December 19, 2001 The Wonder Years Most of your teenage years are spent in high school. Not just the building, for that is only one aspect of the term, "high school", but in the whole concept. When someone asks you, "Are you in high school", you say yes, meaning the academic part"æ which is a large part of the word, but there is much more. High school is after school when you play "high school" sports. High school is at night, when you go to a "high school" party. And last, there are your "high school" friends. "High school" is an intense four years, where you experience new things and take a lot in to shape the rest of your life.
The academic part of high school is supposed to teach you the "basis of what you need to know for the rest of your life". If you ask me, that's a bit of an over statement.
Skyline High Sophomore Square
English: This is a picture of James Campbell High ...
Students at Washington High School at class, train...I believe college is where you learn all the important stuff. How to actually perfect yourself in the field you are specializing in. How to perfect the career your are looking into. It is true, you couldn't go to college without learning what you did in high school, to some degree. But don't you think there is a reason you make more money doing a job if you have a college degree? High school has such a broad base of learning, you don't know enough to work a job to its full potential if you don't have the teachings of college. So if you say you learn what you need to know for the rest of your life in high school, I say to you"æ I learned all I need to know in kindergarten.
The whole concept of high school sports almost makes me mad. It is just that"æ high school sports. Today, there is way too much stress and competition put into high school sports. I used to play soccer, for Mullen actually, but I just couldn't handle the competitiveness some of the girls had. I can understand if you are a little competitive if say, you are going for a full ride scholarship, and you have the potential. There is the key point"æ if you are not already on varsity as a freshman, maybe sophomore, then you don't have the potential. All of us on the prep team don't have potential for a scholarship. I don't mean to drop all hope, but I am a very real person who doesn't have false hopes for myself. Just be true to yourself, so when you are on lets say, the prep team as a sophomore and end up getting cut for the refusal to try"æ it is probably because you couldn't handle people being untrue to themselves and putting others down in the process. That is what high school sports are.
The nightlife and social life is high school is all a blur to me. I am not quite sure if I have something others don't, or it could very well be missing something, but to tell you the truth I just don't understand. I don't understand why"æsomeone would spend an hour and a half to get ready to go to the movies. "æYou would throw a huge party and get caught, just to look cool. "æ. People put all their time and effort in to a boy. "æ. Someone would pass up a night with people you love to go hang out with a ton of people you hate, but a boy you like. There is so much I don't get. I have tried a lot of new things lately, and almost in a way, found myself. I hear you find yourself in college, but I think I am a little early, contrary to my usual path of being a late bloomer. I have got the fibe that this makes people mad. But that is the complete opposite of my intentions. All sophomore year I would go out with the people that spent time getting ready, and sacrificed a perfectly good night for that boy, which I have nothing against, I just don't understand. And all sophomore year I found myself at those parties I hated so much, in the corner with two other girls. Party after party, those two girls and I would find each other and sit together, not willing to throw ourselves at the boys, but content sitting and watching. Soon the parties weren't so bad anymore when I saw those girls. I remember one night, after sitting on a couch with two people getting on each other to the right of me, I found the girls. We began roaming the house, just looking. That is the night we got the glass pepper. That is also the night, when sitting in a chair with one of the girls, noticing the fake and falsities of the people around us"æ she noticed one boy looking at us. We now refer to him as the "Abercrombie billboard". Soon I was drawn back out of my lovely world, to the reality that I was trying so hard to escape from, by her voice which loudly said, "What!? Did you just call me a lesbian?" He began to make some lame excuse back when she went in, "No, just because I am sitting here with her means I am a lesbian? I am livid. I can't believe this!" Once again he tried to say, "Uh well Uh, you are just sitting really close and"æ" "NO! What are you talking about, I mean, honestly who are you?" We then got up and walked out of the house and we drove away"æ from all of it. Which brings me to my next subject, people and friends.
When people say, "Oh we were high school friends". They are what they say, simply fake friends in high school. You have the random friends you say hi to in the hall, talk to only because they are the only one in the class, the ones you hang out with in cars after school, but really, does it all matter? Are you ever going to remember them when your kids ask you whom you sat next to in chemistry? I had a really good friend, best friend if you will, from first to eighth grades, then when I came to Mullen, she continued in public school and we just lost touch. Freshman and sophomore year I had different friends about every three months. I wanted so badly for another best friend. Everyone came to Mullen with his or her grade school friends and I knew three people total. It was hard to get into a "pre-made" group. The groups definitely through me off. There is one too many "groups" in high school, or maybe just our high school. There are very few people that it is acceptable for them to eat at more than two different lunch tables. Freshman year flew by, while getting to know new people. By sophomore year I was sick and tired of telling someone a secret and the next day hearing it back from someone else with the words "Don't tell any one" attached to it. Only to find, you were hearing what you told someone, but blown way out of proportion. I kept on moving from friend to friend and after too long with out a best friend, I didn't get one, but two. The wait was well worth it. I was a little skeptical at first because they live close together, and I am far up in the hills. I didn't have a car at first, but never the less, we always got together. I am constantly reminded why I put all faith and love in these two girls. I can call either one of them at any time just to blow steam, and know, without a doubt, it will never be turned around on me. Recently at a party, someone really blew up on me. When he called the next day to apologize, I didn't exactly tell him what he wanted to hear, so he called one of the girls. They had a long conversation and at the end, he was crying. When she called me to remind me he wasn't worth my time, I started to cry. She told me what she said to him, some of the nicest things anyone has ever said about me. He didn't ever call the other one because he got such a beat down from the first one, I don't think he could have taken the other one. That was yet another situation where I realized why these girls were my best friends. Most people have a so-called best friend, I see it everyday. But I cant tell you how many times I have listened to one girl talk about her "best friend" behind her back, and say, "They were fighting." I have never fought with these girls. Of course we get irritated, but when I am, I never talk to anyone but them about it. There are no insecurities around them, and when someone says, "What are you doing tonight"? I could think of nothing better than sitting in our corner with each other. All the memories that make me smile and love coming to the high school scene have been with these girls, a few guys from Regis and Ken. From our concerts, to camping 1 and camping 2, to our almost weekly dinners at Whole Foods. The waiting time I did without a best friend, was well worth it, I got two.
I don't think I would call these girls my best friend. To me, that term has quickly been demolished to just a term. They are so much more than a term, these girls really mean something. I guess I could call them my sisters.
Looking at the whole high school scene, I think I got out of it what there is to get, experience, wisdom, reassurance, and friends. I am really looking forward to the college experience, because I know high school is not the "place for me", and maybe college is. We shall see. There is so much life to live, and the people I see today are living life like high school is it. When they get in a fight with a girlfriend, or get a ticket, it is the end of the world. It is not, really. It is just a bump in the road. When I got my first ticket, instead of crying like a typical high school girl, I was laughing and waving to the people that drove by. And guess what, I was with the two girls. I see myself just in a different frame of mind, the frame of mind that screams to me every moment of every day"æ LIFE GOES ON!!!! And high school ends, thankfully.
High School Sweet 16 Toast
Skyline High Sophomore Square
High School
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