How my First History Class Began

While the bell signalling the end of school is respected, I also wait for the first bell of the day: the start of school.

Recently, it has become more of a tradition for me and my friends to gather around a wooden piano next to the school library. As I walk towards the piano, I see girls looking over at Alexey’s slender fingers dancing over the keys, playing Tchaikovsky’s Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Bodhi and Ian gather around the piano, turning crisp pages of a book.

Bodhi, with furrowed eyebrows, looked up from his book. “Guys! I just remembered, did you know we have history for the first period? It’s our first history lesson ever in high school!”

Alexey looked up from the piano. “Seriously?”

Bodhi’s hair twirled as he nodded. “Yeah! I hope it’ll be fun!”

As the first bell rang, we climbed up to the top floor. Bodhi panted. “Guys, stair-climbing is a healthy exercise. So, should we do that again?”

Our silence said everything.

As I took my seat in the History classroom, I saw that the teacher was Mr Fortunato, the founder of D&D club, which I regularly attend with my friends. Bodhi’s eyes went round, his freckles and hair shining ever more red. “We have Mr Fortunato for History? This day keeps getting better and better!” Bodhi fumbled into his bag for his history book. “Mr Fortunato! Please sign this! I’m your super-fan!”

The teacher smiled at Bodhi. “Yes Bodhi, I’m your History teacher for this semester, and we’ll be looking at some fascinating Ancient History. Has anyone heard of Otzi the Iceman before?”

Mr Fortunato waved his hands to the class, pointing it to the smartboard. “This is Otzi the Iceman’s body. Now, I’m going to ask you a question which the other classes have failed to find the answer to. How do you think Otzi the Iceman died?”

I squinted, my fingers pushing my glasses up to the bridge of my nose. “It looks like Otzi’s head suffered from blunt force trauma, so I assume someone bashed him in the head or he fell. However, there’s also an entry wound in his shoulder, so he was attacked by an arrow.”

The ticking of the clock reverberated around the room, as everyone stared at me. Ian put his fingers up to his head, making an ‘O’ with his lips. Mr Fortunato’s eyes were raised. “Ein, congratulations! You got the question right! Wow, but uh… how do you know this stuff?”

Ian raised his voice. “Ein was just born with that knowledge. I’m pretty sure he could talk even when he was born!”

I smiled. “I just watch a lot of Netflix!”

As Mr Fortunato continued with his Otzi the Iceman presentation, Ian stood up and whispered into my ear. “Ein, do you want to go to the toilet with me?”

As we walked to the toilet, I decided to pay Lost Property a visit. It had been not long ago when my dear USB stick had left my pocket. As I shuffled through all the lost items, I noticed a cap with the name ‘DAWKINS’ scribbled in orange ink. Frowning, I turned the hat over to see ‘BODHI’, accompanied by an illustration of a beaver. “Uhh, Ian? What do you think? I think I found Bodhi’s hat.” 

Ian inspected the cap. “Maybe there’s another Bodhi Dawkins at this school. I mean, I never saw Bodhi wearing a hat before in my life.”

As we entered the classroom again, I handed the hat over to Bodhi. “I believe this is yours. Use it well!” Bodhi squinted his eyes at his own squiggly name. “I had a hat? I didn’t even realise I lost mine.” Alexey shut his eyes. “I think the last time Bodhi wore his hat was when we graduated from primary school.”

Bodhi turned around, pursing his lips. “Of course! To show my lovely hair!”

Just as we finished up on the ‘possible’ causes of Otzi the Iceman’s death, Mr Fortunato sat on his table, shutting the lights off. “Now, something very interesting is that all the mountaineers and researchers who ‘disturbed’ or touched Otzi’s body died, many under mysterious circumstances.”

The classroom sat at the edge of our sharp chairs, as Alexey’s hand shot up. “Ooh! Ooh! Is this like The Mummy?”

Mr Fortunato shook his head. “Most of the mountaineers met fate with gravity, and many researchers died of sudden circumstances. Currently, his remains reside at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology… waiting for its next victim!”

Bodhi shrieked, as he and his chair fell back with a resonating thud. We all stared at Bodhi, mouths agape. Bodhi’s hand shot up. “Everybody, I’m fine!”

As the second period approached, us students walked out of the classroom. As we parted ways, I reflected on my first History lesson. Alexey smiled. “So, what do you think? History was really fun, right?” We all nodded. “Yeah!”

I was always interested in history, a subject underdeveloped at primary school. What a relief it is to finally learn about the world! I want to have history lessons everyday!