First Day of High School
My alarm clock went off at 6 o’ clock in the morning, the sky still pitch dark. While I got ready for school, the just-woke-up-drowsiness, like fog, faded away. The worries I had built up in my mind about entering a new school came back to me. For the past few months they had followed me everywhere — they woke up with me, and tagged along during my daily routine, only leaving me when I went to bed. Today, I would have to confront those fears as today was my first day of school at Greenwich Academy. Once again, I’d be the new kid.
As my mother drove me to the all-girls school, there was not a word said between the two of us. She was just as anxious as I was, if not more. Twenty minutes after leaving home, we arrived at the school, and its winding paths leading up the building in which I would spend the next four years. Mom wished me luck as I exited the car and drove away, her car lights glowing in the misty air. Then I looked around me.
Filled with roaring cheers from spirited seniors, surrounded by the cars glistening from the raindrops falling from the cloudy sky, and inhabited by a sense of excitement that was catching, Greenwich Academy welcomed me with an everlasting first impression. The peace and serenity of the place seemed to comfort me. Confident and determined, I entered the building.
By lunchtime I had already met many of my classmates, all of whom were very welcoming and kind-hearted, and was quite content with all of my teachers and classes. While I munched on my burger and French fries, I chatted with my companions. We gossiped about the cutest boys at our brother school, Brunswick, and joked about the Bel Canto (choir) teacher’s miserable haircut. Before I knew it, I had relaxed and was being myself.
After classes came the sports. For the season, I chose to run cross-country. In my old middle school, for cross-country all I had to do was run freely for around forty minutes, but this was not the case at Greenwich Academy. Because I had already participated in preseason for two weeks, I was acquainted with all my fellow runners. Each day we’d run miles and miles (timed, of course) and afterwards be panting and drained of every drop of energy in our bodies, but proud of our accomplishment. The first day of regular practice was no different, and once again once I finished the difficult tasks assigned to me by the coach, I was weary, yet satisfied. Driving home from school after the exhausting but awarding practice, drenched in sweat, I began reminiscing on my first day of school, and the people I met.
Her name was Jordan and she introduced herself to me at 8:15 in the morning, her eyes full of spunk, her laugh full of joy, and her honesty shining through like a beam of light in a misty cloud. She had become my first friend at GA. Luckily for me, Jordan was in my first period class, so as we rushed from classroom to classroom, unsuccessfully attempting to find our English class before the period began, I got to know her better. I discovered she was a wonderful person, inside and out. My excitement for having made such a wonderful friend was uncontainable, and my face had broken out into a permanent smile. Eventually we arrived at the right classroom, and though we were tardy, that was trivial to our having just met.
Jordan was not the only person I met that morning who impressed me that morning. In my English class (the one I failed to get to in time) I met Ms. Gault whose bubbly personality was like none that I’d ever seen before. Unlike most teachers I’d previously had, Ms. Gault seemed like the type of person who would strive every day actually to make a difference in her students’ academic lives. Although the duration of time of the period was short, I noticed that I had already become attached to the young teacher. I knew for a fact that she would not only make the class educational, but throughout the year, I’d have a great time.
In bed that night, I was utterly and blissfully happy. All my uneasiness from the morning had been useless, I felt silly for ever having any concerns. Even though it was only day one, seeing students lose their voices from screaming so much and so loudly for their school, and having teachers whose attitudes match those of my passionate classmates, I knew deep in my heart that GA was where I belonged for my high school career. However, I knew that night I wouldn’t be able to sleep. The reason would not be that I was apprehensive about school still, but that I was so eager to get up the next morning to go to school! When finally I drifted to sleep, I was like a bear, hibernating in the winter— my bed the cave.