[voiceover] It's amazing the things you notice, like the corner of his collar that was coming undone. Like, he was from a poor family and couldn't afford new shirts. That's all I could see. The whole world was that unraveled piece of fabric.
All S1
S1 E3Guns and Gossip
S1 E4Father Figures
Do you ever get, like, hypnotized by food?
Hypnotized By Food could be my Indian name. [to Angela] Do you want to flip one?
Rayanne can do it.
I can't believe I'm cooking something, like, not in the pouch.
[voiceover] When you're not sure you trust a person anymore -- say, a person you really trusted; say your father -- you start wishing they'd do something, like, really wrong, just so you could be right about them.
So, not to shock you, but your dad's attractive.
Oh, I'm sure!
Not that I'd attack him, or anything, but I wouldn't leave me alone with him, either. It's not just physical. He's...nice. You just have a really nice dad. He's really nice.
[voiceover] When someone compliments your parents, there's, like, nothing to say. It's like a stun gun to your brain.
Plus, his stubble is the perfect length.
He doesn't have stubble! He ran out of disposable razors that morning; he was all disturbed about it.
Oh! In-touch-with-his-emotions Dad!
[laughing] Shut up!
Ignore Angela! She can't help herself -- she's the product of a two-parent household!
[voiceover] You know how sometimes the last sentence you said, like, echoes in your brain, and it just keeps sounding stupider? And you have to say something else just to make it stop?
Angela, wait. Did you ever think that I could actually be doing something that does not involve you? I mean, that I may not just be sitting around in case you decide like that moment that you need my car?
So what were you doing?
Nothing! Do you want my sweater?
OK.
Just, try not to sweat into it.
Why do you have to say things like that?!
S1 E5The Zit
[voiceover] The worst feeling is suddenly realizing that you don't measure up, and that, in the past, when you thought you did, you were a fool.
[voiceover] It had become the focus of everything. It was all I could feel, all I could think about. It blotted out the rest of my face, the rest of my life. Like the zit had become...the truth about me.
I would think that you would welcome the opportunity to dress up, to look your best.
Who am I looking my best for?
For you! Of course this is for you! I mean, I don't...
Mom, just face the facts, okay?
What facts, what?
That I'm ugly, okay? Just face it -- I have.
How can you say that-- how can you possibly --
By looking in the mirror, okay? By looking at you, with the way you look at me.
How do I look at you?
By the way you instruct me on how to wash my face so I don't get zits. Like you have to fix me, like you're ashamed of me.
Oh, no -- Angela, sweetheart, no!
You expect me to beautiful, because you're beautiful. Well, I'm sorry -- I'm not. I'm just not.
Why do girls have to tear each other down?
I guess 'cause they're jealous. I mean, I was. Of you. For having what you have.
Do you know how many times this week I wished I had what you had?
But I don't have anything!
Exactly.
Well, this really makes sense.
I guess it just all boils down to what they used to drill into us at Girl Scouts.
What, sell more cookies?
No! No, you know -- um...'What you are is' -- no, wait: 'What your gift is --'
Oh! No: 'What you have is God's gift to you, and what you do with what you have is your gift to God.'
[voiceover] Sometimes it seems like we're all living in some kind of prison, and the crime is how much we hate ourselves. It's good to get really dressed up once in a while, and admit the truth -- that when you really look closely, people are so strange and so complicated that they're actually...beautiful. Possibly even me.
S1 E6The Substitute
[voiceover] Maybe teachers have a hidden life. Where they're actually... like, human. Where they have, I don't know... dignity. Or maybe not.
SStudent
So why are you here? You the new substitute?
Why am I here? Yeah, good question. I'm the new substitute, yes. I'm here quite simply to get paid. Assuming all of you can read and write, I don't perceive any emergency situation. That's all. Continue wasting your lives. [he pulls a folded newspaper out of his knapsack]
So, um...are we like, dismissed?
Do you want to be dismissed?
No, you just said that...you just said that was all you had to say, so...
I will be here for the next forty-seven minutes. Whether you will also be here for that time is, to be candid, your decision.
What's the catch?
No catch. If you don't want to be here, go. I'm not gonna stop you. [Jordan immediately climbs out of his desk and heads for the door] Well, you know, there is just, you know, one catch. We will be discussing you in your absence, but you know, if you don't mind that...
Yeah, right.
Oh, it's no joke. I have no lesson planned. Trashing you in your absence will help, uh, pass the time. Right? It could, uh, possibly be educational as well.
So what are we supposed to do?
[Jordan returns to his seat]
Ah, I've known you all of five minutes and you want me to tell you what you're supposed to do? Fine. Follow your hearts and veer away from heroin.
[laughs] No, I meant in the next forty-seven minutes.
I know what you meant, that was sarcasm.
Write it down. Whatever you feel like saying write it down instead. What you never told anyone. What you never even told yourself. And don't fear exposure. No one is to put his or her name down. This will be completely anonymous.
[whispering to Angela] Just how I like sex.
My husband and I read the stuff that the kids wrote --
Hope it didn't give him a heart attack. He seemed a bit fragile.
Actually, it isn't my husband who had the problem.
[Mr. Racine smiles]
I just think...there's this one piece in particular that I just don't feel comfortable printing.
Oh! You're afraid that Angela wrote it.
This has nothing to do with whether Angela wrote it.
So, this is just censorship for censorship's sake?
What?
Hand them over. I'll type them myself, and I'll have them Xeroxed.
These are children! We are adults! This is not censorship! This is guiding adolescents who need...guidance!
That is a very reasonable opinion, and very clearly stated. Unfortunately, it's total manure.
Excuse me?
It's horse manure. I sense you're angry. Are you angry?
Yes!
Yes! I sensed that! [laughs]
Why is it manure?
Good question. It is manure because this journal should be about giving these students a voice, not about having their thoughts edited. If these kids aren't afraid to put their hearts on the page, why should we be afraid of them?
You should really teach full-time.
We have a difference of opinion. Fine. But do you think you should be in the position of deciding because you run a printing press and I don't?
Do you expect me to answer that question?
Yes.
[pause] No, I don't.
[He hands the papers back to her and starts to leave]
So. Did Angela write it?
[He smirks and walks out]
These quotes come from Wikiquote's My So-Called Life pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.