"It's cold!"
Not only was the temperature in Chicago in February low, but the wind was also strong. Emily shuddered and quickly hid her small body behind Tony.
Tony turned around and hugged Emily in his arms, and then used his hand to cover her face. Everyone curled their necks and walked quickly to the school platform a few hundred meters away.
Chicago 1990 Chapter 2: APLUS
As a qualified traverser, after more than ten days, Song Ya has calmly figured out his starting situation, and the conclusion is...very pessimistic.
The first is poverty. Welfare really only guarantees basic life. Aunt Susie’s extra income for helping the neighborhood with children on working days is nothing but a drop in the money for such a large home. Don’t even think about the starting capital of a traveler. There are only three twenty-five cents in my pocket right now, so I am afraid of an emergency and prepare to call a public phone.
The situation of the other brothers and sisters is also the same. The clothes are the most obvious. Tony and his clothes are basically donations from churches or charities. Tony is now wearing a dark coat that is a factory uniform, with cuffs and elbows. It’s almost gone. My black suede jacket comes from a certain Air Force veteran. There is also the word USAF1969 on the internal standard, and the color is equally unbearable.
Connie and Emily’s treatment is much better. Aunt Susie will not let them wear too shabby. Unfortunately, the aesthetic legacy of the 1980s and the African American’s over-loving of bright colors make the overall effect daunting. Compliment, of course, the above is Song Ya's personal opinion of the traveler.
Poverty is fine, personal safety is the big problem. The public security of Chicago South City is the highest in the US platoon. Poverty, guns, drugs, gangs, and vendettas affect each other. Nowadays, it has shown a trend of hardship. It is not a problem to change the big shooting case that shocked the whole country in China. There will be several cases in a short period of time. There are even news reports about people accidentally being hit and killed by gang stray bullets in the crossfire.
In addition to shootings, robberies and other low-intensity cases are more common. Gangs and drugs have already invaded campuses. The public schools in the black district where a few brothers and sisters are studying are the hardest hit areas. For example, the half-sized boys who are also waiting for the school bus are holding a cigarette. Smoked so much, it is not good at first sight.
"yooo, Tony."
Fortunately, it’s all in the neighborhood. One of the half-and-half boys in a baseball cap greeted Tony on the initiative, "Are you messing with Little Lori now?"
"hey."
Tony put Emily on the elementary school bus that had just arrived, smiled and fisted the baseball cap, "Go over." He deliberately avoided Song Ya and Connie and walked to the other side of the station.
The baseball cap is a bit familiar. Song Ya has only heard others call him by his nickname "ET". It should be that his big and prominent eyes resemble the alien image in the movie that was popular around the world in the 1980s. Place. However, from the corner of the colorful headscarf faintly exposed from under the brim of the hat, we know that this ‘ET’, who is no more than two years old, is an absolute cruel character. In Nancheng, the flower headscarf is not something that can be worn casually on the head.
Tony has a lot of friends, and the middle school bus arrived soon. He and the ‘ET’ group went to the back row to continue talking and laughing. Connie also got together with the little sisters of the same grade.
"Morning, APLUS!"
The small circle of ninth graders that Song Ya was in was in the front row. As soon as he sat down, someone yelled, and then the boys and girls of the same grade next to him laughed.
"Morning..."
Song Ya reluctantly squeezed out a smile to respond to them, then leaned on the seat and closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.
Poverty and security cannot be solved yet, but the immediate issue is another problem, "campus bullying."
This is the case. The original Alexander Song’s academic performance was probably low in the class. But when his soul was replaced by Song Ya more than ten days ago, he easily won a math test. Full marks.
It’s not a big deal. If it’s in the U.S. a few decades later, no one among the classmates will want to know the results of others, but now the political correctness of the U.S. has not "evolved" to that level. The math teacher is happy to be there. The whole class announced his'A+' performance and praised him fiercely, and used him as an example to spur those "latecomers".
So the trouble comes...
In just ten days, Song Ya was quickly isolated by his classmates. The “Ali” that everyone had called well became “APLUS” and he must have followed inexplicable laughter. The few backward boys began to come to Xiaoxiao from time to time to provoke "a bit.
Although the current so-called provocation still lies in deliberately hitting the shoulder when on the road, or knocking off the book when passing by the desk, this trend still makes Song Ya very uneasy.
Song Ya’s previous life was a standard Chinese Buddhist young man. His family was well-off and his academic performance was above average. He had just graduated from university with six wallets and he prepared a house for him. After a few years of code, he saved a car and prepared to find a wife. What's more, my life went smoothly and smoothly, UU reading www.uukanshu.com was suddenly thrown into the present. This kind of environment is really hard to deal with.
And who in China would be isolated and bullied because of a perfect score in the exam! Not to mention giving classmates stupid nicknames like "100 points". The most injustice is that although mathematics scores are advancing by leaps and bounds, the scores of the two subjects of physical education and art have plummeted. It is hard to say whether it is a loss or a profit for the credit-based US high school!
"Is the golden finger of the traverser the Chinese ethnic talent? In that case, the sports and art credits are simply abandoned, and the main focus is on mathematics and natural sciences. By the way, English and social sciences cannot be left behind..."
"Even so, at most one and a half years in advance to complete the credits, then I have to survive in this environment for at least three years..."
is planning for the future all the way, and unconsciously, the school bus has reached its destination.
"Ali, don't rush to leave after school, wait for me." Tony came over and asked when he broke up.
"What are you doing?" Song Ya asked.
Tony leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Little Lori."
"Playing basketball again?" Song Ya was discouraged when he heard that, "Can we not go?"
Since he passed through, the original athletic foundation of this body has disappeared. Playing basketball is simply torturing him. This is street basketball in the black ghetto, which is completely different from the things he throws casually before going to gym class. movement.
"FXXXYou! Don't bargain! Don't play tricks with me!" Tony immediately changed his face, and added a soft sentence before leaving: "Just do me!"
"Well, you are the boss." Song Ya had no choice.
Through the noisy crowd, he entered the classroom and saw that the chair behind his desk was thrown into the corner of the classroom. "Naive..." I was too lazy to pursue it. I picked it up and wiped it out. Then I started another day of high school life in America.