High School
This is something I wrote a while ago, found it today, got bored, posted it here:
When youre in high school, your entire life is wrapped up in football games, parties, homework, passing notes, break ups, hook ups, hangovers, rumors, telephone calls, late night AIM conversations, cute boys, computer geeks, lockers, classes, fights, detentions, and the friends that you share it all with. Your world is enclosed inside the school walls and the few places you hang out on weekends. Your schedule is dictated by bells, and when the last one rings to signal freedom, you go home only briefly to refresh before going back to the place where you thrive.
There are sleepovers, and study sessions, and dates, and random times in between when everyone is hanging out and not really doing much of anything except being young and wishing that they werent. Youve finally realized things that things arent black and white, because suddenly your world has become various shades of gray. Youre never entirely sure who youre fighting with and who youre friends with. Sometimes youre not even sure who youre dating, and, a lot of the time, youre not sure who you are. You fight with your parents and your friends and yourself because theyre holding you back, or pushing too much, but in the end you know you love them. Some days its too much to deal with and all you can do is cry yourself to sleep and hope its all better in the morning, then when its not, you get up and pretend it is anyways.
And this all sounds dismal and depressing, and some days it really is. But, a lot of the time, things are wonderful, and most of the time you dont even see the beauty in all of it until after the fact. There are fights and break ups, yes, but before that, there were wonderful friendships and kisses stolen between classes by the staircase where the teachers couldnt see. Sometimes you lose the game, but you go out for ice cream afterwards to celebrate playing. You cant go to every party, and you blame your parents, but sometimes youre glad for the break from all the mess. You tease and get teased, but you learn to deal with that, and enjoy it. You do stupid things, but most of the time theyre silly-stupid, not bad-stupid, and when they are bad stupid, you usually laugh about it afterwards anyways, actually, you laugh at most stuff afterwards. Sometimes you fall behind in your classes because you were up late talking instead of writing your report, but you generally catch up, and if not, you laugh and say its only a grade anyways.
When youre in high school, all you see of your life is those four years. College and careers and families are always in the distant future. And then suddenly, the future is right here, right now, pounding on the door and coming in whether you answer or not. It feels like youve been standing on a big rug, and the gods have just pulled it out from under you and now your entire world is backwards and upside down. But slowly, you adjust, and enter adulthood, whatever that means, and the world slowly rights itself, or rather, you adjust to being upside down. And things are different now, sometimes a lot, sometimes only a little, but its not how it used to be, and all thats left of high school is your year book with the funny notes in the back, your class ring, hundreds of pictures, and all sorts of memories.