Friend Forever

Attention

Half way across the field I approached, as the middle school began to appear behind some of the large, wide branched trees in the field between the elementary school and the middle. The bell hadn't rung yet I could tell, however no other students or kids were walking amongst the field like they usually did, which gave me an impression like I was late. I picked up my pace a little more, as I moved my legs as fast as I could. Towards the back doors, which was where the stair case lied, the one I travelled onto my first class. Middle school was much different than elementary. For starters, we weren't in one class, all day everyday. We switched from one to the other, however we had the same people in all of our classes as we did in our homeroom class. The school was much bigger, with three stories instead of just two, along with a basement, and lockers as well. Most of my classes were on the same floor as my homeroom class; the second floor. For grades six and seven, most of their classes were on the second floor, and grade eights were all by themselves, as they had the third floor all to themselves. That would be me next year, as I couldn't wait to get off the floor I had to share with the younger grade. Yeah, I knew that was me the year before, however I was not a fan of the grades beneath me, for I found them annoying at the time.

  I reached for the door handle on the green, thick door leading inside, with the perfectly squared glass window on the front. The clear glass that revealed everything and everyone inside, as I could see students piling in, about to walk up the stairs. And I knew then that I wasn't late, for I could tell other students had just arrived at school as well. With one powerful pull, I yanked the door open as the cooling air conditioning brushed onto my face, almost like the cool air we got in the winter seasons. We didn't get real bad winters there in Tampa, for we lived in Florida, and never got snow. The coldest weather we received was degrees in the lower regent, but not nearly as cold as other states.

The halls weren't nearly as crowded as they usually were, which gave me the impression that the bell hadn't even rung yet. Hinting that I was early, earlier that usual for school. Our school started at nine, and I got out the door to leave around 8:30 this morning, which didn't even take a ten minute walk to arrive. But I didn't care all that much, I would have preferred being early than late of course.

  I walked amongst the tiled hall, the one that stretched a far distance, with the white, smooth brick walls, and our full-length dark blue lockers bolted to the edges and off to the side on the walls. Posters took up the empty spaces where lockers weren't; posters reading things such as certain clubs students could join, or signs that read other things like no bullying. Signs some people didn't listen to, and almost hypothetically ripping those posters off the walls, and trashing them. For bullies never listened to teachers and to those stupid signs the teachers hung on the walls. Thinking those would do something, but they never did.

  The tiled floors were coloured blue and white, our school colours at the time. And the only time's they made us wear those colours was when we had pep rallies, or a certain competition titled 'battle of the grades'. That was only a dumb competition the teachers ran and set up every once or twice a year, as each grade would all pile into the gym, and we had mini challenges, usually something pretty simple and easy, and ones that were meant to be funny, but sort of looked dumb. And whichever grade won the most challenges, they were deemed the 'number 1 grade' or something like that. I wasn't a fan of all those pep rallies and school activities, I only went to school because I had to. I only went to learn, and then go home. And besides, my parents had become pretty interested and eager to be in my life over the past few years, and most of the school activities held their meetings at the end of the day, which my parents wouldn't allow me to stay for. They always wanted me to come straight home, meaning I couldn't make any stops on the way. At that time then, my parents had become so used to my regular schedule and coming home time, and had almost tracked how long it took me to walk from school to home. Ten minutes usually. If I ever came home any later than that, I for sure had a talking to the minute I returned home, as they would usually be panicking away the second I walked in. That had very much stricken me as completely odd now, as I had remembered years ago when they barely spoke to me, or did anything with me. They didn't care where I went after school, they didn't care if I showed up at all. And now, it had completely turned around, as it seemed they cared too much at this point, and I could never get in between.