Chapter 5: Review with Snacks
On a chilly Earth Day, I met up with Sarah, James, and Henri at their apartment in Oakland for a lasagna and cheesecake dinner, in which afterwards, one of my other best friends, Carly Shay and her parents, Sam and Freddie, joined us and brought yummy snacks like veggie sticks, cubed fruit, Triscuits, chocolate chip cookies, and bottled water. Since it was Earth Day, one of Sarah and James's classmates, Deborah, was joining us for a guest speaker on her current job. "Hi, guys!" I greeted my friends. "Hi, Angel!" Sarah greeted back. "Who is this, Sarah?" Carly asked. "This is one of my classmates, Deborah," Sarah introduced. "She helped us out with our Earth Day projects in which I got an A on and Sarah got a D on," James added. "Congratulations on your A, James!" Mrs. Shay congratulated. "I'm sorry to hear about your D, Sarah," Carly sympathized. Before Deborah began her speech, everyone got some snacks to eat. Deborah gave a speech on her job as a park manager at Frick Park. Her main jobs included cleaning up the litter and making sure the park was clean and tidy. Deborah even passed out some special "Save the Earth" pins for us to wear. She told us how we could come visit her at Frick Park some time, and she would give us tips on how to keep our Earth clean. After Deborah finished her speech and left, we played a game in which we talked about one thing we learned from the 15 weeks. "I learned when an appropriate time to disclose my autism at work could be, despite the fact that Henri was being so negative that day," I told everyone. Henri felt slightly offended by my comment, in which I then apologized. I passed the yarn to Carly. "I liked when Sarah gave me tips on finding a therapist last week," Carly stated. Carly passed the yarn to Sarah. "I learned that Molly Corbin was being unprofessional throwing a wild party to celebrate her 16th birthday, even though I was being professional by handling the situation as best as I could," Sarah stated. Sarah passed the yarn to James. "I learned how to do a perfect mock interview for my job at Woodland Summer Camp, in which I can't wait to become a counselor for the boys' cabin," James stated. James passed the yarn to Mrs. Shay. "I learned about how James has a girlfriend he misses very much by the name of Phillis, as she got a job," Mrs. Shay stated. Mrs. Shay passed the yarn to Mr. Benson. "I learned about how juggling gets you prepared for something stressful," Mr. Benson stated. Mr. Benson passed the yarn to Henri. "I learned about my strengths and weaknesses of being a cashier at Goodwill, just like Angel," Henri stated. We made a yarn web. James then announced that he was going to have back surgery the following Monday. Mrs. Shay got James a card, as she and all of us were very concerned for James and wanted to make sure that he was okay. Mrs. Shay even reported that she had back surgery once, too. "Thanks for a great 15 weeks, everyone!" I told everyone. "You're welcome," Sarah replied. "Bye, guys!" "Bye!"