I don't know why, but I always seem to wake up cold. Doesn't matter if the temperature is 64 or 79 degrees. It might as well be Alaska because my body shivers like hell regardless. I tried to wake up at 6 o'clock when I first came to this crumby school. That was when I actually gave a damn. Freshmen are ironically the most sensible people at this place. They're ridiculous and all, but at least that's because they have hope for some goddam paradise academy or something. I was like that.

What really gets me are the upperclassmen. They complain and moan about how horrible this school is, yet they continue to treat the principal like the second coming of Christ himself. Hallelujah. I guess there's nothing wrong about the guy. He seems like one of those show-offs that loves to take pictures with swanky folks. You get that vibe when you look at his smile.

Anyways, it's difficult to wake up in the morning when you're surrounded by morons every day. And I don't mean people who don't know the goddam Krebs Cycle and all that. I'm talking about some real morons. Those people who just listen to any adult figure they come across—I wouldn't be surprised if Hitler made a visit over here, most of these bastards would follow him.

I got up, eventually. My parents make me tea everyday, which is fantastic. I started drinking tea because I needed some energy, since my parents tricked me into thinking tea has caffeine. I actually don't know if it does or doesn't, but I just feel like they lied to me. I don't really pay attention to the effects of the tea on my crumby bus ride. There's this new bus driver who always blasts her Spanish music. It's not that I don't like hip hop in a language I don't understand. I don't like it, but that's not the problem. My problem is that it's so damn loud that I can't hear my own music. I actually put time into picking the songs that I listen to. I don't want to listen to goddam Shakira.

I have an unspoken rule for myself about thanking the bus driver. If she bursts our eardrums, I don't thank her. It's rather rude, I know, but it's not like the rest of these bastards thank her anyways. If she really cared what we think, she might turn down those lousy tunes.

I never seem to remember to take out my goddam ID card. What genius came up with this lousy system anyhow? I end up wearing my ID every day; it's just not worth it to argue about this bull. But if you were some madman and actually wanted to kill people, why would you go through the trouble of wearing a goddam piece of plastic? All you gotta do is get into the building, and you're golden. And imagine if you had an ID: I guess you would be unstoppable.

I sat down alone, but soon Mary and Julianna (not real names) came to join me. You know those people who you talk to out of habit. We were friends at one point, though. Now it would be awkward to stop meeting in the mornings. I end up rambling on about my bus ride or my weekend, specifically whether that music was playing that day. The trouble is that they are terrible at conversation. Whenever you ask them a question—to keep the small talk going and all—they reply with some one word answer. And you don't want to say too much because it makes you look self-centered. So you end up not saying anything at all and it gets awkward. I don't even care for that blather.

I eventually zoned out and looked up at the television by the wall. I've always wondered what kind of people would be in charge of running that thing. See, they probably spent boatloads of dough buying those high quality flatscreens. But instead of playing the news or something, they put up these phony motivational quotes. I don't know a single person, at least anyone who's reasonable, that actually looks up at those and says, “You know, I actually feel a lot better.” Not a single one.

I heard the vice principal's voice over the loudspeaker, in the exact same phony phrasing that he uses every day. How self-centered do you have to be to perfect your intonation? Sometimes I wonder if they just play a goddam recording. I can't be the only one who is freaked as hell out by the guy. The principal is also a hotshot, but at least he genuinely presents himself, even if he is a bit conceited. I don't know why so many people are respected for being happy and acting in control all of the time, even when their subjects are rightfully upset with their decisions. It's a bit phony if you ask me.

Once I got to my IGS, I was able to calm myself down a bit. My friends were a bit late since most of them went to Harry Potter Club in the morning. I never really got the appeal of Harry Potter, but I'm glad other people were able to find something in it. I read the first book, but it just got too convoluted for me after that.

The announcements began and a student spoke. I find teenagers aren't as phony as some of the faculty, at least in how they speak. After a little while, they finally got to my favorite part: the birthdays. The student stumbled over at least three Asian names, and it just about killed me. It wasn't that everyone involved was probably pretty embarrassed, but that it continued to happen practically every single day. It was so easily preventable too, that was the best part.

I left after that; I had no reason to stay. I don't know why people linger in classrooms when they aren't busy with something, it's such a waste of time. I get sore when I'm held up. Halfway through the main hallway, I realized I was walking alone. It didn't matter much, I would have just told them the same damn corny things I said every day. Sometimes I wish I could have more substantive conversations with people, but people aren't willing to listen. I listen a helluva lot.