Yep. 7th grade. My best friend at the time, Leslie, and I were not on the best of terms. Everyone had told me through the years "If you don't have something good to say about someone, don't say anything at all." So after 2 weeks of not saying anything at all to her, she went to the teacher and the teacher made us go to the principal's office (we had assigned seats on the school bus too, Leslie was my seat mate). The Principal asked me if we could resolve the problem, and I told him we could, but it wouldn't be pretty, so he sent us back to our homeroom teacher. She told me I could either take a paddlin' or talk to Leslie. I got the paddle out for her and went in the hall. She didn't have the heart to punish me too bad. She's known me since I was 5 yo. She played piano in my church. The matter was never pursued again (did you know I have a stubborn streak

). I see Leslie now from time to time. I try to say hi, she acts like she's still mad about the whole thing (that was over 20 years ago

).
I had to serve detention once in 10th grade. I was chewing gum in homeroom the day after Halloween. Candy wasn't allowed in the classrooms. I thought I was a discreet chewer, too.
Other than that, I was a pretty good student.

I guess I was kinda sorta some of the teacher's pet.

I was always dependable (I missed MAYBE 8-10 days of school in 12 years), always turned in my homework on time or early, had the correct answers most of the time when asked a question, and I played sports (and was in the band

).