I am fed up of sitting around doing nothing. It's boring. I stay on my uncomfortable wooden shelf - no cushion! - all day, crammed in between other notebooks doing exactly the same thing. How dull. I have been used three times. The first time, on the page after the first one (?) involved a lot of pencil chewing and scribbling out. Not that I minded. I had been a birthday gift, three years ago, and it was nice to finally have a purpose. I was christened the Latin revision book. It's weird, the way that there are so many of us notebooks, yet we are each used for one thing, and one thing only. Why can you not use one notebook for everything, and when it's finished, start another? It's bizarre, like you can't stand to put a mark on our pristine pages. Well, that's what we live for - we need to hold information! A blank notebook is like a brainless person. Pointless. Tortured. Weak. Even those amongst our ranks who have been well used have never been finished. You stop halfway and start a new book, as if you can't bear to think that we are empty. Even the rare, wise veterans, who have been filled to the margins with ink and graphite, stay sat on the shelf. It's as if you don't want to throw away that accumulated knowledge. Or maybe you just like the design on the front cover. Who knows? 

The second time I was used was a brief luxury. A stubby pencil (don't get me started on how come you can never start a new pencil but never finish a notebook) was used to write out a list of Latin words over and over. The page was neatly titled, "Vocabulary test 7". That made me question: Why was I not used to revise for the other 6 tests? Maybe you failed, and finally decided to do something about it. I don't understand what goes on in your big heads. If you want to know about that, talk to Stan on the shelf above. He's got a whole 12 pages of mind maps. 

The third and final time I was used was a tragedy. With great ceremony, a ruler was used to construct a table, in which was listed the pros and cons of taking Latin or German for GCSE. The lists were a similar length, but after much humming, the fact that your best friend was taking german was underlined, and you circled German. My cover closed with a very final-sounding thump. 

I was leaning heavily on my neighbours for weeks afterwards. One of them is a colourful but scatterbrained personality, full of doodles and idle flourishes. Her sister is dedicated entirely to scribbling to test if a pen still works, or what colour it is. My other side is flat up against the bulk of an extremely fortunate book who is used to draft history essays. He's forever on about rebellions, which gave me this idea. You've heard my speech. Our owner never uses us, but she keeps buying / receiving new additions to our family. Do you see where I am going with this? Good, good. 

Soon, our army will be large enough to strike.

Only ten to go.

Just five more.

Three

two 

one.