The First Day of Middle School
My stomach tied in knots,and I could feel the sweat soaking through my T-shirt.My
hands were clammy as I spun the face of my combination lock.I tried and tried to remember the numbers,and every time I thought I had it,the lock wouldn't open.Around and around went the numbers,left,right,right,left...which way was it supposed to go?I couldn't make it work.I gave up and started to run down the hallway.As I ran,the hall seemed to get longer and longer...the door I trying to reach was farther away than when I had started.I began to sweat even worse,then I could feel the tears forming.I was late,late,late for my first class on my first day of middle school.As I ran,people were watching me and they werelaughing...laughing...laughing...then the bell rang!In my dream,it was the school bell.But as I sat up in bed,I realized that it was my alarm clock jarring me awake.I was having the dream again.I started having the dream around the end of the sixth grade,and as the start of seventh grade grew closer,the more I had the dream.This time the dream was even more real,because today was the first day of seventh grade.In my heart,I knew I never would make it.Everything was too different.School,friends - even my own body.I was used to walking to school,and now I had to walk six blocks to the bus stop so that I could take the bus to and from school.I hated buses.They made me carsick from the jiggling and the smell of the fuel.I had to get up for school earlier than in the past,partly because of having to be bussed to school and partly because I had to take better care of myself now that I was in my preteen years.My mom told me I would have to shower every morning since my hormones were kicking in - that's why I perspired so easily.I was totally uncomfortable with my body.My feet didn't want to respond to my own directions,and I tripped a lot.I constantly had a sprained ankle,wet armpits and things stuck in my braces.I felt awkward,smelly,insecure and like I had bad breath on a full-time basis.In middle school,I would have to learn the rules and personalities of six different teachers instead of just one.There would be different kids in all my classes,kids I didn't even know.I had never made friends very easily,and now I would have to start all over again.I would have to run to my locker between classes,remembering my combination,open it,put in the books from the last class and take out different books...and make it to the next class all within five minutes!I was also scared because
of some stories I had heard about the first day of middle school,like being canned by the eighth-graders.That's when a bunch of eighth-graders pick you up and put you in a trash can.I had also heard that when eighth-grade girls catch a new seventh-grader in the girls' bathroom alone,they smear her with lipstick.Neither one of these first-day activities sounded like something I wanted to take part in.No one had ever told me that growing up was going to be so hard,so scary,so unwelcome,so...unexpected.I was the oldest kid in my family - in fact,in my entire neighborhood - and no one had been there before me,to help lead me through the challenges of middle school