9th grade. July.

Tamarind:

In between my classes, my filing job, my SAT/ACT prep course, and volunteering for Food for the Spirit on the weekends, I’ve been working through the books on the summer reading list assigned by my tenth grade English teacher. Next, I’ll be paging through the other books that will be covered during the rest of year in English class, along with those on my AP U.S. History syllabus. How to Get in College says that if you familiarize yourself with next year’s classes during summer, then you’ll have an easier fall.

It’s a lot of work, but it’s not too hard. It’s weird to think that I’m learning 9 months’ worth of Algebra in 8 weeks. And I’m totally getting it. Architecture, too. I like being able to concentrate on two subjects at a time, instead of 7 different classes. I also like meeting new people from other high schools in the area and from other colleges as well. We’re treated like adults at SVCC, because most of the students are technically adults. There are no bells ringing, no teachers asking us where we’re going. We’re responsible for ourselves.

I like college.

Lilo:

Ev. His name is Ev. He said it’s short for Everett.

I met him at the wine tasting event. He’s four years younger than me, and he’s really nice. We both grew up in Hennessey Park, but somehow we never officially met before the wine tasting. I did graduate high school the year before he started ninth grade, and he went to St. Francis while I went to HP, and he private school kids and public school kids kept to their own kinds, so our social circles didn’t overlap. Until now.

This is new and different. It’s easy. I’m happy.

Grover:

Okay, so… summer school’s not that bad. The people are cool, the food’s pretty good, and the teachers don’t get mad when you say something funny. Science class is the best. It’s not like regular class, where you sit and listen and pretend to take notes. We have books and homework and quizzes and tests and grades (somehow I’ve been getting As and Bs), but we mainly work in teams and create projects with connected parts and moving pieces. I like making stuff with other people, especially with my new friends Santino, who’s going into seventh grade at Parker West, and Divya, who’s going in to seventh grade at St. Francis. I feel like I’m learning more now than I did all last year.