Do you remember your first day of freshman year? You were either 14 or 15-years-old, walking into an unfamiliar building with unfamiliar faces was one of the best and worst feelings imaginable. There was great opportunity ahead; those strangers would soon be people you would share laughs with, sit with at lunch and even become your best friends for the next four years (if you're lucky). Get comfortable because you will be in this place with these people for the next 720 days of your high school career.
Papers among papers, next to readings, assignments, tests and so much more. Stay focused. You don't know it now, but your grades during your freshman year are going to impact your GPA immensely when you become a senior. Again, stay focused. You think that college is so far away, but you don't realize that these short four years are just a blink in your young life. Enjoy this while it's here, before you're forced to let go.
Your high school friends are nice and welcoming. You attend school activities together, play sports together and you've gotten so close that you even see each other outside of the tall walls of high school. You tell them about you just as they've told you about them. These young people are going through every milestone of teenage years that you are. Maybe this is why you all relate so well. Weekends are days spent with your newly found friends, who have just as much to tell you about their high school experiences as you do with yours. Here's to more and yet another weekend that has come to an end.
Monday found you again and you're cramming for the test that you didn't prepare for over the weekend. You aren't stressing out because it's just freshman year. You get away with an average grade. One that your mother isn't pleased with, but you could care less. You have three more years to get better anyways, right?
Sophomore already? Wow, time sure does fly and you're not a little freshman anymore. You know where you are now and your friends are familiar faces in this more familiar place. You know the cool looks and whats "in." Though she has this, and you want that. And the clothes you wear aren't like hers. So you beg and plead for the things you want that you believe will make you feel better in this familiar scene with these familiar faces. You are now in a building full of replicas all trying to be "cool." Because the world would end if you didn't fit in, right?
Suddenly you notice more than just what everyone else is wearing and you see that one person in the crowd stands out more than the rest. I know you've noticed him and I'm sure he's noticed you. But now he's really looking at you and you are definitely looking at him. You had absolutely no idea how juvenile you were when it came to love. But I promise, one day you'll see. The flirting escalates to feelings and you've never felt more amazing. You think this is it and you've found the one, yet you question why your parents tell you this isn't love. You resent them as you only listen to him and then suddenly you notice that he is your only friend.
You've gone through a couple more high school years and it's almost awkward saying "hello" to your old friends which whom you never see anymore because of your preoccupations. You're always "too busy" to see them when really you'd just prefer to spend all your time with him because you're young and this is love, but you're not the only girl he dreams of. You think you're so grown in the sense that you know. But I wish I could have told you to take a seat and just be young. So grown up is what you think you are. Grown up is being cool and having a boyfriend and making your own decisions. You're not that special to him and I promise he's not as great as you think he is now. And without him in your life, you just may want to opt out completely. This is your crisis, which you think is so big. You think this all matters so much more than it does, and how could you not when it's what you're programmed to believe in a building known as high school. Breathe.
I've been through all the phases of being young, juvenile and dumb. To be honest, I still am. But if you hear me out on anything, it's this. School is important but failing your test won't depict the rest of your life. Your mom will forgive you and she won't be mad forever. Be yourself, you don't have to be like everyone else. Your friends? They might remain your friends or they might not. But just know there are many more waiting to meet you. Those friends have a path to follow just like you do. That guy? He's just not the one. Heartbreak hurts and so does the fact that you'll have more heartbreaks in your life too. He was one of your many lessons in life. You will graduate and continue your new, adult life on a path that you didn't see yourself on four years ago. Be proud. Breathe. Truth be told, that freshman was me and I'm certain it was you too. I wish I had known then that there is so much more to life than high school.
