High School

       Oh how I hated high school. For many reasons. Looking back, I realize that there is no life situation more awkward than high school. Here are the main reasons:
1. Lunch. It is never more obvious that you are not popular than at lunch. In elementary school you had to sit at your desk to eat lunch, and then you could go out and play. In high school you are set free into the throng of teenagers immediately after class to make your own way in the world. If you can't find anyone to "hang out" with, you can eat in the library (in a desk in the corner reserved for disruptive students because technically you are not allowed to eat in there). You can sit by your locker, where there is usually a small posse of boys one grade below you making fun of you for no apparent reason or putting pudding on your locker (not in, ON). Or you can wander around trying to avoid people who will judge you for not knowing where to sit.
2. Being Called On. If you were as shy as I was in high school, being called on was torturous. Even if you know the answer, a) you turn red, b) at the sound of your unfamiliar voice all heads turn towards your desk in wonderment at your speaking, and c) for some reason you have to swallow in the middle of your sentence and it comes out sounding weird and broken up and gummy.
3. Some Teachers Just Hate You. I went to two different high schools. At the public school I went to, my gym teacher did NOT like me (I am not athletic in any way). It's stupid because as the goody-two shoes in the class, when she told us to do laps around the gym and then left, I was the only one who did them. I OBEYED, and yet, as we were jogging outside at the park, she ran up beside me and said, "You're not going to get an A with THAT attitude!"
4. Boys. Sometimes you're the new girl, and boys have contests to see who can make you talk because you are quiet. 'Nuff said.
       It's amazing we escape these institutions unscathed. I admit, once I left public school, private school was much better. But some people are made for that environment, and some are not. I was not.