What I Will and Won’t Miss about High School
By Stella Hattemer
Things I’ll miss:
Seeing your friends every day and having lunch with them
Sneakily not wearing the uniform and feeling pretty mighty for not getting caught (or getting caught and trying to talk your way out of it)
Period bells: truly glorious sounds
Bake sales
Accepting the challenge of writing an essay the night before it’s due
In-class movie session because you didn’t do your homework anyways
Group projects because, no matter the result, they end up being funny stories
Getting free gum from classmates because “If I had gum, I would give you some”
Fire drills in general but especially during tests or exams.
Saying “see you next year!” before winter holidays
Singing happy birthday to people you don’t even know in the lunchroom.
Substitutes because everyone’s names always gets mixed up.
Being harassed for votes in school elections
Watching foreign language movies with subtitles
That group cry you have after a hard test
Everyone saying “oooohhh” when your name is in the announcements or gets called over the speaker.
Researching books on Sparknotes so you can figure out the symbolism of the chair that appeared that one time in that one book.
Somehow managing to fit ten people around one small table in the pergola
Knowing that when you don’t understand something, your teacher are willing to explain it to you because there are probably only 10 other kids in your class.
That beautiful moment when your parent says: “I’ll call you in sick”.
Our school campus because no matter how much you hate walking up the stairs, it’s a beautiful place.
Things I Probably Won’t Miss:
Summer reading assignments because you never know whether the teacher will actually check or not
Writing something in your homework diary during math class, looking back up, and realizing that you missed three chapters
Being forced to run 8 laps around the Assi on Tuesday mornings and Thursday afternoons
Memorizing the unit circle
Having to function with absolutely no sleep
Having to push through an endless amount of loud kids when you need to get, well, anywhere
Waiting in line to put your food in the microwave, only to wait even more because there are ten other containers already inside
Waking up at the crack of dawn every morning
Lunch clean up because it’s always a punishment, even when it technically isn’t
Not being allowed to go anywhere during those six hours of school. Like, ever.
Picture day because it’s a yearly reminder of how you didn’t get hotter
Having to plan your future… oh no, wait. Never mind, that still applies.
Second semester, senior year (i.e. now)