Chapter 57 - Delinquent Diaries (1)

Ahoy Scurvy Rats!

I've snuck myself up on a huge scoop today and you simply wouldn't believe it. Think of it as getting meself a lucky treasure map with a great windfall, Spanish Gold coins... I think they're called doubloons?

Well, I got something similar on my hand that I'm proud to announce. Tis' the season for delinquents and I caught sixteen of them in one fell swoop. Lucky me aye? Well,  you can thank Casper aka Ghost Boy for it. So with this, you can expect sixteen delinquent diaries. I'll do the first one today before school gets all busy on me.

However, before I spill the juicy details, I must tell you the ordeal I underwent to obtain this top-secret information. You see, I spotted Ghost Boy acting a little stranger than usual so I decided to follow him. It was a dark alley that he turned to, nothing quite unusual with a shady character like him. However, Casper isn't a bad kid. I was mightily surprised when I knew where I was but before I could turn tail, I was grabbed from behind and rendered unable to escape. Luckily for me, Ghost Boy was the leader of the little rugged company so we sorted things out. I am now the barmaid working on a part-time basis for the boys.

The first one I got cosy with was the smartest of the group. He didn't think that Casper was a true leader. Oh no, he was watching out for the previous leader of the gang. Let's call him Jerry, shall we? So Jerry is the smartest of the group and I think the gang is basically a sixteen celled organisation that only shares a single nucleus called Jerry. Jerry doesn't mind doing all the thinking for them but here we have the problem. we need not only one but sixteen people to pass the next Math topical test. No matter how good Jerry gets, it wouldn't help any of his friends... would it?

I don't know what's gotten into Casper but he's suddenly motivated to become the teacher for this basket of hopeless cases. I admire his resolve but it really isn't easy. You might ask how is it difficult to teach a dog a new trick? Well, apparently it can be very difficult depending on the breed. Right now, these kids are just like Pekingese - dumb as a rock, blindly loyal but also equally stubborn.

In order to infiltrate deeper into their ranks of brotherhood, I decided to latch myself onto Jerry who also happened to be the right-hand man of the previous delinquent leader. I'll call him Junior just to mock him.

So according to what I was looking at, Jerry had above average memory capabilities which allowed him to excel in things like science and language. However, Math was a little harder because it required actual understanding. Casper was really good at teaching concepts but those inflexible minds couldn't work well enough to absorb them so he started drilling hard numbers and formulas into them so that they can achieve sixteen passes on the next topical test. It's a bet that Casper made with the Junior so I'm not going to question it.

Long story short. After a somewhat intellectual conversation with Jerry, I found out that he was actually not super dumb. It was still somewhat salvageable so I taught him a few tips and tricks of my own. Jerry got it instantly and he started telling me about more things.

What I found out was that the class was a batch of failures with fairly rich parents so the school just leave them in a corner because none of the teachers could help them. It's funny actually because I believe I know a really good teacher who isn't exactly a teacher who might just be the right man for the job. Sadly, I'm not the principal and I don't call the shots here.

I have not been observing Jerry for all that long but I can say, he's not much of a typical delinquent. Sure, he has his hair cut in that typical scene kid asymmetrical style with multiple ear piercings but he looks nothing like the kid who would beat other people up for their lunch money or do drugs. Heck, I don't think Jerry was the kind of kid who would bully others. He's way too lazy for that.

Jerry's interest lies in making things. Throw him anything from assembling a lego build to painting the walls and he'll gladly do it. He just doesn't really like to be sitting around in class because he doesn't understand anything the teacher talks about unless he tries it out for himself. 

While Jerry was doing well in passing the tests Casper made, he wasn't great at understanding what he did. It's more of a hit and miss kind of situation so I decided to employ a little trick I use to learn better. We drew pictures and guess what? When X and Y weren't in the picture of algebra, Jerry understood the rationality behind it immediately. Seeing that I'd be here for a while, I decided that we might as well go slightly ahead of school and cover the rest of the algebra related topics.

One more small thing I noticed about Jerry over the course of a few hours in knowing him: Jerry trusts people very easily. Once you get past that great firewall of suspicion, he treats you like a brother or a sister. I wasn't quite expecting that to happen.

Can you imagine my embarrassment when Jerry sang my praises in front of everyone? Casper didn't quite know what to do either when the class started pushing each other to get in front of me to ask questions about what Casper had been trying to teach them for the past few days. Come on... if Jasper wasn't able to get it through your thick skulls, what could I possibly do? I'm not Jesus, I can't make miracles!

Still, with Casper's exasperated pleading look I decided to give it a try... tomorrow.

The bunch of muscleheads looked hopeful but I wouldn't count on it. I might be a good student but I know I'm a terrible teacher. once, I tried to teach the dog not to tattle on me while I stole the sleeping owner's gold but the dumb dog wouldn't listen even after I threw him treats. 

Oh well, who knows I might succeed this time. But for today, it's fair winds to all of you. Don't hold your breath!

Pulling up the sails,

Pirate S.