August 25, 2016, Berkeley, California, USA. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

With an average temperature of 24-25 degrees Celsius in late August, San Francisco is a city with a typical Mediterranean climate, and the San Francisco area is sunny for 292 days a year. Of course, such good living conditions are accompanied by high tax rates: consumption tax can range from 7.7% to 9%, depending on the region. Nearby Berkeley is fairly gentle, with a tax rate of only 7.7%.

There is a very popular post on Zhihu, "With an annual salary of $100,000, what kind of life can I live in California?", which largely describes the expensive life in California.

As a private school, Mekbailey is, of course, very different from California's public high schools. In addition to the superior hardware conditions (you can imagine the difference between Chengdu Shiwai West District and Chengdu No. 8 Middle School), Mekbailey has a first-class teaching level. SAT (ScholasticAssessmentTest) Scholastic Aptitude Assessment Test, commonly known as the "American College Entrance Examination", the subjects are reading, mathematics and writing (including composition and grammar), with a total score of 2400 points, and the novel that was reformed in 2016 is not used for the time being. Mekbailey's students have an average score of 1800 or above. Of course, the tuition fee is very different from that of a regular high school.

The family also suffers from the fact that both parents work in Silicon Valley, unlike many families in the United States where only one of them works, so they can provide for them to go to a private high school. However, Madrigal himself is also a primary school master, so there are also scholarships to get.

7 a.m.

Madrigal wakes up from a dream. The recent dreams are a little strange, and Madrigal feels that she must have experienced something terrible in her dreams, but she always wakes up every morning without a single impression, but her pajamas are soaked every day.

Breakfast was bread, milk, eggs, and a little scrambled meat and vegetables. Madrigal is happy that he doesn't have to eat all kinds of colored cereal like other families in the United States (is it really good to eat this colorful cereal every day).

Every morning, her mother, Zhang Man, would send Muge and Muyun to school, and then drive to work at the company. It has to be mentioned here that in the United States, if you don't have a car, it can be said that you can't get an inch, especially in slightly remote areas. Don't expect buses in the United States, the author once caught the subway from Berkeley to San Francisco in order to get to the Golden Gate Bridge, and then transferred three buses, the key is that its buses are one bus per hour =. = There is a car that is not open because it is a weekend.。。。 All in all, in a country that lives on wheels, not a single car is simply looking for.

"Alan, did you bring your lunch box for lunch?" Zhang Man confirmed to Pastoral when he was about to arrive at school.

Another magical custom of the American people has appeared~ Lunch is super simple, usually a sandwich, or a salad. Generally speaking, the lunch of students from junior high school to high school is prepared by their respective mothers in the morning and then brought to school for lunch.

"Brought it, tuna sandwich and a bottle of yogurt, I put it in my bag, byebye~. Pastoral Ge carried his schoolbag, opened the car door, and said goodbye to Zhang Man.

"Go home in the afternoon and stay safe. Zhang Man couldn't pick up Muge from school because he had to work, and Muge's home school was not very far away, so he went home by himself since junior high school. "I want him to get his driver's license test as soon as possible→. → so that I don't have to go through the trouble every day. ”

----------------------I'm here again------------------------------------

Madrigal walked through the door of Mekbailey, ready to go to the house to find his friend and go to class with him.

I believe that children who have watched American dramas know that American high schools are different from Chinese high schools, and they implement a shift system: the teacher does not move, and the students go to the teacher's classroom to attend classes. But what most people don't know is that American middle schools have a thing called "homeroom", and some places are also called "advisory". This thing is the "mother class" of students. In many secondary schools, students have to go to their homes once a day before they go to different classrooms for different classes. Homes are divided according to grades, and each grade will have several rooms, and each room will have a "homeroomteacher". Therefore, although the United States implements a shift system, because of the existence of "family rooms", students can also establish "class" ties through home rooms.

"Alan, look here~"

Madrigal was stopped by a gentle voice. He looked towards where the voice had come from, and a thin figure appeared in Pastoral's field of vision.

"Anderson, long time no see. Madrigal smiled happily.

Anderson is Alan Mu's best friend in Mekbailey, and as a Mexican-American, Anderson has three-dimensional features, white teeth, dark green eyes, and the smell of sunlight all over his body. What Alan Mu once envied the most was that Anderson had thick black hair, which was incredibly smooth. As Anderson, who also holds a scholarship, the two have had a strong friendship since junior high school, commonly known as BFF (Best Friend Forever).

Half an hour later, everyone came out of their homes and prepared to go to different classrooms.

The two walked side by side in the passage, sharing their respective holiday lives.

"Bang!"

Madrigal felt like she and Anderson had been hit against the wall together.

Madrigal felt that the sandwich in her bag was already moaning in pain as her body came into close contact with the wall.

Madrigal looked up angrily, trying to find the culprit.

In fact, there was no need for Madrigal to bother, two white boys in high school football team uniforms stood in front of Madrigal and Anderson.

Alan Mu has a very deep impression of the two of them in his memory, and the original owner is very afraid of them. On the left is the team's quarterback David Smith, and on the right is wide receiver Michael Miller.

Madrigal knows what kind of situation she is encountering now, and in Alan Mu's memory, it also accounts for a very large proportion of his high school life - bullying.

This theme has been filmed badly in various American dramas. (The author's high school is a very strict high school, with a very serious and responsible class teacher, so I really don't feel that there is any school bullying happening in my life, but I heard that school bullying in the United States and Japan is quite serious.) ）

"Isn't this a fat pig and a redneck?"

David and Michael's hippie smiles block Madrigal and Anderson's path.

Madrigal felt her whole body tremble. Perhaps the original owner would have swallowed his anger when he encountered such a situation, but Madrigal could only feel every cell in his body now roaring angrily, his breathing had begun to increase, his teeth had clenched, and his hands were secretly clenched into fists. He was like a cheetah ready to hunt, making the final preparations.

Just as Madrigal was about to pounce on him and fight desperately, his hand was grabbed by Anderson. Anderson said in a breathy voice in the madrigal's ear, "Alan, don't be impulsive, they'll stop soon." ”

Madrigal gave Anderson a strange look. At this time, a bell rang in the campus. Michael and David shrugged their shoulders, flipped Anderson's bag aside, and walked off together.

Anderson packed his bag with a blank face and said to Madrigal, "Okay, let's go to class." You're a little weird today, you're going to fight with the rugby team, and I'm glad I was able to stop you."

"Is that all, are we going to let them bully?!" Madrigal said to Anderson with a little excitement, he didn't want to live in a world of being bullied by others for the next three years, and he was not a masochist. As a young man with all-round development of morality, intellect, physique and beauty who grew up under the red flag, Pastoral firmly believes that it is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, rather than a direct revenge.

Anderson's excitement about the pastoral seemed a little helpless. "Allen, do you not know, let's not talk about whether the two of us can beat the five big and three thick football team players, even if we win, do you want to end up being isolated by the whole school and being beaten by the people of the global team after class?"

Only then did Madrigal remember that this was an American campus, and it had its own set of small societies and classes. Unlike Chinese campuses, teachers here don't have as much power as Chinese teachers, and American students don't have as much respect for teachers.

"Alright, let's go to class, you know how much Mr. William hates students who are late. ”

Madrigal smiled weakly and walked side by side with Anderson to the classroom.

"Drops... Detecting that the host's rage value has reached the minimum condition and the energy value is full, will the system be activated?"