Everchanging Misery

Home of the Braves: Pt 1

Everyone loves friends, don't they? They love the feeling of happiness, protection, and trust. I had none of those things. After eight years of being in that school of misery, I finally talked my Mawmaw into letting me go to public school again. I was finally enrolled at South Jones. It was a small school, now that I look back on it, but when I first got there in 7th grade I thought it was the largest school I've ever seen. There were three main buildings- A building, B building, and F building. Odd names, I know, but I didn't really care. I was finally leaving that cursed elementary school and going some place better. The 7th and 8th graders at the time resided in F building, while Freshmen had their own building called the 9th Grade Academy maybe 20 feet away from F building. Sophmores usually resided in B building, but sometimes had classes in A building along with the Juniors and Seniors. Even Freshmen sometimes had classes there, but it was usually for drama class.

I remember my first day waking up to go to school. I wore a blue designer shirt, bell bottom jeans, sneakers, and a headband. I also had a watch to tell the time because phones weren't allowed in school (I took it to school later on though). My Mawmaw drove me up to the end of the driveway since it was very long and the bus couldn't make it because of all of the trees and bumps, and she took a picture of me. Looking back, I'd dare say I had brown hair that resembled the ears of a cocker spaniel puppy- frizzy, unkept, down to my shoulders, and very curly. I learned to manage my hair throughout the years though.

The bus had arrived and I left the car and gotten on, and took my seat. It felt so strange but exciting to be on a school bus again, I hadn't been on one since I left West Jones after pre-k. We drove and drove, more students getting on and taking their seats. This one girl even sat next to me and she looked really nice and quiet like me- I never made friends with her though.

We got to the school and I walked with everyone else. I stayed in the courtyard with the rest of the students where we waited to go to class. The gym, A and B building, the science labs, band hall, they all surrounded us and the flag pole we stood in front of. Soon, parents stopped dropping off their kids when the teachers closed the gates to keep anymore traffic from coming and going, and students started making their way to class. My first class was Chorus, and I had forgotten the exact way to get to it as it was on the other end of school. So I walked back the way I came and turned right to walk in between the buildings to get to where the buses dropped off the kids who wanted to go to the cafeteria. That's where I remembered seeing the Chorus/Show Choir building. I noticed a girl with a rolling backpack going the same way I came, and I walked up to her and introduced myself. She said her name was Jasmine, and I told her mine was Olivia. We quickly became friends and made our way to class where we took our seats across from each other in the chairs on the piers.

The intercom turned on and the principle spoke, and asked us to stand for the pledge. I didn't think we had to do the pledge in public school like we did in private school, but I stood anyway with the rest of the students and spoke with them- afterwards, we sat while we had a moment of silence. Our teacher, Miss Gordon, had us introducing ourselves and made us learn about musical notes and other things. I really liked singing, and I wondered when we were going to.

Soon, the bell rang and I made my way to F building where I was a minute late. However, the science teacher let me and another girl named Lynn slide because our classes were on different sides of campus. I decided to sit with these girls by the teachers desk. At first, they seemed really nice and I tried to join in on their conversation. However, one of them, a girl named Sydney, called me out for it and said that I couldn't sit there. I was devastated because I was trying so hard to make friends, and she didn't know that I didn't have any other than Jasmine. After a few days of trying to befriend them, I moved to a second table with Lynn and another girl named Sidney. Her name was Lee while the others was Stone, so the teacher called them by their last names. Sidney and I quickly became best friends along with Lynn, and the rest of it was history.

My next class was social studies, and I was doing terrible in that class from the beginning. I had no idea how to work with my history teachers working style because of what I was taught how to work in my old school, and I was criticized by him for it as well. No one really liked me in that class, and I didn't really like anyone else either. But there was this one girl who painted her nails while everyone didn't and I found that really cool. I decided not to try to befriend her though, and only admire her coolness from across the room.

After social studies was Literature, and it was an alright class from what I remember. I made friends with a girl named Carrie and even though we weren't like the popular kids who sat up front, we were happy just being in the back. I remember one day we were to do a project in Literature though, and I was belittled by the teacher for trying to do a simple poster like in my old school. "We aren't in elementary anymore, Olivia. Pick something else." I was embarrassed and everyone was looking at me, but Carrie consoled me and told me it was alright and she was just being stupid.

Next came English, my favorite class of them all because of the teacher, and because it was a subject I was best at. The teacher in this one was very southern and sassy, and treated all of her students like her children. Even though I didn't have any friends in her class but Lynn, since we had every class together but Literature, I felt special because everyone wanted to work with me. I even developed a crush on a boy named Justin, and he liked me too. We never got together though, we stayed friends. I remember on the last day of school that year however, that the teacher let us play Just Dance, and it was the most fun I've had that year.

My final class of the day was Math, and the teacher was like everyone's older sister/babysitter/aunt figure. She was just a really fun person in general and really helped me to understand math better. I still made bad grades sometimes though, and even though she was my first real math teacher, we were all her first real students. One day we even had Pi/Pie day, and we brought all sorts of pie and other desserts to class. I even brought cinnamon rolls. We studied while we ate and even played games, it was the best day I've had in that class.

After all of my classes on my first day were finished, I made my way to the bus and sat in the front. I really miss when life was this simple and I didn't have anything to worry about, but life can't stay like that forever.

And I learned that the hard way.