I got my first pair of headphones when I was 12. My Papi said that he thought I deserved to have my own headphones if I was going to ride the bus to school next year. I had to go across town because if I was going to get into City Honors I had to go to the best school in the city to prepare. And if that meant riding the bus for an hour each way, then that was OK with my Papi.

I cracked my teeth once on the curb one winter. I was running to catch the bus and I slipped on some fucking ice that I didn't see. It had gotten real warm that week, and everywhere there were big puddles where the snow used to be. Then over night it froze and the next morning there were spots where the ice was thin as paper and slick as snot.

I got Jimmy a card after he found out he'd have to sit out on the game. I made it in the computer and it had a picture of a kitten, all bandaged up and with a little crutch propped up next to him and a football laying at his feet, on the front and on the inside it said, "Can't wait to have you back on the field, Tiger!" We passed it around the school, and I signed it first, but by the time it got to Jimmy my signature was, like, totally unreadable and some slut wrote her phone number in it. Jimmy said it was OK and he knew it was from me. He's super sweet.

Kenmore's got better bowling alleys than schools. I heard we might have a decent hockey team at the Boys' Club this year. Everyone heads down to the rink in the winter time, but I'm not so much for it. All that rowdiness and drinking. I went once and saw this kid, musta been about 12, bite off his lower lip getting all smashed up against the glass. I could see his teeth just dig into the flesh, and then blood exploded like he just laughed Kool Aid out his nose.