We even look gangsta!
Page 104: Olly on the other hand has achieved the accolade of the new pupil quickest to be threatened with suspension…he seems hell bent on expulsion
Olly’s version: If they decided they were going to shove me in a ridiculously strict boarding school, thousands of miles away from my parents, I was going to make it perfectly clear that I wasn’t happy about the decision.
There I was ‘fresh off the boat’ from England with my English slang, clothes, middle-parting knew how to smoke and drink and then suddenly, here I am in Hebron School where I even have to 6 inches away from a girl and I’m not allowed to dance.
There was only one answer really, if my parents were going to dump me in this sh”t hole then I was going to get myself out. I had a plan and it was simple. I would do as I wanted and if I got in trouble then so what, I didn’t want to be there anyway. I didn’t want to do anything too troublesome because I din’t have the nerve for that, if I really wanted to get expelled then I suppose a match and some fuel would’ve done the trick, but I couldn’t bring myself to that, it didn’t even cross my mind.
I did do the classic- smoking and drinking and I got caught. Not by the conventional method mind. My dorm parent went through my letters in my personal box. I was writing to a friend telling him what was going on and included all the excitement of the mischief. I was going to tell him how the headmaster’s daughter was sha**ing a friend but thank God (maybe it is proof of a divine entity) I ran out of space on the paper so it was left out.
I also found out later that the goody goodys of the dorm had created some code with the dorm parent so that when we went out on the roof to have some fun, they’d tap the wall and he’d be alerted that there was a chance to catch us red handed.
Of course I didn’t get expelled, Mr Barclay asked me for the appropriate punishment and when I said expulsion he said he wouldn’t give me that joy. In fact he gave me a far worse punishment- I was grounded for 6 weeks, had to prepare and clean up at the Christmas dinner and numerous hours of community service. Expulsion would’ve been a lighter punishment!