Technically meant to be my 'best friend' after I unintentionally broke her up from Rh (though I was still 'friends' with Rh too, but I only had one class with her and 2 classes with C). See, C has the lowest self-esteem, ever. And she is naturally rude. For example, she will take things to use without asking, borrows money all the time without giving it back, do things like never bring her own calculator to maths and instead share yours, no matter how many times you remind her to. However, C is naturally rude, not bitchy. She doesn't realise these types of things are inappropriate. Also she is pretty dumb, so things like borrowing money without giving it back, which may be interpreted one way by some, may actually be because C genuinely forgets to return it, not because she is being cheap on purpose.Sometimes gets really sensitive in an immature way, or can't take a proper joke. They have both bitched about each other to me. I know this is evil, but I sometimes feed it for my own entertainment, because I get irritated by both of them. I feed one's bitching rant, then the other's the next week. I feel like the masterminder. Neither of them know I'm talking about one with the other, and C doesn't know I told Rh months ago about her mum's bf (although this, as I said, actually was unintentional). I don't consider them actual friends (never have, not my type and extremely irritating the both of them), so I don't feel bad about this. I got stuck with the leftovers I guess at this school. But I can't complain because in general, they aren't bitchy at all. Just irritating personalities. I couldn't figure out how C and Rh were friends in the first place. They are so different. Rh annoyingly enough loves to be the 'comforter' maternal figure pep talk type. She loves giving advice even when it's stupid, and gets annoyed when you don't take it. She genuinely thinks she is helping people all the time, and she is a nice person. Just annoying. C, as I've already mentioned, has horrible self esteem issues. Opposite of Rh, depressed rather than bubbly. C is shy not introverted (there is a difference). You can tell C is actually extroverted because she always wants to hang out with people, but doesn't because she thinks she'll be judged. C's the type to do things like not go into Oporto's because she thinks it's awkward that the manager saw her yesterday already, or keep checking her hair in reflections, or talk about how bad her skin is, or talk about other people's appearance. She's probably bad for my self-esteem, too. Clingy, wants to go everywhere with me, even the freaking bathroom. Can never do anything for herself, gets lost all the time. The only thing we have in common is our inability to participate in class discussions (although she takes it too far when she actually avoids Ms P and says she gets anxiety issues in modern), as well as the self-esteem thing as I have issues with stupid things too sometimes, but definitely not to the extent that she does. She's really unintelligent, but surprisingly we have okayly interesting convos and we can be alone together without being bored or awkward (which isn't the case with all of these 'friends'). She used to fight on and off with Rh non stop. Both C and Rh are easy to fight with, but I'm pretty tolerant. I have never had a proper big argument with anyone at this school. C and Rh had that falling out because of me in February this year, which is why we joined that big group (we used to be a group of 4 with S, who I won't even go into as I didn't know her that well). C and Rh and S triangle and jealousy issues and immaturity though...God, won't get into that either.
According to Rh, C used to always dig at Rh's appearance by saying things like 'you have a pimple', or 'your hair looks a bit unusual today'. I think with people who have the self-esteem C does, they tend to try make themselves feel better when they are jealous of someone else's appearance by criticising them subtly. C is a fast learner, though. She used to be way more annoying when she was less dependent on me and more on Rh, and she'd try that crap on me too. I quickly put a stop to it, as well as other things like the money borrowing (passive aggressively, as usual, but C is surprisingly perceptive). And now C is rarely that annoying because she's corrected old habits that worked with Rh, and she's learnt what makes me tick. She is more irritating in the sense now that she always puts her low self-esteem on display. I think with Rh and the pep talks and her 'assisting' people, C was more on guard. But with me, I try to act like I understand when she's like, 'that was so embarrassing'. She thinks she has so many awkward moments that aren't even awkward. So she has free rein to point all her awkwardness out to me because I'm non-judgemental apparently according to her (well on the outside I'm not).
