Student of the Month

When I was in 8th grade, I wanted to be Student of the Month. The first two people chosen that year were both good friends of mine, Cathy K and then Katie A. When Katie A was announced, I decided that I should be Student of the Month too, and why hadn't they already picked me? I made an effort to be a better student (participate in class, blah blah-- I already had good grades and turned in work on time, what else could they want from me?), and wrote "SOM" on my hand as a reminder.

One day we had a substitute in 5th period English, Mrs. Paulsen's class. That was a great class; I had lots of friends in it. The sub read the day's announcements, including one asking for nominations for Student of the Month. We'd never heard this announcement before, and it was obviously directed toward teachers, not students, but our sub read it aloud, oblivious.

So I raised my hand and nominated my best friend, Christina B. The sub wrote down her name. Then Christina nominated me. The sub wrote down my name. A couple other people did this, I think.

Long after the ink "SOM" had washed off my hand, I got called to see Mrs. Schreiner's, who tole me I was the Student of February. I think Christina was March.