A Boy's Life: Cael Gray

The sixth-grader from Memorial Middle School in Mentor dreams of playing in the NBA. “I’d want to travel to all the different basketball arenas and see the differences between them,” he says. The Wednesday before this interview, he went to a Cleveland Cavaliers home game where he saw Kyrie Irving put up a career high 55 points while LeBron James sat on the sidelines due to a wrist injury.

When I figured out LeBron wasn’t playing, I was hoping Kyrie or someone would step up. I watched Kyrie play in college and I said, “I want to be like him when I grow up.” He’s a point guard, and so am I. He’s a great athlete, got good ball-handling skills. I just hope to practice and be as good as him.

My favorite subject is social studies. I like learning about the ancient history and different religions of the world. Mostly, I like coming to school in the morning and talking to my friends. But then I have to wait through the rest of the day until social studies.

Sometimes school is hard if I’m tired or not feeling so well. Then it feels like the day is going slower. But if I’m talking with my friends and I’m all happy, then I feel like it’s fast and it’s better. I try to always think positive, and hopefully the day can go by fast.

My least favorite part about school is all the homework we get. And sometimes if one of my best friends isn’t at school and I was looking forward to talking to them and they’re not there, it gets me a little down. — as told to Sheehan Hannan

[Editor’s Note: As an extension of “A Boy’s Life” feature in Cleveland Magazine's March issue, we will be publishing additional boys' stories on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the month. For all these stories, click on the "A Boy's Life" tag.]