370 The Classroom is a War Zone

The classroom! You got desks for the students, a desk for the teacher and a blackboard. You go in there to learn, simple as that, right? Wrong. The classroom is a war zone.

Before every class I would memorise all the strategy plans I had made up. Plans to deal with bullies, pranksters, disruptors and of course, the horrible teachers. My inner dialogue was all about trying to come up with witticisms just to survive the teacher's condescending comments while at the same time practising the perfunctory respectful ways of address.

Much of my energy would be spent on peripheral vision at classmates who would throw things and the way they would do other kinds of really bad stuff.

Avoid attacks, never retaliate, never complain... always hope that a teacher would spot a student doing something bad and watch them fight against each other. All of my energy in school would be dealing with this stuff instead of actually learning.

All strategy. No learning. This was the war of the classroom.

Sometimes I would be so exhausted from this war I would lean on my desk just to hold myself up. I'd look over and would see a girl fluttering her eyelashes at me. Love blossoming on the battlefield. I had to come up with a new strategy...