Anyway, even now that we've graduated, C and Rh are still not on 'bestie' terms like they used to be. For the longest time Rh gave C the cold shoulder after February (and the bf thing, oh how how could C not tell herrrrrr, it has got to be the end of the freaking world according to Rh). Then they slowly started talking again like 2 months later. Then C went ahead and said something offensive/rude/stupid (she does this quite often to other people, not to me though because she's learnt what usually makes me tick. My rule is generally, say whatever you want about anyone you want as long as you are not subtly having a dig at me, because I can always tell when you're trying to make me feel unconfident on purpose. Whereas Rh didn't realise half the time, and believed what C told her). Oh yeah, now I remember why R ignored C once again. So C once called me and invited me to Westfield's for a haircut because she needed one. I was like, ok i need one too so let's go. Rh txts both me and C I think, and asks us out on the same day. C rejects, says she has tutoring because she doesn't want to let her know what we are actually doing (because she at that point was trying to use me to get to Rh). I on the other hand, invite Rh to the haircut thing even though I didn't really want her to come because she always has to control everything and lead (because I am pretty good at this type of crap and can smell trouble from a fair distance away, so know when it is better to just play it safe). Well, wouldn't you know it. All hell breaks loose. C lied to Rh, Rh is hurt. C frantically texts me and calls me asking for advice on what she should tell Rh (because C is shit at lying and handling these situations), and Rh calls me and goes on and on about C. Entertaining night for me, not-so-entertaining for them.
In the end, we decide to go to the haircut thing together after all (I made up some really good bullshit excuse for C, can't remember what), especially as Rh in a way is also a follower and can't stand the thought of not getting invited to something. Rh is the type that drools over party invites and goes out every weekend, even if it's with people she doesn't know that well. Classic extrovert. She gets 'bored' when she goes home, she says. We agree to meet at station. Rh arrives super early, C arrives next, I arrive last. Picture this. Rh is standing outside the station. C sees Rh there. Being the low-self-esteem cowardly awkward freak she is in these situations, C runs off rather than be alone with Rh after the night before. And believe me, C pulls the disappearing act quite well and quite often. I have experienced this multiple times, whether it be seeing girls from school she is intimidated by when we are out *poof disappears before they can see*, or at the YSL counter at Myer because she wants to buy that new concealer but then chickens out and is too intimidated to ask for a colour match *poof disappears*, leaves me to smile apologetically at shop assistant. So C disappears, but she is expert at this by now so Rh doesn't see her. I arrive next, see Rh, we go to the ticket machines when C calls me. Stupid C tells me really loudly over the phone about how she saw Rh but ran away because it was 'basic instinct' (another C is naturally rude and insensitive about her wording moment), but that she'll be there in a sec. I have an awkward expression on my face, and give her pointedly awkward replies until she gets it and is like, 'wait is Rh next to you'? Well duh, if you just saw her and I just arrived then what would we be doing, ignoring each other and standing 5 metres apart?
So Rh hears everything on the phone, and what she doesn't hear she either forces out of me or pretty much guesses it (because although naive, Rh is about average intelligence so not too dumb). Rh starts the whole hurt 'I can't believe she'd do that' thing. C arrives, Rh takes one look at her and leaves both of us. Apparently I later learnt that night, Rh went in a street corner and cried or something. Ahh, the drama and immaturity and irritating arguments. Me and C end up catching the train together to the city or something, C makes me spill everything. C freaks out, forces me to call Rh (because C is the type who hates when someone's mad at her, hates confrontations, always comes crawling back to people, although occasionally she does blow up suddenly when holding it in too long). C makes me tell Rh it's all a misunderstanding. Rh goes on the phone, 'That's bullshit. Tell her we're done' melodramatically, then hangs up. I pass the pleasant message onto C in a nicer way ('she doesn't want to talk to you'). But C knows her well, and goes, 'Is that what she really said?'.
So that night, more phone calls. Rh calls for like 3 freaking hours going on about C. C calls for 3 freaking hours after that, complaining about Rh.
I have to say though, neither C nor Rh is too likely to bitch about their friends usually. This was an exceptional circumstance, as they both may or may not have discovered from me (mwahaha) that one was bitching about the other to me. So I was leading them both on, but what they didn't know was that I to bitched with them about each other. Which makes me a bitch, but I don't deny it because I am one half the time, not gonna lie. Especially as I didn't consider myself actual 'friends' with either of them. I feel like a bit of a sadist. It was just some cruel entertainment for me, which I guess in retrospect I'm not proud of now. But I have to admit, that night the addicting entertainment wore off a bit even for me after hours of listening to them whine about each other.
