Asperger Diaries: Jamie's New School (5 page)

We did
equations in maths. The teacher showed us how to do some really
simple ones. I have done more complicated ones before. The teacher
said I should be taking notes. I told him I already knew how to do
that type of equation. He said I should make notes anyway. I
couldn’t see the point, but I copied down what he had written
because I didn’t want to get into trouble.

I don’t like it
when the teachers don’t explain what they want us to do. For
English homework, I had to write an essay entitled ‘What I did in
the summer break’. It would take me hours to write an essay on
that. Mum said I didn’t have to write about everything I had done,
but I should pick out a few highlights. I decided the best thing
would be to write about my holiday in St Annes. Mum said I
shouldn’t write more than two sides. I wrote four sides in total. I
still didn’t include everything I had done in St Annes.

*****

Angela's
Diary

Today felt like
the longest day ever. As soon as Jamie walked through the door I
could tell he’d had a bad day. He didn’t speak. He threw his
backpack down, and disappeared into his bedroom. I asked Lesley If
she knew what had upset him. She just shrugged. When I went into
his bedroom, he was lying on his bed, still wearing his uniform. At
first, I thought he was asleep, but he snapped at me as soon as I
spoke. He threw his timetable at me, and said it was useless. He
asked me why he was the only one who didn’t know which classroom he
was meant to be in. I wasn’t sure what to tell him. He gets so
worked up that he can’t think straight. I had hoped he would make
some new friends today. He didn't mention any of the other kids,
and I didn’t like to ask.

After dinner,
Jamie asked if I would help him with his homework. Thank goodness
he only had one subject to do tonight. He couldn’t get his head
around the title of the English essay. Jamie has always taken
everything a little too literally. The teacher obviously didn’t
intend that he should write a blow by blow account of the entire
summer break. I managed to persuade him he should write about his
holiday in St Annes. He wrote far more than I think he needed
to.

He was very
quiet when he went to bed. I hope tomorrow will be a better
day.

*****

Lesley's
Journal

Yeah mum - I'm
okay. My first day back was great. Thanks very much for asking.

6th September
(Tuesday)

Jamie's
Diary

I told Mr Avery
I don't know where all my classrooms are. He said I should use the
floor plan on the back of the timetable. I can’t make any sense of
it.

There are
posters and maps stuck onto the walls of the geography classroom.
During the lesson I kept trying to read the names of the countries
on the maps. The teacher banged on my desk, and made me jump. He
told me to keep my eyes to the front. I kept thinking about the
country names.

For geography
homework I had to write about oxbow lakes. The teacher didn’t say
how many words he wanted us to write. In the text book the section
on oxbow lakes is six pages long. I'm sure the teacher didn’t want
us to include everything, but I didn't know which parts are most
important. Mum said I should read the section in full, make brief
notes as I went along, and write the essay based on my notes. I
tried, but my notes covered three sides. I scrapped that idea, and
just wrote the essay. I tried not to simply copy from the text
book. I ended up with just over four sides of paper. I wasn’t sure
if I had covered everything. Mum read it, and said she thought it
was good. She said I should hand it in, and see what the teacher
says when he marks it. I don’t feel very confident about it. I
didn’t finish until ten thirty. Mum said I was spending too much
time on my homework. I wouldn’t have finished it if I had spent any
less time. She said Lesley didn't used to spend anywhere near as
long when she was in the first year. Lesley wasn’t in the top set
so she probably got easier homework.

*****

Angela's
Diary

Jamie headed
straight to his bedroom again when he came home from school. I
asked him what was wrong. He said he was tired, and needed a rest
before dinner. I asked if he wanted to talk about his day. He said
he didn’t. I asked if he’d made any friends. He said he hadn't, and
to leave him alone. I managed to persuade him to change out of his
uniform, and left him to calm down while I made the dinner.

Over dinner
Lesley talked non-stop. I’m not sure what she was talking about
because I was so focussed on Jamie. He didn't utter a sound. I kept
reminding him to eat. He shuffled the food around on his plate for
fifteen minutes before asking if he could be excused.

