Chapter Two: When I was a Boy
Category: Writing and Poetry
So here's the story that happened during 1st grade, which inspired me to write the haircut story. The succession from the boy haircut story. I know we all have secrets, and this is one of them for me, the time when i was a boy.
You'd think having a boy haircut for punishment isn't that bad right?! It will grow out soon enough. During the time i waited for my hair to grow out, i had to go to school and make new friends. Having short hair gave me a hard time to fit in with the girls, they all had their long pony-tailed hair, and i felt out of place. I didn't play with the girls, i kinda felt like they didn't like me because of my hair, i guess i wasn't good enough or something. Man, kids can be harsh, i didn't want to play with them either. Instead, I decided to run and play with the boys. I actually thought i was a boy! i think having a boy haircut caused me to have a gender confusion. Hahaha. No, i knew i was a girl. but being a boy at that time seemed right. it kinda helped me to make friends in school, 'boy' friends that is. maybe the boys thought i was a boy and only played with me because of that. It was cool with me. When something makes you happy, you just go with that right?! i was about 6 years old. I had friends, girls or boys it didn't matter, they played with me.
Playing with the boys was pretty cool. I learned a cool game that seemed inappropriate for girls to play. But i played it anyway. It's a game that's very popular between the boys. We only played this game during class where we can't run around making alot of noise. Kids are very creative back then and we were poor, we can't afford those expensive toys. Even if we did bring toys, the teacher would confiscate them. we didn't have yu-gi-oh cards or gameboys. We had to use our imagination and play with what we got. I don't know who came up with this game but thank God they did. It's a game where you can't get caught easily and only needed little equipment.
So, what game can a kid play during class that the teacher won't catch you playing? It's consisted of a basic school supply and every kid has one. it's very inexpensive. 25 cents can get you a brand new one to play with everytime. Well, it's the good ole' cracking pencils game. Each player has one pencil and the players take turns flicking their pencil on the other person's pencil. whoever breaks the other person's pencil before theirs break, wins. I think there are rules like if a player flicks their pencil but misses, loses their turn and you can't switch new pencils. Wow! isn't that an exciting game?!
Yes, it Was an exciting game, only until you get caught! what do you know, i got caught. You get in Trouble if you were caught by the teacher misbehaving in class. You know how kids are, we're so naive, 'how can you get caught playing crack pencil?!' We would play it under the desk and if the teacher pass by we would act like we were writing something and cover the dented part of our pencils. And then, when she's away, sneakily go back under the table for a quick flick at the pencil. Most of the time you'd get away with it, but that one time i got caught. Boy oh boy, did i got in trouble playing this game.
I was playing it with three other boys. the plan was, the last two that survive will play each other with their already beaten up pencils. who ever wins the two rounds is the ultimate winner. right when we got crackin' the teacher somehow found out what we were up to and called us out and looked at our pencils. Maybe it was the pencil snapping noise that gave us away. we were sitting in the back of the class in our little corner and maybe it can be easily detected by her ear. (I always wonder if teachers had super powers, it was when i taught CCD that i just naturally knew what kids were up to. I had to take away Yu-gi-oh cards from them.)
Anyways, me and the three boys each had to stand in the four corners of the class for a Time Out. not a big deal right?! well, it was for me, because I was a girl. Can you imagine what the teacher thought?! i really made her disappointed because it was bad enough the boys played it, but for a girl... What was i thinking? how about the girls sitting in their seats, what were they thinking as they look at me (with my short hair) standing in the corner?! Why didn't i just sit quietly like any other girl. I bet if i had long hair, I would get away with it easily. Sit there and innocently act like i was doing nothing. I mean, come on, I'm a girl!! But too bad, i had short hair, i thought it was okay for me to play with the boys. Those boys were nice to me and let me play with them. i mean, at first i knew i wasn't supposed to, but come on, cracking pencil was fun! But the consequences of playing this game gave me more than a lesson about misbehaving in class. It's not about my hair being short. Really, it made me realize being a girl takes alot, control that is. So, I stopped playing with the boys.
I guess it was fun and all, but when i was punished, i felt ashamed of myself. Why didn't i understand, "I'm Not a Boy!" sometimes i wonder -what if i was a boy? (i know i'm not the only girl who thinks about this.) Boys can get in trouble and it would be okay because it's typical for boys to get in trouble. Man! i wish i was a boy. Anyways, I did break some pencils. but mostly, they break mines. there's a secret in playing this game too. the short pencils... they tend to be hard to crack. If i only knew that then huh?! I guess the boys had more experience and they know to use shorter pencils. I thought the bigger the better, but the shorter ones were more resilient.
I like how some boys play this game. it's like they're professionals or something like trying to scare the other players. they have very strong grip on their pencils and they move it slowly towards the other pencil only to let it go, at the final moment, and hit the pencil with fullest force. and even sometimes they move it close to the pencil in slow motion but pulls it back right before it touches the other pencil and does it again and again until the third one. And finally, on the third one they let it hit hard and make the biggest dent on the other pencil as much as they can in hope that the next time they hit it, it'll break. if you were good at this, it take less than five flicks to break a pencil.
