Diary Friday

Okay. Two successive entries from my sophomore year in high school. So many elements here just make me LAUGH. The first sentence of the first entry makes me laugh.

They crack me up. I go from one thing to the other with lightning speed. And … I bring up a person in the second entry who I literally have not thought of for … 15 years? I laughed out loud when I see what I wrote about him. I have not put his name here – but I think my friends will be able to guess who he is from the description. I despised him. hahahahaha

MAY

Thursday.
I am going to Revenge of the Jedi tonight with Mere. God, it feels like I’m going to a Broadway play! I’m so excited! I’ve already made up my mind to SCREAM when he comes on. [You have? Sheila. Please don’t. Also: “he” is Han Solo. There is no other “he”. There still isn’t. Don’t argue.] We’re going out for pizza before. What a teeny-bopper night!

Oh, DTS is going to the Prom with Michelle! I am SO happy for her! She is such a good kid and they always laughed hysterically at each other’s jokes. I’m not even jealous or anything. [HAHAHAHAHA] I’m still great friends with him.

Today I found out that DTS and I sit at the same seat in Biology. I looked down at my desk and saw his name written on it in his square writing. So in 7th period I went up to him and said, “Hey guess what!” (in a joking way, eyes wide) “Shame on you. You write on your desk in Biology.” And he went, “How do you know? Where do you sit?” “Right there.” And then he gave me that look of his – the secretive grin, eyebrows raised, Steve Martin-ish. “Wait till you see what I write tomorrow.” And then he tousled my hair past the point of no return.

Jayne thinks he should have asked me to the Prom. [hahahaha!! Jayne sticking up for me!] It would have been nice, but oh well. Everyone is telling me to ask him to my junior prom next year. He’ll be in college by then. [I actually did end up taking him to my senior prom. Then we proceeded to not see one another for 18 years. And recently, we have gotten back in touch, and have been hanging out on occasion. SO WEIRD. Very cool though!!] I know he likes me so maybe he’d go to the Prom with me, even though he’d be out of high school. I’m just glad he’s my friend. He’s the only boy that I can be myself around. He seems to just like me for me.

10:00 I saw it. Oh, Lord. I wanted to SCREAM when he came on! [hahahaha Look how I adjusted my mania down. “I WILL scream …” to “I WANTED to scream.”] He broke my heart! I still like Empire Strikes Back better [Good girl.] – because there was more talking, and more emotions. [Uhm, yes. That is called ACTING. And there is definitely more ACTING in Empire than in all the other ones. It’s one of my favorite movies. Ever.] This one was probably the funniest one, though. I thought the Ewoks were a little gross. [Good girl.] And Harrison!! Oh — he is so sensitive. But he’s hysterical. I really hope he does some modern-day comedy – like a Neil Simon script or something. He would be great in something like that. [I still feel that way. Even with all the Indiana Jones stuff and his action movie stuff, I think Harrison Ford would TRULY be at home in drawing-room comedies.] All of them, I think, have improved as actors. Especially Mark Hamill. [I am sure Mark Hamill would be thrilled to know that a 15 year old high school girl thought his acting had improved.] We had a blast. Going out for pizza and then getting frantic when 3 people lined up. [Mere – we must have been at Italian Village so we could see the movie theatre across the street!!] We waited in line for an hour.

I studied my Biology. The frog test is tomorrow. [Of course it is.]

Friday.
Fun day. No homework! I really fucked up my English paper on Merchant of Venice. I didn’t follow one train of thought.

We have this kid in our class – he is such a jerk. He cheats on everything. Every single test we take, I can see his eyes moving around. If you sit next to him, you have to huddle over your test so he doesn’t cheat. He also has no ear lobes. He wants to be a model. We take the same school bus – and once he tripped on the stairs into the bus – and he acted like it was the stairs fault. He is a total shit-head. We were reading The Dutchman and Mr. Crothers had us discuss it and when we were discussing it, he said, “Well, if I saw this N-word lying around –” He drives me crazy! (Not Crud. No-Lobes.)

[First of all: I think it is hysterical that to me, in this context, “Not Crud. No-Lobes” makes perfect sense and needs no explanation. “Not Crud. No-Lobes”. Uh-huh. Know JUST what you mean.

Second of all: students all referred to Mr. Crothers as “Crud” or “The Crud”. Believe it or not, we all loved him and he was one of the most popular teachers in our school. We would refer to him as “Crud” TO HIS FACE. IN CLASS. “Crud … when will the midterm be?” etc. But apparently he did not reprimand No-Lobes when No-Lobes used that offensive term in class. I see now why I hurriedly described The Dutchman as “with black people in it” – I was setting up the conversation about racism – but still!!! That’s all I can say about it?? “with black people in it”????? ]

Oh, I came into Biology today and sat down, and the light hit my black desktop in a way so that I could see the pencil written words: “Sheila You Dummy”. Guess who. I started laughing hysterically. It was neat that he remembered. I imagine him sitting there scratching out a message for me. So I thought and wrote back: “You’re a sly fox, DTS.” See, when we were in the play Peter Cottontail together he played Reddy Fox, the conniving villain – and the way he played him – Michelle and I would sit backstage and laugh so hard that we could not hold down the noise and then we would get yelled at. He would run his hands together and sneer and cackle. We called him a sly fox. And when he signed a Sadie Hawkins picture for me he said, “Oh, I’m a sly fox.” I AM GONNA MISS HIM NEXT YEAR. And all the seniors. They are such a part of our school. I’ve become friends with some of them and it’s gonna be so weird without them there. DTS’ hair is kind of long now and he looks exactly like a Beatle. When he signed my picture he left this enigma on the back: ‘So you see Sheila, we are the burroughs of New York. I’m Brooklyn, you’re Queens, but no man is as big as an island. Except Man Hattan. And Ed McMahon — he’s at least as big as Hawaii.”

We have a great 3 day weekend ahead of us. 2 more weeks until the play! And we’ve had only one rehearsal on the stage. Terrific. Oh, well. It’ll pull through.

HAPPENING REUNION TOMORROW! [This was a religious retreat thing I went on my sophomore year in high school] Betsy and I are taking a bus up together at 9:00 am. Jay’s gonna pick us up at 10:15. I can’t wait to see him! And Judy and Gordy and Sue — I miss them so much already! I’m sleeping over Maria Campana’s house tomorrow. I’ll bring this book and let you know what’s going on in my muddled brain and twisted-up heart.