Thinks He Can Read You Like A Book

(I am 11 and have a notoriously short attention span. I often lose interest in lessons within 15 minutes. The exception for me is books. I can read books for hours on end without fail. Most of my teachers put up with me to some extent but my English teacher always seemed to have a problem with me. Because my personality made it difficult to make friends I spent most of my time in the library reading. One day my English teacher comes into the library during lunch and sees me reading.)

Teacher: “[My Name], what are you doing here? You shouldn’t be here.”

Me: “Umm… I’m reading. Why?”

Teacher: “Don’t be silly. You don’t have the patience for books. You’re clearly up to no good.”

Me: “Actually, I love books. This one is my favorite. I’ve read it, like, eight times and it’s different every time.”

Teacher: “Don’t lie to me. You clearly stole that book from some other student and are about to cause trouble.”

(She then walks up to me and snatches my book from my hands.)

Teacher: “I’m taking this to my office. You can tell whoever you stole it from that I have it. Let this be a lesson that you shouldn’t disrespect books.”

(No matter how much I argued she didn’t give it back. Eventually I had to go to lessons. I went home and cried and my mother called the teacher to complain. The teacher refused to accept that I owned the book. It wasn’t until my mother submitted a formal complaint to the head teacher that I got it back, only to find she had kept it in her office and used it as a coaster. By the time I got it back it had several tea stains and she had even spilled some onto the pages. Even 12 years later I can’t work out how I was the one disrespecting books.)