BATCH OF 2005

It was 2005-the first day of grade 9-and my first year of high school. halls were buzzing with energy, everyone acting like they hadn't seen each other in years. Meanwhile, I was just glad to have survived the morning without tripping over my own shoelaces. The best part? My best friend Kay-was in my class. Because, who else could survive this nightmare with me? Kay is... well, a walking chaos generator. She doesn't have a filter-whatever pops into her head usually ends up in the air, no matter how ridiculous. And honestly? I admire that about her. Someone's gotta keep things interesting around here. When the bell rang, everyone slid into their seats, and I did a quick scan of the class. Let me tell you-our classroom looked like a casting call for every high school movie cliché imaginable. On one side were the high-maintenance girls who probably had a secret meeting about which lip gloss to wear. And then there were the jocks-walking protein shakes who couldn't go five minutes without saying "bro" or doing a weird handshake. And then there was me: Simple, regular, unfancy Sophie. No designer bag, no family yacht, no high society connections. I liked my life just fine. But let's be real-this is high school. My peaceful existence was about as secure as a paper umbrella in a hurricane. I knew something was bound to go wrong. Sure enough, as we went around introducing ourselves, it became painfully obvious that the girls in the room were obsessed with one guy in particular. It was as if a celebrity had just walked in. Every other sentence was about him. What was his name again? Ashtray? No, wait. Asher. But everyone insisted on calling him "Ash." Yeah, because naming yourself after burnt garbage totally screams cool. I mean, what's next? Is someone gonna show up named "Cinders" or "Soot"? I rolled my eyes so hard I almost gave myself a migraine. And just when I thought things couldn't get worse, I nearly forgot to introduce myself. Don't panic, Sophie! Breathe.