If You’re Not Here, Please Raise Your Hand

I’m fifteen, in eighth grade, and we are having history class. Our teacher is a very calm, tall, big guy who gives this vibe of being a cool, laid back person in practically all situations.

In my class are four girls who are usually quite good at following along in class, but not today. Today they decide to be very — loudly — chatty after class starts. 

Our teacher just looks at them while quietly marking down who is present. After a while, the teacher speaks out loud to all of us in a sort of wondering way.

Teacher: “Can you be absent while still being present?”

All of us students, besides the four girls, think about it and slowly agree. Without paying any attention to the teacher, the four girls just wave their hands in a “whatever” gesture.

Four Girls: “Yes, yes. Sure, you can.”

Then, they go back to chatting.

Teacher: *With determination in his voice* “All right, then I’ll mark all of you four girls as being absent in this class.”

You should have seen how fast these four girls started to pay attention, declaring that he could not do that, since they were in the classroom. I don’t think we ever got it clear if the teacher did actually mark them as absent or not, but the four girls never did the same thing in his class again.