One Shot : A Guilty Pleasure

I was starting my first day at a new school. My palms were sweaty, my heart was thumping, and I had butterflies in my stomach. I took a deep breath and walked towards the grey doors. I thought about what the new school would be like; how the teachers were and how the students were. I missed my friends from my old school. I walked through those big grey doors to a whole new place.

I can remember sitting in class, feeling eyes burning through me, dodging inquisitive glances from all sides, and anxiously awaiting the bell to ring for lunchtime. As most people know, lunch is the most dreaded part of the first day at a new school. First day of school memories are still fairly vivid for me; my father was in the JAG corps in the Army and my family moved with biannual regularity. In fact, I even attended three different high schools. While this may seem highly undesirable to some, I learned an incredible amount about myself, the world, and other people through moving that I may never have learned otherwise. What I have learned about myself and the world will without a doubt contribute to my success in life and even law

I was going to Brentwood Middle School when I got the news. I was just starting to find my friend group. Then I was told I would be transferring to a new group of schools. I would be moving 20 minutes down the road into a little town called Nolensville. When I thought it couldn’t get any worse, I would have to transfer schools again after I finished my freshman year. During my sophomore year of high school, I began at Nolensville. This school and town have changed me in ways I never thought it would.

Even though I was scared out of my mind, I never felt so powerful. A new school meant a new identity. It felt like new opportunites were on the tips of my fingertips and I wanted to take all of them. I wanted to dance in the middle of passing period, and dance no matter what anybody said about me. I wanted to join any club or class without any doubt in my mind. I knew that after staying at a school with the same people for 6 years, I would finally make more friends than ever before. With that in mind, I could have climbed mount everest or go swim with the sharks with no fears.

I was only six years so of course I didn’t really know what to think back then. Any normal human being would be sad to leave their friends for another school. I know I was. I cried for about a week. We had moved

Let’s jump ahead again, this time to my first day of school. Morris Knolls High School is one of the top high schools in the US. Their curriculum is rigorous and their standards are sky high. Also, this was a completely new environment for me. I didn’t know how high school worked and this wasn’t the type of town I was used to. Living in suburbia and attending a school with different demographics than I was used to scared me. I now lived 30 minutes away from everything I grew up around. But the thought of having a fresh start excited me. No one knew me, I was a nobody and therefore free to completely change myself.

Beep! Beep! Beep! My alarm clock went off at 8 in the morning on a beautiful Friday morning in Brockton. It was kind of hard to believe because Brockton was probably the most destructive city on the planet. Well, at least in my opinion it was. It was the month of May, which meant school is almost over. I was 9 at the time as well. I woke up and jumped right out of bed. I could smell the delicious pancakes being baked in the kitchen by my mother. I ate 2 and then got ready for school. I got dressed, brushed my teeth, washed my face and headed out the door, which was my usual routine every week day morning. I headed to the bus stop and on my way there, I had a bad feeling about something, like as if something were to go wrong, like something really terrible would happen to something. Or even someone. I tried to ignore it and get through this day as soon as possible as usual, but today was not like any other day, for something horrific occurred on this very day.

One of the hardest and most influential days of my life was when I started middle school. It was my first time switching schools in six years and I wasn’t sure I was ready to. Some of my friends had known me for those six years and some even more. I had all sorts of questions running through my head on the day of the orientation. Like, what if I don’t fit in or what if I get lost on my first day? All of these questions disappeared when I stepped into what would soon be my new school.

I roll over onto my side turning off my alarm looking at the time 6:15. I stare at my phone for a moment then set it back down curling into a ball under the covers. I'm not getting up I refuse to go to school, and

Beep beep beep! I turn off the Love/Hate machine we call an alarm clock. I put on my away colored football jersey; I get a little ball of excitement and eagerness bouncing around in my body. I run up stairs to get ready for school as I smell the aroma of bacon wafting in the area. I walked out my front door as the cool fall morning air hits my body. I open the wet car door handle to get into my car; I plop on the chilly leather seats, plug the aux cord into my phone and turn on some rap to set the day’s mode. I leave the driveway zooming out with my subwoofers rattling my cars. It’s Friday morning, and that means tonight is Friday morning and that means a long day until Friday night football.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Imagine waking up early one day to your alarm clock screeching like a banshee. You climb out of bed and immediately fall onto the ground, exhausted from school the day before. The coaches made you run three whole miles! I know, I can’t believe it either! You pick your lifeless body up off of the ground and stumble to the bathroom. You check your phone for the time and scream in frustration. You can practically hear the Psycho theme music playing in the back of your head. Setting your alarm for six o’clock in the morning was a huge mistake. You got out of bed for absolutely no reason. It’s Saturday.

My day begins with the obnoxious ringing of my phone’s alarm clock. The alarming sound itself, although annoying, is consonant and would otherwise be appreciated if it was not seven in the morning. This morning I did notice something different when waking up in that I chose a high pitch, but pleasant song in order to wake me up. The pitch of the song is enough to get me awake and the consonance of the song is also enough to make me happy. After going through this thought process and waking up, I finally get dressed and go on my way to school.

I was never sad or anxious every time I moved, because I knew it meant I was going to a better school, and that I would meet new opportunities. First day of class filled me with adrenaline. Something that I am missing after I graduated this May. When I moved to the US for my last two years of high school, I juggled going to classes,

Every word regarding the move got me so morose. I began to slow down every day and although I tried to treasure each moment I had left, when I got home nothing helped. I remember in the month of April of the year 2015 I came home and began to cry and my parents scolded me and called me names and I did not understand why. What they didn’t understand is that I was in an amazing private school in Nutley, New Jersey. That school had so many opportunities that I had took and made me into the intelligent young woman I am today. I had finally arrived to Deltona, Florida and started my sophomore year at University High School. I went from going to a private school that went from kindergarten to senior year of high school with only about 400 students to a high school with about 4,000 students. It was a very overwhelming position to be in. I did all I could to get back on my feet and bounce back from the heart-breaking scenario. I was approached one school day by my guidance counselor and was told if I would like, I qualified for early graduation. My face had never been that bright and eyes filled with amazement and tears of joy ever before. I quickly gathered all my information and scurried to my proceeding

“Boom, Crash, Pow.” The bright red numbers on my alarm read 6:30 AM. Awake a half hour early, “thank you, thunder.” Pushing the curtains aside, I look outside through the glossy, screened window, thinking, “We are going to have a parade in this?” What a perfect start to a substandard day. Miserably trudging out of the comfort of my blankets, I grab my bags and the keys to the truck. Softly, opening my door, I walk gently through the kitchen trying my best not to waken anyone.