weird kid alert

I was feeling extra thankful for my noise canceling headphones yesterday after work as I took the bus to my friend Claire's house for dinner. There were two high school boys that were waiting for the bus, and then sitting right next to me all the way to Market Street. They were speaking loudly about things like math tests and how easy college was going to be. One kid made me smile (but only because I cancelled out his annoying voice with Fergie singing about startin some drama). I thought he could be in Napolean Dynamite. His hair was too long and fell all over the place. He wore a green t-shirt with some sort of Irish Celtic knot printed across his chest in gold. He had an old windbreaker on that was flying open, of course. Tapered jeans with ink stains on them, and white running shoes that looked to be older than he was, with the soles tearing away from the top. He sat with his knees crossed. It reminded me how tough high school kids are to deal with. They are all moody and unsure, changing faster than the semesters and driving their parents nutzo. They either have an attitude problem, are painfully shy, or just plain weird and strong willed. Guarantee that kid's mom keeps after him to get new shoes and a haircut, but he refuses. The roughness makes him feel more like Aragorn, his hero. And all the other kids in calculus club wear old shoes too...