Marvin V. Acuna

Ladies and gentlemen. Meet Jimmy.

Jimmy was a freshman from North Providence. He was 100% Italian and if you were to look up the definition of Guido in the dictionary — you’d see a picture of Jimmy.

Jimmy was a lanky guy, with dark hair that was always slicked back with some hair product. Traditionally in black and absolutely always wearing what is now known as the bling, bling. He was less Danny Zuko and more Andrew “Squiggy” Squiggmann.

I first spotted Jimmy thru the glass pane window of the classroom door while I sat quietly at my desk in homeroom. Normally I would have not given Jimmy a second thought — it wasn’t uncommon for students to be lost or taking a quick look inside. But, he was standing behind the glass, unbeknownst to the teacher or the rest of class, giving me the “bird”.

Yep, Squiggy was flipping me the “bird”. At least it seemed like it was for me, because no one else seemed to notice. Our eyes locked, he smiled, and scurried from the door before anyone else noticed.

Jimmy did this every morning and eventually would pop up at some of my different classes. But, he never stayed and oddly I never spotted him in the hallways during the class transitions.

Then one morning he stayed till class ended. I exited class, shot straight for him, and he simply uttered “Hi, I’m Jimmy.”

Jimmy had decided that we needed to be friends and friends we became. Best friends.

Jimmy was always full of crazy ideas and fun things to do. But, his craziest idea came to life when I accidently stumbled upon the master geometry exam book which included all the geometry exams for the year with all the correct answers.

All I can say is Geometry was a breeze.

But, the proverbial lesson that there “ain’t no free lunch” would soon follow.