The Westering Hills

I was emailing chatting with Anne and Price the other day. Price had put to us the question, What’s the most boneheaded maneuver you’ve ever made? Turns out it’s a hard question to answer since, being truly boneheaded maneuvers, most of us have blocked them from our memories! But after awhile, sitting at my work desk and pondering the question (oh, did I mention that I have the most terrible case of Short Timer’s Disease since my last day of my current job is this Wednesday? Yessss!), I did remember something that still causes me to squirm to this day–the one and only time I ever skipped school. I was in the 9th grade and my friend Heather & I concocted a plan to meet two boys from another school that we had crushes on. Here’s what I wrote, and our subsequent exchanges:

Shannon: Heather and I planned to meet up with two boys (from Anne’s school, boys that she knew) on a school day. They would meet us in our part of town on their bikes, then we would hang out, get pizza or something, I forget. So Heather and I both faked that we were each other’s moms to call each other in sick, then we went to meet the boys at the location we chose: THE GROUNDS OF A NEARBY SCHOOL. Why on EARTH we chose to meet them at another school is beyond me! How idiotic could we have been?! Anywhere else would’ve been better. So, of course, Heather and I were totally busted lurking on that school’s property during class time, that principal called our principal, and then our moms were called once we were back at our school. We were so incredibly busted and embarrassed! Because we were both really good students, we were just released back to class with a (amused, I’m sure) warning from the principal. I don’t think anyone really found out what we had done, except a few of our friends.

Anne: BWA HA HAAAAA!!! I had *totally* forgotten that! That is so, so very funny. You and Heather - smart nerdy girls that you *really* were - it figures that you would choose a school to meet them! How hilarious. I skipped one class ever in my life, you just reminded me. Me and Sheri R. skipped gym class in 7th grade. How did we skip it? Did we escape the school and do fun things? Did we wander the halls with a cool swagger? Of course not. We cowered in a recessed doorway at the end of a hall and just about had a heart attack every time we heard so much as a squeak of noise. It was the most harrowing 40 minutes ever (to that point in my life), even worse than actual gym class. Which is saying a lot. I never skipped a class again.

Shannon: Okay, now I’m crying with laughter over your skipping school story! That is something I would do too! Let’s face it–nerds shouldn’t attempt to skip school. We have no innate sense of how to do it properly.

Price: How nerdy was I? I skipped school once with my friend Justin when I was a sophomore, to go see “Star Trek IV.” Our moms said it was okay, just this once, and they drove us to the theater and picked us up. And here’s a further nerdy note on that lame episode… As soon as the movie was over, we called whichever mom was supposed to pick us up and asked if she could come later. Then we bought two more tickets and went right back in and watched it again.

So, share your skipping school or Most Boneheaded Maneuver story, dear readers! Let’s see if you can match our nerdacious trials and tribulations. Come on, don’t be shy!