My story started in seventh grade. I would say I was the “average seventh grader” but I seriously wasn’t unless you count being a Christian, band kid, choir kid, student council president, theatre kid, author, reader, singer-songwriter, polyglot, Mathlete, contortionist as an average seventh grader. In that case, yes. I was an average seventh grader. I’m Augustine Allegro, and my story started when I met Rory. Unlike Rory, I had a rather substantial social circle. And by that, I mean I had too many friends. As an introvert, that kinda annoyed me. Lots of things annoyed me then, the word grimace, misuse of saying OCD, when my plants were too dry, snow, little stuff like that. My parents actually named me Augustine because it means magnificent. Magnificent and fast (music term of course, I’m a very fast learner, not so fast runner) is what my full name means. Seems accurate to me. When I was invited to an extra after-school thing, I had three people in mind who might have wanted to join. Cory Davenport, Emily Addams, and Mateo Gonzales. They all were different, especially Mateo, and hated each other. I liked making people make friends and it could be a way to make them able to be happy in the presence of each other. I didn’t have any friends until third grade, and I don’t think I’d be able to go back to those times with the people I was around all the time. I started with Cory, the hardest to talk to of the three. It wasn’t because of his aura, it was because he was as stubborn as a stain in a white t-shirt. He was in pre-algebra with me so I figured I’d ask him there. Pre-algebra rolled around more quickly than I’d thought it would. When the time came, I walked over to him to ask him about after school. “Cory,” I whispered. “What?” Cory asked. “Miss Poirier needs help after school. Do you want to help?” “I don’t really want to,” He responded. “Will you just do it for science?” I begged “What does that have to do with- you know what, nevermind. I’ll be there.” I grinned, my plan was working. Maybe not all hope was lost for Cory. Next was Emily. Emily wasn’t the kind of girl to help with flooring issues; she was the kind of girl who wrote hearts for her Is and periods and had acrylic nails on 24/7. She wasn’t the type of person I would usually talk to, but hey, I was trying to break social boundaries. The only class I had with her was language arts. The number of kids in my honors language arts class was excessive, even to me considering that some kids in that class didn’t even capitalize their Is. Lucky for me, the class had Emily in it. I usually wasn’t the type of person to pass notes in class because it seemed like it was something people in the 90s would do, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Before class started, I scribbled my message on a Post-it note and handed it to Lucas, the kid next to Emily to give to Emily. “What the heck is this?” He asked.
“Can you just give it to Emily?” I pleaded. “Only if I can join in on whatever you’re doing.” “Why would you want to go?” “I’m bored.” “What do you-” “Look, I don’t have time for your questions.” I sighed, I was going to have to invite him either way, “Fine. Meet me after school in the greenhouse room. We’re going to help Poirier with a flooring issue.” “Okay. Thanks for the info June,” He responded. “Did you just call me June?” I questioned. “Short for Juniper, right?” I was appalled, “First of all, my name is Augustine and I go by August, and second of all, you and I have been in school together since Kindergarten–I was in your second, third, and fifth-grade class! How can you not know my name? It’s not even that hard to remember.” Lucas shrugged, “They’re both summer months.” I sighed. “Can you just give the note to Emily? Which, by the way, is the girl sitting next to you if you didn’t know,” I asked him, sounding as sassy as I intended. He gave the note to Emily and watched as Emily read it. Emily glanced at me and nodded. Two out of the three people I wanted to ask were invited. It was time for Mateo. Teo was a little bit different than the others I had asked. He was a little bit more reserved and quiet and while he seemed like the kind of kid you’d want to avoid as a public schooler, he wasn’t like that. Teo might have gotten in trouble multiple times, twice including the cops, but he was changed and I knew it. The only issue was convincing everyone else that he changed. Teo only had one class with me. That class was Spanish II which was an extension class. At Carmine Middle, you had an hour that was called extension time. There were multiple things you could do for your extension time, such as take a shorter class you were hoping to take, or just have some free time. I took astrology and Spanish II for my extension time classes. Extension rolled around more quickly than I expected, which meant it was time to talk to Mateo. “Hola, Mateo,” I greeted him, sitting down in my seat behind him. He waved. “Me and a couple of others are helping Poirier with a flooring issue in the greenhouse after school today. You in?” He nodded. “See you after school.” ~~~ next: to be released first: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1032225293/ previous: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1032225293/
