Reminiscing On Pencey

I was standing on a hill, alone, when I first got the idea to blog. And well that’s kind of fitting. I mean my life in the past couple weeks has just been lousy. I got the ax from Pencey Prep (my school) last week. I’m supposed to leave after winter term ends, because I’m failing out of all my classes (except English- if that makes any difference). It’s been sort of like torture the past couple days, because they still make me stay here. Everyone else is off  rooting  for the football team, signing up for next terms classes, and planning their holidays. But, I’m still here for some god awful reason that I do not know, I mean I  could have probably left any day this past week, they probably wouldn’t exactly have cared, but I’m still here, for now. They want me to be gone by Wednesday. I mean its not like I didn’t enjoy Pencey. Maybe it was the people or something. Most of the guys here are rich phonies who walk around thinking they’re hot-shots. My roommate Stradlater, he isn’t that lousy, he just acts like one of those hot-shots but he really isn't one. I guess I can’t really blame him when he goes to a school like Pencey, its just one of those places that turns you into what it wants you to be. Anyways, I’ll miss him when I’m gone. God I sound like I’m dying. I’m not, if  that wasn’t clear, and its not like this is a real new experience for me. I’ve received the old ax from more schools than most people attend in their lifetimes. It’s not because I’m a moron, I mean I think I’m a bit immature but I wouldn’t say I was god awful at everything, its just that I’m not the type of smart that keeps one in school if you know what I mean. I’m not like my brother Allie. We’ll get back to him later. Well anyways, while I was walking down towards my dorm I saw James, some spirited snob of a boy who was on the fencing team with me, here at Pencey. He gave me this loaded stare and I could tell he wanted to kill me, and not just have me leave the school he adored. It’s not like I ever did anything to hurt that moron, but I had done something that made him mad. Actually, I did something that made the whole team terrifically angry if I recall correctly (and I do). I’ll recount that story to you another time. But god, James looked at me as if I had murdered his dog, and all I did was nod. I nodded because most of the time I don't know exactly what to do with myself when I am confronted by people. I’m lousy at that sort of thing. Its not that I didn’t want to punch him for alienating me against the whole team, I just didn’t want to cause another big scene before I left the goddam school. Jesus, what I would have given to get out of there. I continued walking after that, in a suave manner, in case any other guys from that damn fencing team saw me. That might be a perk of getting out of here, maybe I could use my smooth nature with some girl, like old Jane. Jane’s a good friend back from the summers I spent in Maine. Boy, old Jane, I wish I could talk to her right now.

-HC