And that was the end of C and Rh's friendship for 2 more months. Cold shoulder. As I said though, C has always been the one to go crawling back and beg forgiveness, not Rh. Mainly also because C is scared because Rh has started bitching about her to both EP and Ro as well as me. EP, as a sheep, follows, and Ro hated C from the beginning (bitched about her to me all the time, because back then C's rudeness rubbed me the wrong way too). Ro, who gets pissed at the tiniest things, would probably end up murdering C if they ever were stuck in a room together, because of C's rudeness and inconsiderate, inappropriate behaviour at times *which has gotten a lot better, as I've said*. So to prevent Rh bitching without feeling bad, C does this one day: apologises about the train incident thing (Rh claims it is more, much more than that and that they have way more major issues). Rh attempts to 'talk' to C about their issues, but C, not being the touchy-feely corny type that Rh is, doesn't want to. So from then since graduation, they kind of were on okay terms but weren't exactly friends, but Rh no longer really bitched as frequently about C either to me or anyone else, because one good thing about Rh is that she's firm with her own morals and likes to play the saint. Kind of like me, but with the opposite of the saint bit.
There were my three 'acquaintances' (by 'acquaintance' I more mean person I don't interact with on a regular basis at school, nor would I hang out with them on weekends. More the type you'd walk to the station and talk with rather than awkwardly ignore when you see at the lights, or the type you sit next to in class as a backup). These were P, V and T, all from the Asian group, though T was not Asian. P and V were your typical Asians.
V had recently returned from Vietnam though she was Chinese. They made her repeat year 10 so she went to the local public school before coming to my school in year 11. She was in the same house as me, same as EP, so spent quite a few swimming and athletics carnivals and house assemblies lazing around with them. Especially as we were all 'new girls' who'd come at some point in year 11, so I guess it was a bit like loners united. P was born in Korea. Both P and V were stingy with money despite being wealthy, were totally inappropriate sometimes in a way only someone who's lived in China can recognise and not take offense to, very distracting in free periods, obsessed with their respective home countries' TV shows and celebrities and music. But they were nice overall, and I could have the randomest convos with them. They were not judgemental at all so I always felt comfortable being stupid/loud/hyper/funny/weird with them. I probably would have ended up good friends with them if I remained in the Asian group.
T was someone I had quite a few classes with. Well only 3, but it was 5 to start out with before she dropped Ext Eng and I dropped Legal. She too was a new girl, so we kind of hung around each other in class. But T you see is actually really good at making acquaintances. Really interesting to talk to (liked to think of herself as intelligent and at first was really competitive asking me about my marks, but by yr 12 both her and I had given up. T, ES and I, all on scholarship, had become the scholarship rebels in religion. We talked all the time, never did our work, and probably came near below-average to bottom of the class). T is extremely judgemental and also a bit unintentionally racist, which makes her sound like a bitch (and is funny because she hangs with all the Asians). She's Eastern European/Canadian, and the tallest person my age I've ever met. But she is the type who is unconsciously judgemental, she doesn't even realise it. So she really isn't bitchy. She's genuinely nice and caring, and really I don't know why she's in the Asian group because she could belong in any group, she's that good at making friends. But she started out in the Asian group because her friend from her old school who she came to this school with together with was Filipino, and she kind of just continued being in there.
So yeah, no keeping in contact with anyone from year 12. I'll magically 'change my phone number'. None of them live anywhere near my area so I won't run into them again after HSC. Good to know I'm good at making fake friends. It doesn't even count as a frenemy, as I'm so good at bullshitting that even these non-friends think I'm besties with them. C is a rude low self-esteem at times irritating loser, Rh is a naive arrogant up herself delusional little girl, and we won't even go into Ro, EP and ES. Sad thing is, it's all joined. They all secretly hate at least one person in our 'group'. C hates Rh for obvious reasons, hates EP because she's jealous of her relationship with Rh, hates Ro because she bitches about C to all of us, hate ES because ES doesn't like her and never talks to her. Rh hates C because she finds her a lost cause (for someone who loves counselling people), though she is ok with the rest of them (only because we put up with her pep talks). Ro actually secretly hates me for ditching her (though I still occasionally tried to talk to her for extended durations), hates C because she's rude and hates ES because ES made Ro her newest 'bestie' victim then dropped her for EP. EP hates only C because she is a sheep and Rh told her to, and also because she is too dumb to realise if she should be hating someone. ES hates C and Ro, because she's simply sick of their personality traits.
