Descriptive Essays (The Unexpected)

Posted by Jasir Massey-Campbell in English 2 - Block on

This school-day afternoon would be one of the memorable days of my life. Today taught me how to always expect the unexpected. It all started when my classmates and I had just walked  into our classroom from our 11:35 lunch. Still filled with energy, we are going through a tough transition from a fun intense game of good’ole american football to a quiet learning environment. Smiles were painted on everyone’s faces, laughter filled the air and the 6th grade classroom smelled of old furniture. We all stood around chatting to our friends, waiting for the teacher to instruct us to sit down. Most of us were in the corner of the room where our small library was. No one really reads there, but it was a nice place to hang out because of the couches. Not all of us were misbehaving, there were the “goodie two-shoes” the “teacher’s pets”, Jake, Annie and Jamie,  who sat diligently waiting for the teacher to arrive. We didn’t really like them much, they made everyone else in the class look terrible, even though in reality it was us who made ourselves look terrible. Our teacher June Ghondi, walked in the room. She was from Kenya and had a deep accent where she said every word deeper than normal and held on to the last syllable of the last word she said for a second too long. In her thick Kenyan accent she yelled.

 “Class! Please take your seats!” Everyone quickly sat down at our assigned desk. Now, class, please take out your creative writing pads.” 
We all did as we were told. Our “creative writing pads” are plain bright yellow note pads. Everyday we were expected to write for a hour and half. It could be a poem, short story and anything inbetween. I picked up my yellow no. 2 pencil and began writing my thoughts down. Line after line I was writing about life and how life just wasn’t fair. Some people were born rich, privileged and some, out of their control were born poor and into poverty. I began rambling about where I stand in this spectrum and realized I was extremely privileged. “What to write about now?” I asked myself. “Shhhh!” yelled some students. When people do this it makes me ponder on the fact that by them telling me to “Shh”, not only did they make more noise than I did but they are simply making noise. So should someone tell them to Shhh? If so, then there would be long never ending “shh-ing”.

“Jasir!” June yelled.

“What...”

“Stop your daydreaming and get back to work!”  

“My god...”

I looked over my shoulder and you can see the other children smirking. I don’t get it though. There are 20 plus other kids in this classroom and she only picks on me. I know that I am not the best student in the world, or the most respectful, but I don’t do anything that no one else has done. From the first week I stepped in this classroom I knew that she had it out for me.  Other kids were talking, actually there are some talking right now. But of course June does nothing to them.

Ironically after I said that June began barking to some kids at the table on the west side of the room.

“You! Get out of my classroom!”

“I’m sorry I’ll-”

“No,  Get out now! I told everybody to not say a word. C’mon now, get moving.” She said sarcastically.

The whole classroom grew wide smiles, but did not dare to laugh out loud in fear they would be the next person being sent out. Three children began packing their bags. There were 5 clusters of desk in June’s room, and each cluster was made of 4 desk. This left Annie, one of the teacher’s “dolls” all alone. As they were exiting the room, you can hear all of them talking under their breath.
“If anyone wants me to give them feedback on what they have written, you can come to my desk.” June said.

Liliana, who is also apart of the teachers pet clan, quickly sprung out of her seat and ran to the stool next to June. The rest of the class began to acquire the desire to speak with her. Twelve of us had our hands raised. June knew our hands were raised , but she didn’t turn her head, trying to give us the impression that she doesn’t recognize us and no one wanted to speak because they did not want to be sent out. My question was simple. I wanted to know when our next draft of writing was due. My arm was fatigued from football so I dropped my arm and picked my pencil up after. My friend Imani was holding her hand up the longest. You can tell she was impatient because she kept saying  “Spss” and frantically waving her arms back in forth, in hope of capturing June’s attention. She began to whisper to Hoshea who was sitting on the desk across from her.

“Imani! Go outside if you want to talk to Hoshea. Hoshea you join her so you can finish your conversation.*
“I was asking her-”
“I don’t care. I said no talking. If you had a question you ask me.”
“But you-”
“I am not trying to hear it!”

This time people were not laughing or joking. I am not going to get kicked out. I told myself. Minute after minute someone was being kicked out of the classroom. Anand who was one of June’s favorites was even kicked out for saying thank you to someone who picked up his pencil for him when he dropped it. This kid named Rich, who was usually a troublemaker, and a person who talked during class was just as silent as me. Some kid next to him was talking, I couldn’t tell who, because I didn’t want to be falsely accused and get kicked out.

“Rich get out!” June yelled.

“THAT WAS DONAVAN!”

“That was me” Donavan said.

“Donavan get out too!”

Rich sat back down and continued his work.

“Rich I thought I told you to get out!”

“But Rich just admitted it was him?!”

“OUT! you’re talking now aren’t cha?”

“Oh my GOD!” Rich replied  

Rich was silent but because of his reputation, he was also thrown out. I looked up at the clock. 2:25, ten more minutes to go then I am out of here!. I looked around the room and you would not be able to tell there was a class going on in here. Only 4 kids remained in the classroom, me, Gabby, Liana, who was still hogging the teacher and Annie. At the end of class, June walked to my desk.

I thought to myself. What does this bat want now?
“Jasir.”
“Yes June” I said in an innocent voice
“I am very very proud of you...”
When she said those words to me I was astonished. She was proud of me. Those words caught me off guard. I would never bet on her to have ever said to me.  I did not only learn to expect the unexpected but I learned that I am a good student. I learned that being the cool guy is not always the “cool” thing to do. A smile arose on my face and a sense of accomplishment filled me.
"Wow” This was all I could say.  

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