It feels like a lifetime ago that I walked the halls of the 'Purple Prison.' Many people have written about this very nostalgic subject but this is tailored to my personal experience and those of my peers. For those of you who walked the halls of Randall Middle School with me, this is for you.

1. 'Are you chewing GUM?!'

There was no greater sin than chewing gum. God forbid a teacher caught you chewing gum because that would amount to the infamous 'Conduct Cut!'

2. Hollister Denim Skirts and Leggings

We went to Hollister and bought the shortest denim skirts we could find and bought different color leggings to pair the skirt with all the while thinking we were the coolest girl ever and our style taste was top notch.

3. The Motorola Razr

This phone was the hottest thing back in 2006-2007. It was the must have phone that came in a variety of colors and was virtually indestructible.

4. Dooney and Bourke Bucket Bags

For some weird reason, these bags were all the rage in 6th grade. (I still have this exact one in my closet). With three colors to choose from, so many girls walked the halls with these bags feeling like the coolest girl in school because duh it was a Dooney.

5. Coach Tennis Shoes

I remember begging my mom for a pair of these overpriced designer tennis shoes that ended up being the most uncomfortable shoes ever that always left blisters. But they were Coach tennis shoes for Gods sake so I pushed through it.

6. Bows. Bows. And More Bows.

Apparently, bows went with every outfit no matter what. All of us would put our hair up super close to our forehead with a cute bow and take cute pictures with our friends in our logo Hollister and Abercrombie tees throwing up peace signs and the duck face (I decided to only embarrass myself so I had to go with what I had.)

7. Awkward Middle School Dances

As the administrators made there way through the crowd, we grabbed our closest girlfriend, stood like the girls above holding each others shoulders and would rop our booties low hoping the cute boys would look our way.

8. Hollister and Abercrombie Totes

Backpacks were so uncool and tote bags were so in. I personally used this very tote in 8th grade. Abercrombie and Hollister totes were essential to the cool middle schooler look. It didn't matter if our bag weighed 30 pounds and we couldn't feel our arm, they looked cool.

9. Bars on the Windows

Back in the day, Randall was purple and all windows have bars on them. The school looks more like a prison than a school, and the bars on the windows never made any sense. Hence why all of us mid-2000's Randall Middle schoolers called it 'The Purple Prison.'

10. 'Row 2. Row 2. You May Now Get Your Food.'

As we sat in our assigned rows with our 'friends' from class, Mr. A would stand at the front of the cafeteria with a microphone calling us up row by row to get lunch. Almost every day you could hear kids shout, 'You called row 2 first yesterday!' and vice versa. And God forbid you were joking around in line because then you'd have to go back to your seat and get called up by name which was obviously the most embarrassing thing ever. No one wonder the mean cafeteria ladies have lost it.

11. Getting Chips Banned Because People Loved to Pop Chip Bags.

That one time when one kid popped a chip bag on one end of the cafeteria, then another one did on the other side of the cafeteria, then one in the middle etc. Mr. A was running around trying to find the culprit and since he couldn't he banned chips for a week just making us hate him even more than we did.

12. The Clique Books

Reading wasn't really the 'cool' thing to do in middle school but reading The Clique was an exception. All of us waited for the release of the newest book and had our parents go out and buy it the day it was released as to be the first one in class to have it. Lets face it, we all wanted to be a part of the 'Pretty Committee.'

13. Park Square Was THE Place to be Seen

At the time, Park Square was brand new and obviously it was the cool place to be seen on Friday nights. We all went up there for ice cream but always ended up wishing our crush would come up and play football with his equally cute friends.

14. Cheering for the Pilots.

Cheering for the Pilots was THE thing to do. All the cool kids either played football or cheered, but either way it was the only place to cheer. It helped that we were also super good. And if you were lucky enough to win Cheer-Offs you wore that jacket with pride to school 24/7.

15. The Hannah Montana Concert

This was THE concert of the year in 8th grade. Tickets were extremely hard to get and even made national news for what people were doing to get them. But if you were one of the lucky kids who's parents loved them enough to buy them tickets, (thanks dad) you told everyone you were going no matter where your seats were. And of course we all sported our concert tees the next day at school. With a cute bow of course.