Fondest school scenarios:
-Last music ext assessment task. Was due when I had trial exams on. Decided to just flunk it because it wouldn't count towards my HSC (as I was the only student doing the course, only external marks counted for 100% of my final HSC marks for music). So I put zilch effort in, copied and pasted crap from my last music ext task. Plus, I wasn't sure who'd be marking it as I had a new music ext teacher who at the same time wasn't really my teacher as she taught at another school. I'd already hinted to Ms H, the director of studies sort of teacher, that I didn't want psychotic ex teacher marking me ever again, so I thought she'd just get Mr L to mark it or something. Wrong. Psychotic Ms B double marked it with another teacher. Of course, realised something was wrong with my submissions. Got email from Ms H requesting a DVD to go with the submission about 3 days later (I was meant to record my own recital). I recorded this at a 'recital' (fake) at home, then gave it in, fuming because it wasn't even on the notification that I had to give in a DVD. 3 more days later, get told the DVD isn't working. So I upload it onto youtube. A week later, I get told I need to submit my portfolio too. I'm now thinking, WTF that wasn't on the notification either. So I just gave in the exact portfolio I gave in last time. Decided to play dumb, because I no longer had a proper music ext teacher to supervise my portfolio and shit (my new one was more of a piano teacher who never did this crap with me). Another week later, Ms H meets with me and tells me my work is 'not up to the standard I am capable of'. Surprisingly, Ms H is apologetic about it and nice about it. Offers to give me extension, then offers to have me do a viva instead. Of course I pick the viva. Get a 40 minute viva with psychopath and 2nd marker. Principal asked me about it the day later at the yr 12 lunch with principal thing, and I told her it was like 40 mins long. She said, 'that's a very long viva' kind of disapprovingly, so I assume psychopath was just out to make my life difficult by giving me one that was not meant to last 40 mins. End of story. Just was frustrated because I didn't take it seriously and would not have minded a D, but psychopath teacher had to go to Ms H and be all, 'this task needs to be resubmitted'. Which was ridiculous, because a proper HSC task like that, I wouldn't have been given a 'second chance' anyway. Nor would they have randomly been able to change it into a viva, or request stuff that wasn't on the notification.
-The time me and C decided to jig school, for the bazillionth time together. We had never gotten caught, ever. But the last time we did this, I almost did. Luckily it was a week before graduation. So, I got to school (late, as usual) even though I had a late start of 10:10 because of my free periods in the morning. For some reason, decided to jig because it was a Friday. Only had history (which C begged me to jig with her because she always was scared of the teacher making her contribute to class discussions), Eng ext, maths and music. Would never learn anything watching Pitch Perfect in music, never would concentrate last week of school in Maths anyway (self learn, it's general after all). Eng Ext I especially wanted to jig because some girl in my class wanted us all to share our creatives. I hadn't written one yet, didn't want to share the sucky one I wrote for trials, and it's stupid sharing creatives with the class when you're all getting marked together, just in case you subconsciously plagiarise a little. But she was ranked first in the course, and was the pretentious type who liked to show off. So she eagerly suggested this as a lesson idea, and for once Ms P had a brain fart and actually agreed with her. So Eng Ext, music, maths and history were pointless. Well, we may have gotten useful Indochina handouts but C (who was the only person I sat with in history on a group table) refused to go, and I wasn't about to go in alone because my 'secondary backup history buddies' were already squished onto a table that couldn't fit any more people. So we jigged. Off to the local Westfield's, was at Myer looking at baby clothes (for some weird reason). Get a text from a girl in my eng ext class. Will insert exact convo here:
M: Hey Jo Jo - one of the teachers is looking for you - where are you?
J: Which teacher?
M: Ms H? She wanted to give you something?
J: Shit (don't tell her I said that). Um.
M: Where are you?? Just tell her you thought you had a free.
J: Wait is she still looking for me?
M: Yes. She wants you to go and see her. Or if you can't find her send her an email. She needs to give you something - dw you're not in trouble. I told Ms P you forgot we had class.
J: Thanks. Dammit I'm nowhere near school at the moment though. I'll figure something out
M: Just get back asap and say you couldn't find her until then
J: Ok I'm gonna say that I was eating lunch with C near the station because I thought I had a free (this excuse was a pretty bad one because Ms H would then have checked the sign out sheet, and not only would she discover we hadn't signed out, but C was jigging alongside me as both our names wouldn't even be on the sheet).
