The Change In Billy Carmichael

The first day of school. A perfect time to start anew, not only in your academics and appearance, but in your first impressions. And unless you have already made a name for yourself, those impressions are of great importance! Especially when entering a new social world, which in this case, is middle school. The children flooded into the building and the crowds of them are in a buzz as they pass from the hallways and into their classrooms.

"Alright!" The teacher shouted. A word that was one of her favorites to use.

The room continued to engage in their conversations and noise.

"Alright!" She repeated as she slammed the ruler against her desk.

The room was brought to silence.

“I’m going to be taking attendance," She dropped the ruler and brought her clipboard toward the large frames sitting on her face, “so respond when I call out your name."

And as the names were called, all the boys and girls were there to respond to it, all except one.

“Billy? Billy Carmichael?” No response.

The teacher scanned the room and her students followed in the action.

“Alright, I guess Billy is not here...” She marked the absence and made her way back to the chair of her desk.

Once she was done instructing them of their new environment and the routine that they would now become accustomed to, the children went back to their own blabbing as soon as they were able to.

“I knew Billy,” One boy claimed. “he’s a heck of a troublemaker.”

“I knew Billy too and he never spoke to you!” Another boy budded in.

“Yea he did, I’m a friend! I even helped him steal from a store once.”

“Yeah right!”

“Is that true?” Another kid added to the discussion.

“Of course not!” The same boy continued with his counterargument. “Billy used to get into trouble all on his own!"  

Others began to drop from their talking and draw their ears to the juicy topic that was at hand.

"What kinds of trouble?” A curious girl asked.

“Well, I’ve heard that he ran away from home and stood out of school for over 3 months.”

“I heard that he spit in all his teacher’s faces.” The boy with the claims said in attempt to challenge the comment.

“I know of a boy who scratched up a whole block of cars with his own pocketknife, that had to be him!”

Eventually, there was gossip on a multitude of things that this Carmichael has or could have done. From those who knew him, heard of him, and had never actually seen him. Was it all true? Of course not. Was it all lies? Of course not.

“I heard he never showers!”

“He almost blew up the science lab - purposely!”

“I heard he stole a frog.”

“He ran around like he owned everything around him.”

“How’d we know when it’s him?” The same girl asked in her curiosity.

“Oh, you’ll know, with his stupid smirk and messy hair. Baggy clothes and a baseball cap. And –"

The description was discontinued, because suddenly, a boy bursted into the room. Everyone’s gaze met him and it all eyes were kept on him as they awed at his appearance. Because it was not no ordinary school uniform, it was a slim black suit with a white collar that popped beneath it. The ones they thought to associate with businessmen or maybe even their own principal. They watched as he adjusted his black tie and walked over to the teacher’s desk.

“Hello” He said.

“Hello?” The teacher could not help but say in a questioning tone.

He pulled out his hand, referencing to shake hers. So, they did.

“Are you Mr. Billy Carmichael?” She asked.

“Yes, ma’am.” He replied. “And I’m sorry I’m late, I miss the bus only by two minutes and had no choice but to take a bike ride down here.”

 She nodded in response.

“Take a seat.” He obeyed.

The stares did not seize. Everyone was in shock at the Billy

Carmichael that walked into that door. The name that had been spoken of just a few moments earlier. He took a seat a placed a notebook and pencil in front him.

“You were wrong about the hair,” someone whispered, “it’s nearly gone and not even messy.”

The tales were seemingly a big lie in the presence of the boy who had just entered the classroom.  And coincidentally, he found his seat right next to the boy who claimed to know him.

“Billy?”

“Oh, hey John. Nice to see that we both have the same homeroom, eh?”

The boy, John, was still in disbelief. From both his appearance and speech.

As the bell rang and everyone rushed out their seats to continue their day, but the entire homeroom was desperate to know the true story of Billy Carmichael. Or at least know if they had the wrong person. Once lunchtime came around, the attention was bound to come.

“You can’t be Billy, right?” John asked.

“What kind of a question is that? Of course, I’m Billy!” He laughed.

The same curious girl overheard and took a seat at their table.

“The same Billy they were telling all those stories about?” She questioned.

“Stories, huh?” Billy skeptically looked over at John, who did nothing but shrugged.

“Yeah! The Billy Carmichael that skipped school and spit in teachers' faces.”

“And scratches cars and steals frogs and -” Another kid joined in.

 “Yes, I know. That was all me.” He smiled but soon wiped it from his face. “But that’s not something to be proud of, you see, I changed.”

“Changed when? How?” John was dying to know.

“I was sent to a military camp.”

“Military camp!” Those with him repeated with a gasped as more started to gather around him.

“They couldn’t get me to go at first,” Billy said, “They knew I’d run, but my mom was ahead of me that time.”

More gathered at the table to hear what happened to him over the summer and all never lost interest in his story as he spoke of his resistance, experience in the camp, and the boy that came out because of it.

“But it all changed me, you know?”

“It really did.” John agreed.

“They taught me respect. It taught me discipline – lots of it when I first came.”

Suddenly, the gossip and perception that once surrounded Billy Carmichael began to shift. Now, it was the one that went to a military camp. The nice but tough one, the one who behaved like some sort of wise guy, the one that showed far more maturity than those ten times his age. At least, that is what John claims him to be like. And suddenly, the chaotic character that was once attached to him became a different person by the time he went back to school.