He shouldn’t
have to spend so long on his homework. He didn’t finish tonight
until ten thirty. He should have been in bed by then. I’ve never
known Lesley to spend more than an hour and a half on her homework.
I’m sure he is trying to do too much. He wrote page after page for
his geography homework. When he had eventually finished, he asked
me to read it. He had included practically everything in the text
book. He hadn’t copied it word for word. He had obviously taken the
time to re-write it in his own words. I’m sure the teacher didn't
intend him to cover it in so much detail.

I asked Andrew
what he thought about Jamie spending so much time on his homework.
Andrew didn’t think it was a problem.

*****

Lesley's
Journal

Alison has
dumped Tony. I knew she would.

Courtney has
got a new smartphone. It makes mine look like a piece of crap.
She's got dozens of apps on it already. Her mum's paying for it,
and she's paying for Courtney to have a premium account with
Spotify. My phone is seriously past its sell-by date. I tried
telling mum and dad about Courtney's phone, but as usual no one was
listening to me. Dad was off with the steam engine fairies, and mum
only cares about tram boy. She was giving him a hand with his
homework tonight. If he is so clever he shouldn't need any help.
She never helps me with mine.

7th September
(Wednesday)

Jamie's
Diary

When I arrived
at school, I realised I had left my geography homework on the desk
in my bedroom. The teacher had said we had to hand it in this
morning. I didn’t want to get in trouble, so I found Lesley in the
school yard. She wasn’t very pleased because she was with three of
her friends. I said it was important, and that she had to help. She
telephoned mum even though it’s against the rules to use a mobile
phone in school. Mum was annoyed when she arrived. It was her fault
I forgot my homework because she'd hurried me out the house to
catch the bus. At least I managed to hand my homework in on
time.

I sat next to
the window in biology. On the bench, under the window, there is a
cage with a rat in it. I could hear the rat moving around the cage.
The teacher told me off twice for not paying attention. Every time
the rat moved, I had to turn around to look. The teacher said he
would give me a detention if I didn’t concentrate in class.

It’s difficult
to remember which books I need to have with me, and which I can
leave in my locker. The history teacher was mad at me today because
I didn’t have my history text book with me. I had to share a book
with the boy sitting next to me. I thought my book was in my
backpack, but it wasn’t. When I checked, at break time, I found the
book in my locker. I think I will write a list of the books which I
need each day.

The boys did
P.E. today while the girls did swimming. On Friday, the boys will
swim and the girls will do P.E. I didn’t like P.E. at Westlake
because I was never sure what I was going to have to do. I am
rubbish at anything sporty. In today’s P.E. lesson we had to do
forward rolls. I’ve never been able to do them. I always end up
falling sideways. The P.E. teacher crouched down behind me, and
pushed my head down, so it was nearly touching the floor. Then he
pushed me to make me roll over. Every time I tried to do it on my
own, I rolled to the side. At least I wasn’t the only one who
couldn’t do it.

One of the
teachers shouted at me today. He said I shouldn't be wandering
around the corridors. I was lost.

*****

Angela's
Diary

I hit the panic
button this morning when Lesley telephoned. I thought something had
happened to Jamie. She was annoyed because he had come looking for
her while she was with her friends. He had left his geography
homework in his bedroom. All the time and effort he had put into
his homework last night, and he forgets to take it with him.
Needless to say, I didn’t get as much as a thank you for driving
over to school with it. He said it was my fault he had forgotten
it. Sometimes I think I must have 'mug' written on my forehead. Do
other kids treat their parents like dirt, or is it just me?

What an
evening. Jamie had somehow managed to drop a toilet roll into the
loo. Instead of fishing it out he had tried to flush it away. It
got stuck, and I had to clean it up. I didn’t say anything to him
because he was doing homework until bedtime. I dread to think what
kind of reception I would have got if I had tackled him about the
toilet roll.

