The rest of the day was pretty much same. One may think that there is nothing in middle school curriculum that could trouble someone with a doctorate degree in sciences. That would have been true in a fiction novel. The problem is, half a century is a too long time to remember middle school tidbits, especially when they change each decade. Even sciences curriculum is not set to stone as one may think. Even geography, chemistry, and mathematics have disparities.
Most important commercial goods, and literature pieces aside, even the definition of a meter, the unit, changed over the decades, let alone civil law. Global warming, mega infrastructure projects, and big scientific leaps effected education and my children's curriculum was completely different than mine in three decades of time.
They were still teaching 5 kingdom system instead of 3 domains back in the late 90's, probably because to same reason as they thought there were more than 100,000 genes. Human genome project was still not over yet! Pluto was still a planet, there were no reason for an anti-terrorism law, coding and robotics were graduate level studies instead of elementary.
All in all, I knew all of these things, but some mental adjustments were needed. Thus, I skimmed the books of each class while listening teachers' instructions. First week of the school was always slow. A short meet and greet with each teacher followed by rules and regulations. Only if there were more than one lesson in a week would the reacher start the lectures.
A notable exception of this was Mrs.Wilson. She was one of the first science teachers that made me love the filed and choose my future occupation. She was a strict teacher that demand excellence and that was probably the reason why she left in the middle of the semester.
It turns out, she was the sister of the husband of one of my maternal aunts, and a high school teacher instead of a middle school one. I should have learned this in summer break next year whene and my familt were invited for a small vacation as guests at her beach house. Not this time around. Alas, I never learned why she left in the middle of the semester, even if it was willing or not.
Slow start allowed me to talk with plenty of the kids in the classroom. In the second recess, I was literally attacked by Elsa Torres, the girlnsit in front of me in the classroom. Elsa was a head taller than me, just a little bit shorter than Sienna and Desiree. She had waist long cherry blonde hair braided as fishbone and lovely green eyes. She had fair skin and freckles along the bridge of her nose. Alas, despite her lovely appearance she was a tomboy sported quote a bit muscle under her uniform, and right now she was pretty much pissed due to the stunt I have pulled earlier.
She crossed my way as soon as I left the classroom and conforted me, almost physically.
"Hey, what was it in there? Why did you do that?"
Elsa was the middle child of 7, and maybe due to that she was always quite confrontational. She had a strong sense of justice and didn't tolerate any type of bullying, physical, social or emotional.
Her hands were already on her hips and she was looking down to me in the middle of the hall. She was a good girl who wore her heart on her sleeves, but also quite easy to offend. I remember something like that happening before too, just not this early, so I wasn't surprised.
"Hello, as I said I am Alex." I said again with the best smile I can muster, pretty sure it looked plastic. "Sorry, I was trying to prove that I know everyone's name despite leaving early yesterday, and you were just there." I tried to sumarize what was happened.
"Yeah, you were beaten to a pulp." She jabbed. "Black eye, protruding lip and all..."
I was pretty sure that I was too dark skinned to get a real black eye right now, but still tried to climb the situation down. "Yeah, started a fight I can't finish for something stupid, thus someone else finished it for me. You know, boys..."
"Yeah, boys are stupid." She defleated a little bit. "So... No mocking then?"
"Nope, no mocking. Sorry if looked like that. I really wish to become friends." I said cringing inside. 'Fuck nakama power. Most of these kids never seen manga or anime yet anyway.'
"Friends..." She said with a curt nod and turned to walk away slowly. Don't judge me. Each of his own. Also trust me, if you think you can win an argument against a 12 year old child then you don't have one yet.
I took a tour around the school and tried to remember things I forgot decades ago. The most popular sport was soccer for boys in East Middle. Basketball was a not so close step child and hockey was impossible in this climate. Girls preferred volleyball and track and field. It has to do with physical education teachers because all of them were either retirees from state soccer and volleyball or coachs of basketball and athletics.
