Scouting for Myself: Chapter 2

by Katie Egan –

I briskly walked through the double doors of the school hoping that nobody would notice my presence. I made my way to the information center, which was just to the right of the front doors, to pick up my schedule for the semester.

“Hi. I’m Scout Adams, and I’m here to pick up my schedule,” I said, my head lowered to avoid eye contact.

“Adams? Isn’t your father Mark Adams? The author?” asked the woman working the desk.

“Uh, yeah.”

“Oh, of course he named you Scout! However, why did he name you, a boy, Scout when Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird is a girl?” she asked. I paused for a moment. Why did he pick Scout as my name? I didn’t have time to care; the bell was going to go off soon, and I did not want to be late on the first day.

“Can I just get my schedule, please?”

“Sure thing, dearie. Would you tell your father that Ms. Stewart deeply enjoys his books?”

“Of course!” I said, somewhat enthusiastic. This was not the first time that someone had asked me about my father. The more people that ask, the more socializing I have to do; for someone who is the kid of an author, I’m wasn’t exactly the greatest with my words, nor writing, sports, or drawing. I was just a hot mess.

“Here’s the schedule,” said Ms. Stewart, knocking me back into reality.

“Oh, thank you,” I said as I took the paper from her hands. I glanced down at the schedule as I walked towards the doors, but me being me, I ran into the glass doors. Ms. Stewart sat up straight to fully admire the kid who ran into the doors because he wasn’t paying attention to where he was going. School technically hadn’t even started yet and I had already embarrassed myself. Why does this always happen to me?

I opened the doors and made my grand escape from the horror that was my own awkwardness. I glanced back down at the schedule. Oh no. How was this possible?

My first class of the day was P.E. was this a prank?! Did one of the jocks break into the school during the summer and change my schedule just to be cruel? No matter if it was a prank or not, I still had to get to class. I slowly, but surely, found my way to the gymnasium. Why was this my life?

“Good morning class! My name is Mr. Wood. I will be your Phys. Ed. teacher for the semester, if not the whole year-” started Mr. Wood, “-Now, I don’t want to get into the paperwork stuff and say, “Oh you can have the class to just relax and get your lockers,” and stuff. I’ll hand you the course requirements as you leave today, but today we’re actually going to start our basketball unit.” What?!

“Excuse me, sir?” asked a kid from the back row of the bleachers, whose face was covered by the hat that he was wearing.

“Yes, son?” asked Mr. Wood.

“Um, yes, hi. I was just wondering if the devil possessed you?” the kid asked in a snarky voice. His question made all of the boys on the bleachers laugh, including myself. I didn’t have the faintest idea as to what he was doing.

“I beg your pardon young man?”

“What? I didn’t stutter. I asked if you were possessed by the devil That’s a simple yes or no question. Can you not comprehend?” pestered the kid once more. What was he doing? He would surely get kicked out of class. That was his idea.

“Are you implying that I am stupid?”

“No. I’m saying you’re stupid.”

“That’s it! Go to the principal’s office,” Mr. Wood screamed, seething with anger.

“Cool! At the least the principal’s office has a/c!” said the kid in an almost too joyful tone.

“I am going to call the office and tell them to expect-What’s your name?” asked Mr. Wood, still enraged.

“Oliver,” stated the kid in a calm tone.

“Yeah, and your last name?”

“That’s for me to know and you to never know,” Oliver stated in an overly cocky voice. He got up from his spot on the bleachers and slowly walked down the stairs. As he went to exit through the gym’s doors, he gave a cheeky wink to Mr. Wood and blew kisses to everyone on the bleachers.

“Ugh! Class, just play basketball or something until I get back,” Mr. Wood ordered before retreating to his office to both call the office and to cure the wounds that had been inflicted on his ego.

Some of the kids got up from the bleachers to actually play sports. Among these kids was Sam Hill. He was the number one jock of the entire school. He participated in lacrosse, football, basketball, and wrestling. I thought that he had more abs than I had number of years left on my life and I was only seventeen. Sam was in my first and second grade classes and I had had him in at least one of my classes since the sixth grade. He was the biggest nuisance known to mankind. He was the kind of person who cheated on tests because he couldn’t retain anything he learned.

I decided to make use of my time in the gym and look at what class I would have next. I pulled out the folding schedule that I had placed in my backpack upon arrival to the gym, and looked at the class that was listed in the second period column. Study hall in the cafeteria. Well, at least the cafeteria was just down that hall so I wouldn’t have to walk far. I thought that after the fright of nearly having to exercise I would just get to go to study hall and have some peace and quiet to just read and sit in a corner; my plans were, of course, derailed. 

Before I knew what was happening, someone screamed, “Watch out!”

I glanced upward to see what was happening. All I saw was a basketball plummeting towards my face and then everything went black.

Chapter 1 of Scouting for Myself  was printed in the August 10, 2018 Owl Light News.  It can also be found online at OwlLightNews.com.