inSIDE man

I know comic books.
I've got every issue of West Coast Avengers and Batman: Confidential.
I can name every x-man from 2007 back on till '63.
I've seen Star Wars 16 times. The Matrix 7, even though my mama don't approve.
I've mastered Pokemon silver and Blue too.
And you don't want to face me on the basketball court.
I've been in 2nd grade before.
Third grade twice.
But never fourth. I've been in tough scrapes before. But when I started at my new school I knew things would be different. I missed the 1st quarter. Spent my September at home watching cartoons instead of being in class, learnin' . But I got my reasons.

ClearBridge Elementary was a rocky place. Kids didn't respect the teachers. And big kids didn't respect ANYbody.

That way I knew first day on the playground I better watch my back. Unfortunately, recess wasn't until the afternoon. I still had to start the day at the crack of 7:30 like everybody else.

A few years in elementary has taught me a few things.
1. Never trade your milk for a candy bar. ( something too good to be true usually is).
2. Win over the bulies first and the rest will follow.
3. Walk in like you own the place.

It helps that I'm taller than almost all the kids in the fourth grade. But room 20 would still be my Yu-Gi-Oh death match if I didn't perform early. Too quiet and they smell blood. Too Weird and you might as well give yourself the wedgie.

I introduced myself. Name, place of origin, taste in ice cream flavors, comics, and favorite T.V. show.
Everything panned out. I was funny too so the Clowns let me be.

The first lesson of the day was PE. Not too hard.
Then was Math.
I HATE Math. There's usually only one answer to any question but the code is so tight you'll never know it.
The teacher wasn't like the rest though. He let us play Math games. On the first DAY! He babbled something about TEAMWORK and builidng community but all most of the kids knew was that they were getting away with fun on the BIGS turf.

Let me tell you about the BIGS. They run the school, for sure. They teach all the classes, gaurd all the doors, hold all the keys. But that don't mean they know what they're doing. Heck, half the time some of us kids got more sense in them. But you gotta be sneaky to get by. They're Dataheads too, alwasy jonesing for a kid to have another statistic or label--but that' another story.

At lunch time, I saw a little kid getting picked on. Some 4th grader was picking on some poor second grader half his size.
"you shouldn't call people names, kid," I said
"he's my brother. butt out."
"i don't care if he's your mother, your cousin, or your best friend. How would you like it if people called you names?"

He knew I had a point.
It was my FIRST day. I'm in the school a couple of hours and already I'm telling people what to do. I should know better. Keep a low profile. Stay out of business that's not mine But hey, if not me then who.

I could tell it was going to be a long year.....

TO BE CONTINUED..................