Puberty has not only different physical effects on boys and girls but also different social effects too. Especially early or late puberty. Interestingly, early puberty is much more common in girls than in boys. Girls who mature early usually have low self esteem and more prone to being mocked and bullied, depression, anxiety and eating disorder. Not that people know these kinds of things or how to deal with them in late 90's. But worst of all, early-maturing girls usually attracted to older boyfriends and enter into abusive relationships more often than other girls.
Boys who mature early on the other hand, usually have high self esteem, and experience aggression and difficulty managing these feelings. They were more prone to be the bullies, and abusers, most of the time unintentionally.
Regardless of the gender, teenagers who experience late puberty usually catch up to their peers – they just start developing later. But in the meantime, they usually be self-conscious or embarrassed about not being as developed as their peers. Sometimes these things left more lasting self esteem problems.
As I said, I was a late comer and it showed plenty even with just a look. Early ones were mostly the girls, especially my future bully Naila, and prospective school slut Thalia were easiest ro recognize. They were almost at their adult height right now despite being at freshman middle school, 5'8" (173 cm), but they couldn't be more than 100 pounds (45 Kg). Their height was similar to Desiree's but they were far more developed.
Unlike Desiree's lanky frame, Naila was wired with muscles with thick thighs, gullets, and hamstrings. Unlike her skirt, her shirt could still hide her chest and arms. I remember the girl hit like a bull even with the slightest perceived insult. It was almost like she was training her spikes on one's back.
Thalia was less muscled but still lean, long and leggy. She was still not rolling her skirts up or opening top two buttons but physique of a young athlete was there if you know what to look at.
They were sitting in the last row next to wall, and whispering each other, giggling occasionally. Their body language was not what I remember, aggressive and haughty. Instead they were shy and introverted, shoulders dropped, head on the floor. These were not the mean girls I remember, not yet anyway.
Thalia Davis threw a short glance at me and continue talking with her friend. She was the first person enter the classrom after the previous recess and one of the three I named to prove my point. Unlike her, Naila was not as subtle and the glance she threw at me was fierce. I knew the girl always has steel in her eyes. They too probably thought that we were mocking them just like Elsa, and unlike Thalia, Naila tended to solve her emotional turmoils with violence and fast. Maybe not yet, but soon in the future.
'I should probably meet and greet Tahlia too to control the damage.' I thought after that. 'Probably Olivia and Betty too. Damn, kids and their oversensitive egos.'
When I sit my seat. I didn't let Sienna to say anything and immediately went for the issue.
"Hey, I need help." I said with the most serious voice and strict look I can muster.
Her bubbly demeanour changed instantly and she too took a serious look. "What happened? Did you fight again?" I must say this girl had really active mirror neurons. Not that I would ask help if I really had a fight. Definitely not from a 12 year old girl.
"No, nothing like that. Remember Elsa? The girl sit in front of me? She thought we were mocking her when I said her name and greeted her and very upset. I have apologized her and were good now but others think we were mocking them too."
Now, any adult would have said something like 'You're exaggerating.', 'You're being over sensitive, or 'It's not a big deal.' Similarly, every kid of that age would have said something like 'So what?', 'It looks like a you problem to me.', or 'I don't care.' But not Sienna, the little angel. The kid was really compassionate.
"What? But it's stupid, we weren't mocking them. Why would we?" She was almost offended the thought of her mocking someone. 'Oh, girl. If only you knew.' Thus I guided some of that parrion to a more proper response.
"I know, but it doesn't matter. Elsa felt like that and she was very upset." More like angry but no need to say that. "So I know that the others might have though something like that too." Definitely, considering the looks they gave.
"But what should we do?" She asked almost desperately. Was it the need to be loved and acknowledged by all or was she really have that strong of an empathy? Not that it matters.
"Calm down. It is my fault actually. I was the one that tried to show off, so I should be the one to apologize. But I need help."
"What can I do?" She said and I took a look at Desiree, right next to her. She was listening aptyl, but making no comment. It would was going to be interesting to see her reaction about this one.
"I want to apologize but they don't know me and won't think I am sincenere. So I want you to meet with them, explain what happened and tell them I want to apologize if they would accept. Then call me so that I can apologize personally."
"Will do." She said curtly just before the teacher enter the classroom for the next course.