An arbitrary memory from each school year

Kindergarten-Mrs. Volk would take a beautiful chocolate cake off of the piano and light a candle when it was someone's birthday. We'd all sing the song and the birthday kid would blow out the candle. I wondered why we never got to eat the cake. Finally after months of this incredulous waste I inquired of my teacher. That's when I learned that the cake was made out of clay!
1st grade-There was a little girl named Patti Ann in my class. One day a group of us were playing school. An argument ensued about how to make a number 7 on the blackboard. Being the artistic one, I preferred to make a little extra line on the end of the top part. Patti Ann got so made at me that she bit me on the finger and left teeth marks!
2nd grade-My friend Lisa moved back from Canada and was in my class. I felt a bit protective of her because her mother had died.
3rd grade-My teacher, Mrs Hayes had a favorite saying when someone did something she disapproved of. She would say, "Look at Shane." I was always very puzzled by this, but would always look over at Shane Peacock to see what he was doing. He never seemed to be doing anything noteworthy. I finally figured out towards the end of the year that she was saying "Look ashamed."
4th grade-I became the author of a famous short story series about a dog named Charlie. I would draw wonderful illustations to go along with the stories. Then one day, a little girl in my class copied me and started another series about a dog...who looked uncannily a lot like my Charlie. I can't remember what she called her dog, but I was very annoyed. I was also annoyed that the teacher would let her get away with it!
5th grade-I hated competative sports. I was sure that I was terrible and everyone would laugh at me. Especially those awful boys! One day we were sent out to play kick ball with Mr. Hickey's class. I kept getting in the back of the kickball line so I wouldn't have to kick the ball. Mr. H found out and made a spectacle out of me and yelled at me in front of the whole class.
6th grade-I had a crush on a boy named Joey. (not sure why looking back on it). He didn't exactly feel the same about me. One day I left a stick of gum on his desk. When he found out it was from me, he threw it out.
7th grade-In math class I sat next to a boy named Craig. We nick-named our teacher "Turtle Woman"...never calling her it to her face of course. Anyway...Craig made me laugh quite a bit in class. We'd always get in trouble for laughing and talking.
8th grade-Jill sat next to me in science class. I got excellent grades, but Jill never seemed to catch on. I used to try to help her to no avail. One time during a test, I let her copy off of my paper which I knew was wrong. I felt terribly guilty. I was actually relieved when Mr. Bellini had us stay after class a few days later to "talk". Of course he had figured it out. It scared me half to death and I never did it again.
9th grade-Another science class memory. Mr. Moriarty stood 6'7" tall and was extremely intimidating at times. He enjoyed controlling the class through fear. One time he asked a question and no one raised their hand to answer. He got irritated by this and said, "I know people know the answer to this question. When I ask it again, I expect to see some hands." He then asked the question again and no one raised their hand and he yelled at the top of his voice, "Get those hands up there!" Every hand shot up in the class, including mine. I prayed he would not call on me because I didn't know the answer. Luckily, he didn't. The boy he called on knew the answer. Phew! How I hated that class!
10th grade-It was towards the end of the year and we were all feeling a bit mischievous. There was a boy named Salim (from India). He and I engaged in a water gun fight in one of the stairwells. A teacher saw us and started to object when suddenly another teacher named Mr. DeMatteis jumped out from behind a wall and began pelting us from water from his own watergun...he even made machine gun sounds with his mouth. The first teacher shut her mouth and left.
11th grade-I remember taking my time getting ready for school one morning...a little too much time. My mother told me I was going to miss the bus. I assured her that I would not. She warned me that I better not. I ran from the house, up the street and around the corner just on time to see the bus pull out of the neighborhood. I had missed it! What was I going to do? I knew my mother would be angry and she didn't have a driver's licence so she couldn't get me to school. Besides that, she ran a day care center which made it quite impossible anyway. I couldn't walk to school because I'd be late. What to do! What to do!!! I just stood there praying and then I saw one of my neighbors leaving for work. I flagged her down and begged her for a ride...which she complied! Praise the Lord!
12th grade-Tom sat next to me in music theory class. He would click his pen and reach over and "color" on my jean leg with it. This would fake me out because he was really clicking the pen point inside of his pen and not out. This would amuse him because I would always look. One time I decided to do it back to him, only by an accident I clicked the pen point out. I reached over to "color" on his jean leg only to discover that I really did it! We both did a double take. It was quite funny, but embarrassing. At the end of the school year he wrote this in my year book: P.J., It's been a great year in Music theory. You're a great kid. The only thing is that you owe me $400 for the soap that I used trying to get the ink out of my pants. Just kidding, yu only owe me $200. Have a great summer and good luck in college. Love, Tom.