It was the first day of Grade 12. One more year and Happy could be free from this place. This year he’d decided to take Sociology since it was a University sponsored class and he would get a credit for taking it if he went to post-secondary.
Mr. Pacheco asked if humans could be born criminals. Happy raised his hand.
“Since we’re all socialized, we’re blank slates when we’re born. So no,” Happy said.
“That’s a great point, does anyone have a rebuttal?” Mr. Pacheco said.
Sweety raised her hand from the other side of the room. She’s grown up in the last few years. Her breasts had gotten bigger and she’d started waxing her lips and wore pink lip gloss now. This was one of a few classes they’d shared together, but her raising a hand in close succession to him was the closest they’d come to an interaction since the gang had broken up in Grade 9.
“I don’t think people are blank slates at all. We internalize all the trauma of our parents and their habits. If they smoke or stress, we are changed.” Sweety said.
“A good rebuttal but remember this isn’t biology class. We need to focus on socializaton,” Mr. Pacheco said.
Happy saw a chance.
“She’s got a point. Doesn’t our socialization begin when we’re kids? At that point we have no say on what we’re taught or what’s ingrained in us. We are born humans at birth but aren’t born people until much later,” Happy said.
“Now we’re swinging into philosophy. I love this,” Mr. Pacheco said.
Happy looked over at Sweety who shot him a blitz of a smile and raised her eyebrows in an exasperated salute. He was in.
Here he was trying his best to make impression on a new teacher to hopefully not waft off the stink of his criminal doings, bad decisions and aimless trajectory. And there was Sweety watching him and judging. She knew more about his life than anyone at this point, knowing the collapsed gang, his home life, romantic desires and his scholastic ambitions. She had just seen his family ripped apart in the most embarrassing, grotesque fashion and he had no recourse to hide from it. He hated that she knew so much and yet was grateful that she did. Her knowing all of him made him more confident that he existed at all.
He’d have a chat with her before the bell rung on next period. It had been too long.1
Footnotes
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Maybe have this happen a bit later in actuality. It’s a great scene to actually write ↩