After the first two weeks, the homework come roaring in like waves on the beach. My teachers aren't ruthless, but they give us seemingly difficult homework to complete. I finish my work during lunch if I can, and I go home with a lighter load. I understand the work because it's not that hard for me. Most of my classmates don't understand how easy the assignments are because they choose not to do them.

AP World History and AP Lit are block classes, and I can just leave my backpack when I go outside for passing period. The lectures are fairly easy to listen to; if you're a history geek, the class is for you. I love history so the class is simple. We also have a National History Day project to complete, but I finished what we needed to do over the summer. My teacher's very easy-going and won't leave us hanging.

CP Spanish 2 is more difficult than CP Spanish 1. I can speak the language, but it sounds like I'm barely a beginner still. The work's fairly simple, but the translations get confusing. Pen in Spanish is either bolígrafo or pluma. The teacher still doesn't like me because I spoke in Navajo on the first day in a Spanish class.

AP Environmental Science isn't very hard, but it's not completely easy. I'm not a science nerd, but I try my best. The teacher hates me for some reason. I don't know why. I do the work and complete what I need to do.

FA Theater and Dance 1 are fun. I can recite lines with emotion and dance like I'm at a Native American festival. I can be who I am there. I can be myself around my classmates. I try hard, and sometimes I don't; the classes are too much fun to give up.

AP Statistics may be where I've met my match. I like technology, but I can never figure out the problems that make it up. I've been trying my best with math ever since elementary school. I don't know what the problem is. The teacher helps me whenever she can, but she theorizes it's because I prefer writing to numbers.

Overall, school's going okay. I've begun working during the weekends for a caretaker who's glad for the help. Her in-laws are very interesting, and they have plenty of stories to share. The caretaker pays me five dollars for every hour I spend at her house. I work from ten a.m. to six p.m., so that's $45.

I hope that this turns to future college tuition or car payments. I'm fifteen, so I can most likely get a driver's permit for a car. But my parents told me that they don't want to pay for a vehicle yet. I agree with them. It could get expensive.

But my friends and I have a stable relationship. We chat freely like there's nothing wrong. Lately, one of my friends has been looking at me with some emotion hidden in her eyes. I'm not sure what it is. I can't tell because she carefully masks her feelings.

If it's lust, then I have to avoid her. If it's love, then I may give her a chance. But I don't know yet. So I can't think of a battle plan yet. I'd better focus on completing the first semester of sophomore year alive; then I'll think about a relationship.