An apology. I never meant to act badly at school, it just happened. I had to do it to fit in and stop fellow pupils killing me.
That’s not me speaking, it’s someone who went to a comprehensive school about the same time I went to mine, talking about fights, terrorising teachers and shoplifting. They did enough bad things at school to write a book about it.
I never did anything like that. Should I apologise for being the quiet one reading in the corner of the class, the one who did his homework, always and on time? Should I apologise for not bullying the smaller, weaker kids; for not hating the Irish, the Jews and the Blacks.
Should I apologise for having no interest in sport; not like the confident kids who went over to Chelsea FC for a ‘trial’ believing they had futures in professional football only to discover there were hundreds of other boys equally as mediocre as them.
Should I apologise for never having learned to play a musical instrument, to not being able to comprehend classical music or opera? Should I apologise for not understanding numbers or algebraic formulae?
Should I apologise for not taking part in West Side Story and South Pacific or all the other music shows the school put on?
What did I learn at school? I learned to be mediocre, to do just enough to get by and to never risk something new.
And for that, I know I should apologise.
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Words: Richard Rooney
Illustration: A.I.
Flash Fiction 250
Flash Fiction 250 