*****

Lesley's
Journal

I got a
detention today because the teacher heard me call Alison a cow. It
was worth it because the teacher asked me what I had said, so I got
to say it out loud to all the class. You should have seen the look
on Alison's face.

Tram boy showed
me up proper today. I've told him not to come talking to me at
school, but he was wetting his pants because he had forgot his
homework. Who cares? I forget it all the time. The only way to get
rid of him was to call mum and tell her to bring it. Even then the
little shit wasn't grateful. Courtney and Orange had a right laugh
about it.

8th September
(Thursday)

Jamie's
Diary

By the time the
bus is half way to school, it’s always full. The noise on the bus
is terrible. All of the kids shout to one another, and a lot of
them have music playing on their mobile phones. Once the bus is
moving, we aren’t meant to get out of our seats, but there are
always a few kids walking up and down. The driver doesn't say
anything to them.

The ICT teacher
hasn’t got a clue what he is talking about. How is he meant to
teach us when he doesn’t even understand what Safe Mode is? The
computer on my desk was switched off, so I asked him why. He said
it had crashed, and I would have to partner with someone to share
their computer. I asked him what was wrong with it. He said it
wouldn’t boot. I asked him if he had tried to start it in Safe
Mode. He said he didn’t repair computers. He said the technician
had been informed. I asked him when the technician would be coming.
He said I should stop asking questions, and partner with someone.
He wasn’t watching, so I switched my computer on. When it was
booting up, I pressed F8 to put it into Safe Mode. It booted up
okay. I selected a restore date from twenty four hours before, and
then rebooted the computer in full mode. It came on without any
problems. After a while the teacher saw that I was working on my
own computer. I told him I had restored the system to a restore
point from the previous day. I might as well have been speaking a
different language. It was obvious that he didn’t know what I was
talking about. He said I had to turn it off because the technician
had to see it before it could be used.

In physics, the
two boys sitting behind me kept whispering to each other. I wanted
the teacher to tell them to be quiet, but he didn’t say anything to
them. Every time I tried to concentrate, I could hear the boys
whispering. In the end I told them to be quiet. The teacher shouted
at me for talking which wasn’t fair. When we left the classroom one
of the boys who had been whispering said I had better watch it.

I got my
geography homework, on oxbow lakes, back today. The teacher had
made a few comments in red, and at the bottom had written ‘Very
Good’. I don’t know what that means. I thought he would give me a
mark like 80 out of 100 or 80%. Writing ‘Very Good’ is a stupid way
to mark homework.

The bus journey
home is horrible. Everyone charges down the school drive to try to
get on first. By the time I manage to get on, there are hardly any
seats free. Today I had to sit near the back, next to a fat boy. He
took up so much of the seat that I bumped into him when I sat down.
He shoved me off the seat. Some of the other kids laughed. I moved
to another seat. I wish mum would take me to school in the car.

*****

Angela's
Diary

Jamie did at
least speak when he came in today even if it was only to complain
about some of his teachers. He’s not a big fan of the ICT teacher.
Jamie has always been good with computers. He’s never needed any
help from me or his dad. The only time Lesley is civil to Jamie is
when she needs him to sort out her computer. It seems Jamie took it
upon himself to repair one of the school’s computers. The ICT
teacher wasn’t impressed. According to Jamie the man isn’t up to
his job. I hope Jamie didn’t say as much. Diplomacy isn’t one of
Jamie’s strong suits.

I started
putting my CV together. It's going to be a long job because I don't
really know what I am doing on the computer. I would rather hand
write it, but I don't think that would be acceptable in this day
and age. I'm getting quite excited at the idea of a job.

9th September
(Friday)

Jamie's
Diary

The bus was
late this morning. It should have arrived at eight o’clock, but at
ten past there was still no sign of it. I asked Lesley what I
should do. She was with some of her friends, so she ignored me. I
was worried because I didn’t want to be late for school. None of
the other kids seemed to notice. When it eventually arrived, the
bus driver shouted at me because I didn’t have my bus pass ready. I
usually have it in my hand, but I forgot because I had been worried
about being late.