High school…the bane of every person’s existence. We’ve all had to go through its stereotypical drama, the changes in our appearance, and the friends that we gain and lose. However, I’m still firmly within its very frustrating grasp.

Freshman year, all we think is “Yes! I’ve finally made it to high school. These four years will be the best ever!” And for that year, we live in this very delusional world, that high school is a cornerstone that we never want to leave. We meet older teens. We flaunt ourselves in front of everyone with our not so hilarious pranks. We even think ourselves the best in the school. If we only had to go through freshman year, and then we would be able to graduate, we’d all be very happy people when we left. Much to our dismay…that is so not the reality of the situation. At the end of that fabulous year, we have no idea of what the terror that is just months into our future.

Sophomore year, the lower middle class year. Academics get harder, teachers less lenient, sports more competitive, and hormones more rampant. We all rush to study for that test that we forgot about the night before. The rivers we cried because we got cut unfairly from a team. When our coaches didn’t back us in a decision we made. How our emotions and bodies got pounded until only sickness was the only option out. How everyone seems to have turned into a horndog overnight, and you not wanting to get that memo. At the end of the hell on earth, we think “There is STILL two more years left of this s***,” while a sibling graduates, deserting us in this prison.

Junior year, we’re upper classmen, but still kind of the underdog. Academics refuse to be less intense. Sports don’t really mean as much as we don’t want to set our expectations too high due to the year before. We get ignored by every person we like because they have set their sights on someone worse than trash. Finally, we distract ourselves with so many clubs to feel so busy we won’t dwell too much on the unhappiness that we surely feel. All in all, the only good thing about this year is that we can attend prom. Yet, even that gets ruined when our date dances with other people, and we gain a stalker due to an unthoughtout compliment. To end this year, we rejoice that our sentence is almost up.

Senior year, the year we’re supposed to be top dog. Ha, that never seems to work out. Academics aren’t horrible, but that massive research paper in English waits in the shadows to pounce: while the labs seem neverending in Forensics. For sports, we finally letter, but are benched most of the time due to lack of skills despite the twelve years under our belt. We’re officer in one club and almost too busy to even worry about the others. Stupidly, on top of all that, we kept our job in order to pay for the ridiculous gas prices. Near prom, we think we’ve gone through everything. We have college acceptance, a place to live for the next year, and the perfect dress for prom. Ha, didn’t see that curve ball coming. Right at that time, near the very end, your supposed friends decide that all you say is lies and that they don’t want to hang with you. Why? Well only God knows at this point. Even after the obstacle course that yall braved together, it means nothing.

This is high school, and kid, it ain’t gonna be any easier in life.