After this discussion, we begin our lunch, and once finished, we head off to the school. We pass through the security gate again without any problems, and each arrives in our respective classrooms.
The teachers we hadn't had time to see this morning arrive one by one, once again giving a short presentation on their subject. In the end, I think I'll only need three binders at most, so three fewer notebooks than I had planned.
As we're about to get ready to leave, our new homeroom teacher comes in, all out of breath. She takes a breath and then starts talking to us.
"Good evening, sorry I'm only just arriving now, but I just realized I completely forgot to tell you about something. It's about the options."
Ah, options! After all, my uncle Laurent wasn't wrong when he told me about that.
"Starting this year, you'll be able to choose one option from those offered by the school. So there's Greek/Latin, Physical Education and Sports, Fine Arts, Chinese, and Law."
It's a shame you can only take one. I would have preferred to be able to choose three: Greek and Latin, Chinese, and maybe Law too. But hey, in life, you have to know how to make choices.
Why am I saying this as if it's going to have a monumental impact on my life?
Anyway, I'll think about my choice when I'm well rested at home. Speaking of home, I'll finally be able to go back in, we can finally go out. So I leave the building, alone this time, and take my usual transportation.
When I get home, I go straight to the bathroom and then have the documents I was given today signed and filled out.
"I see, you have to choose one option this year. What are you planning to take this year?"
"To be honest, I haven't made my choice yet. If it were possible, I would have taken almost all of them, but I'm hesitating between three that interest me more than the others."
"Oh really? Which ones?"
"Um... I don't remember... Oh yeah! It was between Chinese, Greek/Latin, and... damn, I forgot the last one. Just wait two seconds, please; I wrote it down in my diary."
"If you don't remember, it probably means you're not really interested."
"Actually, it's not that I'm not interested, it's just that it might be useful to me, and it was the law option."
"I think it would be better if you took Latin/Greek; it will help you in your professional career."
"What do you mean? I don't see how speaking languages that no one uses anymore could be useful to me, unless I become an archaeologist or historian, two careers that don't interest me at all."
"Think a little further than the "main function" of a subject. Considering the careers you told me you'd like to pursue later, I'll tell you how it could help you.
For example, if you work in scientific and medical research, species have Latin names, and for engineers, Greek letters are often used to express movements or to use them in various mathematical formulas.
Then, it will also make you stand out from the crowd because taking the Greek/Latin option will show managers and recruiters that you can work harder than what's required, and that you're interested in a wide range of subjects.
Just thinking, you like to write, don't you?"
"Yes, that's it. But I don't see the connection between taking the Greek/Latin option."
"The connection is that, since Greek and Latin teachers generally also teach French, they mix the two subjects a bit. Which means they often have you write or do oral exams, like you'll have in the French baccalaureate."
"Oh yeah, I hadn't thought of that. Well, I think my mind's made up."
"So, how did your first day of school go?"
"It could have been better, but then again, it could have been worse."
"What do you mean? Did someone bother you? Did you arrive late? Do you still have that Spanish teacher? Didn't she yell at you for nothing?"
"No, Mom, don't worry, the principal just didn't keep his promise to put me in the same class as Ronald."
I have to tell you about that Spanish teacher my mom just mentioned, Mrs. Pueblo. With her, I only had bad memories that stayed with me and managed to make me hate a subject for four years. In class, she had four students to whom she always gave the floor, which meant they had a sort of "monopoly" on the floor, which meant they got a much better grade than us on the oral exam.
In class, I always raise my hand to every question because I very often have the answers. Well, that was before, because now I let the others speak and I try not to speak twice in a row in a short period of time.
Despite the fact that I always raised my hand, there were times when she didn't question me for a week, without any exaggeration. That's why I very often ended up with 12 or 13 out of 20 on the oral exam, even though I always raise my hand, and most of the time, I got the answers perfectly right.
I remember one time when we arrived very late at our new apartment. On top of that, I slept very badly because, at that moment, I was lying on a mattress. "Why a mattress?" you might ask. It's because my bed hadn't been moved yet.
So I had a very, very bad night, and I was also very cold, which meant that the next morning I was exhausted and sickly. So I couldn't go to school.
However, I couldn't miss school because that day I had a group Spanish presentation. So I had the idea of giving the presentation via videoconference, on Zoom, which isn't the best, but it's still better than nothing.
By the time I took the exam, I was half asleep, and I was pronouncing some words very poorly, which cost me quite a few points. That same afternoon, I was able to return to school, and I found Mrs. Pueblo yelling at me and humiliating me in front of the whole class for not coming in the morning and not letting me know the day before.
I then replied:
"But, ma'am, I'm really sorry, but it was impossible for me to let you know the day before, because I didn't know I was going to be sick the next day."
"It's not my problem. You could have done the presentation at home and come now? So you should have come."
Other times, I remember her yelling at me because I simply and politely asked her why I had failed tests, and at one point, I remember her telling me I had a "bad mentality."
Luckily, I won't have that this year.
I then go to eat, then sleep because I'm exhausted from the day I've had.