Nothing But the Truth

557 Words2 Pages

Nothing but the Truth Philip Malloy is a high school student. He is in the ninth grade at Harrison High School in New Hampshire. The story begins when Philip keeps humming the Star-Spangled Banner everyday in his homeroom class during the morning news and announcements. Philip is in Mr. Lunser’s homeroom class. The faculty rule is that everyone is to be silent and stand up respectfully during the playing of the national anthem. Teachers and other students thought it was annoying and started getting tired of Philip’s humming. Philip enjoys running and looks forward to trying out for his school's track team. His middle school coach had told the coach at the high school that Philip was a really good runner. His hopes are crushed when he learns that he cannot try out for the team because he has a 'D' in English. Philip is not fond of his English teacher, Miss Margaret Narwin. He does not like her at all and thinks she is the meanest and dumbest teacher in the world. She always gets on his nerves. She wrote a letter to her sister, Anita, and told her that she liked Philip. She said he was intelligent and that he had potential, but he irritated her because he did not have the desire to learn. Philip studied for his winter term exams but did not bother to study for his English exam. For the spring term, the faculty made changes and Philip got assigned to Miss Narwin’s homeroom class. Things got worse when Philip was assigned to her homeroom as if being in her English class wasn’t bad enough. When Philip got back to school he found out he was assigned to counseling. Philip was furious and still wanted to get out of Miss Narwin’s English class. Miss Narwin is always sending Philip to the principal’s office for creating disturbances. Philip makes jokes and fails Miss Narwin’s tests on purpose. He couldn’t pass her class and she couldn’t take a joke. Philip keeps a diary of everything that happens and of everything that goes on in his head. Philip gets into big trouble. Miss Narwin sends him to the vice-principal’s office for humming the national anthem. He gets suspended for a week. It is the nature of the disturbance, humming during the Star Spangled Banner that creates a huge controversy. A chain reaction of events turns the conflict into a patriotic issue.

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