So, after that, C and I both power walk back to school, get there around lunchtime. Despite our best efforts, we run into one of the teachers, Mr A, waiting outside the back door. He's one of the teachers part of the 'college leadership team' or whatever the heck it's called, because my school had like 6 deputy principal level teachers who all had random roles no one ever could figure out. Luckily, his daughter was in our year at school so he wasn't a mean teacher (this daughter also coincidentally, or not, will be getting dux for sure. She was ranked 1st for 5 subjects). Just our luck. Mr A just smiled, was like 'what were you girls doing', and I was like, 'uhh we had to buy stuff at woolworths'. Luckily he did not find it suspicious that we left and returned to school with our bags on, nor did he find it strange that we walked from 'woolworths' to the back road of the school, when walking to the front gates would be three times faster. He was like, 'did you girls sign out'. Before C could say anything, I was like, 'yeah we did'. Of course we didn't because our names wouldn't be on the sign-out sheet, as we had scheduled classes on not free periods. We walked off before he could get too suspicious. We see my house coordinator a fair distance away, already peering at us because we have our bags on, so we practically make a run for the common room before she can realise who we are. I'm then like, crap now I have to explain to Ms H why I wasn't in English, and why it took me half of lunch to find her when the staffroom is a pretty obvious destination.
By the way, Ms H was one of the teachers who interviewed me for the scholarship, so I always feel super-awkward around her. Especially when I do something I'm not supposed to. I guessed she had wanted to give me my music ext trial task back, so I knew she wasn't searching for me because of some stupid awkward reason. But I'd just made it awkward.
So I run up to the staffroom. Lady at the staffroom reception tells me Ms H is at a 'meeting'. So I go back to the yr 12 common room, and C tells me 'Ms H just walked in here and back out 10 seconds ago'. The common room has like 4 doors that all lead out to different places, and Ms H had just walked right out of the school (using the common room door so she could see if I was in there too I suppose). I gave up then. I was like, FML whatever. Even better, I skipped school the next Monday because I woke up 30 mins late and didn't give a shit about going, especially as I'd already been late 6 days in a row and would rather have an 'absent' than another 'late to school'. The next day, a couple of girls tell me Ms H was searching for me the day before when I'd been absent. Icing on the cake. Ms H eventually gave the pile of crap to one of my music teachers, who gave me the C graded work back during the graduation rehearsal. Thank God, never had to speak with Ms H ever again, so dodged that situation pretty narrowly.
-The time I jigged Maths the period before an english exam. Another Ms H scenario, because she's in charge of all that academic stuff. About 10 girls jigged, 7 of them were from my math class (because we had the most lenient-with-the-roll teachers). Stupid, stupid, stupid, because it was pretty obvious. I mean, everyone would have been in class that day as everyone does English, and everyone had an English exam next period. But I was desperate, hadn't even memorised quotes yet. So got interviewed by Ms H and Ms P, my eng ext teacher who also happened to be english coordinator. Ironic, because we got to jig English whilst they questioned us. Pulled me and other girl out of English class, then we went to the office where the 8 other girls from other English classes were waiting. I was like, crap, here comes another Ms H situation (I'd already had multiple awkward meetings with her about Music issues). Harps on about unfairness in an assessment situation, blah blah blah, then goes around the circle and makes us all say why we skipped maths. One girl was like, 'i had cramps'. What an idiot. Ms H got a dangerous look on her face and was like, 'But well enough to do the English exam the period after?' She had nothing else to say. LUCKILY, I got to avoid Ms H's interrogation as girl before me started crying and going on about family issues (yeah you skipped class because of family issues, sure). Ms H leaves the room with her. So that left Ms P, my ext eng teacher, to question me. She is way less intimidating, so I was just like, 'Um yeah I was studying for English in the library'. Then she let me go. That holidays they sent a letter home to my mum about detention, and that was that. No marks deducted, thank god.
-Performing with R. Even though R is one of the most naive delusional 'friends' I have. Thinks she is going to be famous actress/singer one day (LEGITIMATELY THINKS THIS). But that yr 12 concert was really fun actually. I wasn't even nervous about accompanying her on keyboard in front of all the students and teachers. I'll actually miss the school recitals, and I even enjoyed the k-12 concert when I performed my ensemble piece...
-Year 12 muck ups. Toilets, graffiti, posters, costumes, streakers, failed streakers, lockers with 'spider webs', honey on railings, 100 cups of water on stairs. Awesome hilarity. Enough said.
