It all started eighth grade year in my history class. Our substitute teacher was the football coach, Coach Tighe. He put in a movie to watch, and I don’t even remember what it was about. That shows how much I was paying attention. My friend next to me, Shawn Baguhn, thought it would be okay to take a little nap during the movie. Coach Tighe wasn’t going to allow that. It seemed like as soon as Shawn’s eyes closed Coach was there, with a giant pad of paper. He hit him over the head, and not lightly, and woke him up. After that, I vowed to myself I would never fall asleep in class.

If you’re an adult, or currently in high school, you know that it happens. You arrived home late from a game or you were up all night doing homework, and you are just plain wore out. You come to school, and period by period, you keep getting sleepier and sleepier. This was when it happened to me. I was in Mrs. Vogt’s eighth period English 1 class. It was a warm day outside, which only makes you more tired, and I didn’t get any sleep the night before. She put in “The Odyssey.” I watched the clock tick. It was 2:30, then is was 2:35. I knew all I had to do was make it until 2:50 when the school day ended. It reached 2:40, and I thought I would be fine, so I laid my head down on the desk. A scene came on where there was a boat on the ocean, and a man was playing the flute. Before I knew it the bell was ringing, and when I glanced up, all I could see is Mrs. Vogt, glaring at me from the front of the room. All she said was four words, “See you tomorrow morning.” I knew I was in trouble then. So my friend Eddie Doyle, who also got a little tired as well, and I had to come in the morning and watch the movie again. I tried to explain to her, “I only missed five minutes, It can’t be that big of a deal.” She wasn’t having it. I couldn’t believe it, but I had done it.

It is weird how things work out. Doesn’t it always seem like the simplest rules in life are so hard to follow? The things teenagers should never have to worry about, are always the biggest stress. You would think a boy who is a sophomore in high school, would never have to be pressured by drugs or alcohol, wouldn’t you? As a human, and as a sixteen-year-old boy, I have realized that things don’t always happen as you think they would. Wouldn’t you think these rules would be easy to follow? I would, but every night when you turn on the television someone has committed serious crimes.

From falling asleep in class, to the extent of peer pressure, it seems like the simplest rules are the hardest to follow. It’s always been that way, and it probably always will be.