Song: I Love How You Love Me, The Paris Sisters
Word: Reversal
Having Mrs. Calvert for eighth grade English was the WORST. She wore shorter skirts than anybody’s mother and her legs were skinny and looked like peeled potatoes. She didn’t even wear pantyhose! Bridget scribbled in her notebook instead of listening to Mrs. Calvert talk about commas.
Mrs. Calvert’s skirts are short,
Under our breaths we always snort.
“Okay guys,” Mrs. Calvert said, clearing her throat. She was always clearing her throat. She tossed her head and her frizzy hair fell around her face.
Mrs. Calvert is so revolting,
It’s almost like a snake is molting.
“Take out your copies of The Outsiders and open to Chapter 3.”
Bridget perked up. Finally, something interesting! she thought, pulling the dog-eared book from her backpack. The Outsiders was the only thing that made eighth grade English worthwhile. Sure, Bridget had already read it seven times, but it was WAY better than grammar.
“Billy Terrell, will you start reading?” Mrs. Calvert asked.
Ugh. Billy was one of the WORST readers in class. He ignored periods and stopped completely when he saw a comma.
“…of course greasy girls would have acted a lot tougher. But there was a basic sameness I thought maybe it was money. That separated us ‘No,’ Cherry said slowly. When I said this ‘It’s not just money part of it is. But not all you greasers…”
Billy, Billy, you’re so silly,
There’s a thing called punctuation!
I’ll take your hand because you don’t understand
And give an explanation!
Bridget stopped listening. She could practically recite the whole book, anyways. She had even written an essay about the symbolism of the sunset already – you know, just for fun. It was a Sunday afternoon and she had had nothing better to do.
“You can stop there, Billy,” came Mrs. Calvert’s scratchy voice. “Umm, let’s see… Kyle Gordon, would you continue reading?”
“Yes ma’am,” came a voice from the first row.
Kyle Gordon! Yippee!
“‘It ain’t fair!’ I cried passionately. ‘It ain’t fair that we have all the rough breaks!’ I didn’t know exactly what I meant, but I was thinking about Johnny’s father being a drunk and his mother being a selfish slob…”
Kyle Gordon – he can read!
With a loud voice and consistent speed!
Kyle Gordon was the cutest boy in class. Bridget drew little hearts next to him name.
With hair so blond and eyes so blue,
Kyle is so cute – it’s true!
Bridget leaned forward in her desk and looked up at the front row. She sat next to Kyle Gordon in math and yesterday he had asked her what she got for number 3.
“5x + 7,” she’d replied.
And Kyle Gordon had smiled and said. “Me too! Thanks Bridget!”
When Kyle Gordon says my name,
It feels like I’m rich and have a lot of fame!
Kyle Gordon had had a crush on Bridget in fourth grade. She could tell because when they lined up to get on the bus, he cut in front of three people to be next to her. Sometimes now they sat across the aisle from each other and talked about how much they hated Mrs. Calvert.
I’d like to sit on the bus with you,
And talk the whole ride –
Bridget stopped dead in her tracks and began listening closely to Kyle reading.
“Cherry and Marcia didn’t say anything…”
Mar-see-uh? Had Kyle really just said Mar-see-uh instead of Mar-shuh? Hadn’t he ever seen The Brady Bunch?
Kyle mispronounced “Marcia” today,
But I think I love him anyway.
Even with the dumb things he might do,
I’ll always love him true.
“The Mustang came to a halt beside us, and the two boys in the front seat got out. They were Socs all right…”
Bridget’s heart stopped for a moment.
And then it came back and started beating overtime.
Socks? SOCKS? He had just said socks instead of so-shiz! What was this kid’s problem? The book had clearly, clearly, CLEARLY stated that Socs is short for Socials, not Sockals!
Kyle Gordon is a pea-brained twit,
And somebody I really want to hit!
Despite his blond hair and blue eyes,
His brain is actually walnut-sized!
To think I ever loved such a guy!
The thought makes me cry.
“Well done, Kyle, thank you. Umm… Bridget McMillan, would you read next?”
“Gladly, Mrs. Calvert.”
