Oh high school, will you ever run out of story subjects? Granted, it is a rich area for telling all kinds of stories, as so much of what seemed so crucial back then looks rightfully ridiculous and overwrought with the benefit of hindsight. The cover ends up being a solid indication of what to expect here (with the evolution of a student), but there’s a lot more to unpack here. Things start off with a young boyfriend and girlfriend going through the records of her Dad and opening up her boyfriend to bands he hasn’t heard before. Jethro Tull comes up, which naturally leads to them deciding to try weed, but they make a pact that they can only try it for the first time together. Boyfriend “knows a guy” (he works at a fast food place), so he makes the arrangement to get some weed. As anybody who has ever bought weed knows, it’s pretty much impossible to get out of that transaction without smoking yourself, so boyfriend ends up in the awkward position of giving a speech in Spanish class while high. This is immediately obvious to everybody in the room, which wouldn’t necessarily be so bad, but his girlfriend is outside his classroom and notices the same thing. This leads to a talk that remains awkward throughout your life, but especially so in high school: the breakup. I’ve probably already said too much, but that’s what I do here. Other subjects include latching onto various personas in an effort to find out who you really are, getting called out on the superficiality of those positions, and learning a valuable lesson about stereotyping a guy based on his record collection. There’s a lot of recognize here from your own high school days, unless you were that mythical creature who always knew exactly who you were (“I was listening to Fugazi when I was 10!”). Check it out, travel back to those awkward/exhilarating/excruciating days. $5
