That Time I Became a MacBook Murderer

The Day I Obliterated a School MacBook, or How Fidget Toys Became Public Enemy No.1

Hey world! It's your not-so-typical teenager here, venturing into the land of adulthood in just less than a year. But today, I'm pulling a Marty McFly and taking you back to the year 2017.

Let me take you back to 2017, a time when fidget toys were all the rage. You remember those, right? Little spinny things that made absolutely no sense but were oddly satisfying and you were practically living under a rock if you didn't have one -Yeah, those!

Okay, so there I was, thirteen and all, in the midst of my awkward phase (we all have one, don't deny it) in the middle of a biology class that was about as exciting as watching paint dry. Oh, 2017, how you still haunt me. Picture this - a small 13-year-old me, with a cat-themed hoodie that was pretty much glued to my body with thick-rimmed glasses and an aura permanently perfumed by cheap Bath and Body Work's hand sanitizer. Yeah, I can almost hear your snickers. I was practically the walking, talking embodiment of every middle school cliché you can think of. Add to that my legendary knack for breaking stuff - a talent that evidently still prevails - and you can imagine the absolute disaster waiting to unfold.

So, one fine day, my bestie and I were sitting in biology class. Anyway, we were toying around with our latest obsession, these wild little fidget balls that were supposed to help concentration or something.

Well, little did we know that they were more like mini grenades waiting to burst than harmless concentration aids. As we giggled and poked at them under the desk, suddenly, one of our fidget balls decided to go KABOOM, like some dramatic slow-mo scene from a Michael Bay movie. The tiny little particles flew all over my MacBook keyboard with a spectacular glittering effect, turning my laptop into an abstract work of modern art.

The worst part? MacBooks and their keyboard issues. If the keyboard dies, then, well, RIP MacBook. It's like the heart of the whole machine. I swear, whoever designed this must have missed that day in engineering class when they taught about redundancy and fail-safes.

And yep, that was the end of that MacBook. I wouldn't say it was a silent death. There was quite a ruckus, actually.

I ended up getting a detention, because apparently, MacBooks have a higher status in school than the students. But my best friend, the one who brought the ticking fidget bomb into class? Yeah, she didn't get so much as a slap on the wrist. Clearly, justice was as absent that day as my ability to keep a MacBook alive.

After that event, fidget toys were treated as weapons of mass destruction and were banned in the school. I mean, I get it, we shouldn't have been playing with them during class, but it's not like I was aiming to take down the MacBook. My short-lived career as a tech destroyer was purely accidental, I promise!

In the aftermath, fidget toys got banned from our school faster than you can say "spinner". Talk about leaving a mark in your middle school years. On the plus side, I managed to avoid paying a single dime for the MacBook. Who knew being a minor could be such a blessing in disguise? Well, if you don't count the hours I had to spend in detention, silently promising every MacBook I'd see in the future that I'd keep my hands (and fidget toys) off of them.