-Practising in the lecture theatre after school. This was torture for me every day after school, but for some reason I miss those nights now. For like a month, I practised in the lecture theatre every single day on the school piano I'd do my exam on. I'd do this during all my free periods, and after school until at least like 6:30pm (unless there was something on in the lecture theatre). Week before the HSC I practised until 9-10pm every night. My mum gave me hell for it and complainedcomplainedcomplained about picking me up, but those nights of practice in retrospect were actually quite relaxing. I never asked for permission to do it, because I knew they would never let me in unsupervised at 9pm. I used to be sneaky and just run there straight after school and not emerge. Ahhh, memories of going to 7-11 or Sushi place to buy dinner and Gloria jeans to get my caffeine hit. Memories of taking naps on the carpeted floor of the lecture theatre. The principal and various deputies knew I was in there after school because they always came in the foyer to use the toilets, but they turned a blind eye. Well, until 5pm when they left that is. I doubt they'd be so lenient if they knew I could be getting murdered in there at 9pm. One day the security guard caught me, when I was leaving at 9. Was pretty stunned, but everyone loves this security guard because he's really nice and he is legit a 70 y o old man. Everyone jokes that if a murderer came into school, everyone would be protecting the security guard rather than the other way around. He insisted on accompanying me to my mum's car, and asked me if I had permission from the principal to be there that late. I kind of skirted the question. Luckily, the day he caught me was also 2 days before the exam, so it wasn't like I'd be keeping it up for much longer. Another funnier incident: left lecture theatre at 7:30pm to walk to the station. Just my luck, the yr 8 dance has just started and there's all these girls walking in, dressed in skimpy little outfits. My house coordinator sees my try to leave stealthily, still in my school uniform and carrying my schoolbag. Asked me what I was doing, and I innocently said I'd been practising in the lecture theatre for music (figured I'd go down the play dumb route and pretend it was perfectly normal and not against school rules to be doing this 4 hours after school). Then she asked me where my blazer was. Yes, you read correctly. When there were 13 year olds dressed in short dresses around us.
-All the yr 12 traditions, even if they got annoying sometimes. Dom's day, the crowning, the theme launch, morning tea with the sisters who prayed for us, yr 12 breakfast, yr 12 grad and mass and dinner, getting our jerseys, all the group hugs before exams, the last eng ext lesson, giving teachers all the class presents, the entire year group eating lunch together in a huge circle on the small hockey field, the ex students lunch, the year book quotes, homeroom farewells, homeroom picnic, yr 12 badge, yr 12 candle and lantern and random nicnacs from school, probably tonnes more...
-Amusingly enough, getting the most outstanding academic excellence awards for Music 2 and music extension (2 presents woot), then having like 6 girls/parents congratulate me afterwards. Yeah, nice to know I'm ranked first out of a class of one for both courses...
-I have to say though, I didn't mind the atmosphere of my school too much. It was quite nice, the way it was a medium sized year group of 120 girls. Even though all the groups were so distinct from one another, I reckon I would have been happy at this school if I'd been there since, say, Kindy or year 7. After a semi-rocky first couple of months in year 11 when I was...schoolsick? For my old school and friends, but pretty soon I got used to it. It's weird graduating from a school where you still seem to be discovering new shortcuts and staircases every few weeks. I haven't even been to the art or food tech or science rooms. Have only been to school reception twice, the college boardroom once, and middle school twice. But I have to say, it still feels familiar to me in a weird way. I actually would send my own kids to this school, because the girls who have been here since Kindy are all nice people who get good grades and who have formed strong friendships (it's really obvious). That is, if they got rid of the occasional bad teacher or actually fixed the music department and upgraded the pianos. Otherwise, I daresay I've enjoyed my time at this school. Surprisingly enough I really liked random things, like my homeroom. I hated homeroom at my old school because my homeroom teacher was boring and homeroom was boring and no one ever interacted and nothing ever happened. This homeroom however, I'll miss. My homeroom teacher was hilarious (though a bit dumb ish and probably thought I was a weirdo). She was so nice and caring. I'll even miss the yr 11's, they were hilarious and baked us macarons and cookies and cake and everything. Most amazing farewell picnic ever. God, who knew I'd get almost sentimental over graduation...but the mass even, was gorgeous and the opening 'Lanterns' song with us walking in and all the lights off and us holding candles and the ribbons from the choir balcony thing. And the signature bears and the funny speech from the yr 11 girl, and the awesome speech from this girl in my grade, and the really sad speech the vice captain made, and all of their final speeches and stuff.
So yeah, these my main yr 12 memories in a nutshell. Obviously mainly for my own future benefit, I reckon I'd be quite entertained reading through all this. It's not very well written and full of ramblings so it's more of a journal like entry, and probably too confusing for anyone to understand but future me.
No comments:
Post a Comment