I
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Billy could hear the dreaded buzzing of his mother's alarm clock from the other side of the wall. He knew it was 6:00 a.m., he knew it was the first day of school, and had no interest in going to school. To hinder his fate for as long as possible, Billy turned around and pulled his blanket over his head, momentarily falling back asleep.
"Billy, wake up," his mom sternly barked from the kitchen, as she prepared his favorite breakfast, Eggo waffles with extra blueberry syrup. "You can't be late for your first day of middle school."
"Middle school," Billy muttered to himself, palms in face, rubbing his face.
As he crept out of bed, Billy contemplated what middle school would be like. "Will I fit in?" Billy constantly mumbled to himself as he began to dress for school.
Will I be able to reach my locker?
Will they make fun of me?
How will I handle it?
To soothe the anxiety, Billy silently recollected his days in elementary school while he slipped into his newly purchased jeans and reached for his favorite Nike t-shirt.
In elementary school, he was a sort of a legend. He was funny, athletic and popular, even with the girls, but he wasn't a big fan of them, yet. Every day he would arrive at school and the younger kids would stare in awe, as he walked the playground with the sort of gusto elementary school students only dreamed of having, with his Mario Bros. backpack and WWE shirt, which depicted such superstars as John Cena, Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker.
According to the other elementary school students, the best thing about Billy was his ability to joke and play pranks like nobody else. His most legendary prank came against Principal Coe, whose first name was Chris. One day, before Mr. Coe arrived at school, Billy snuck into his office and connected a voice changer to the intercom system, so that same morning, when Mr. Coe made the daily announcement, his voice sounded like a combination of a chipmunk and whatever a kangaroo might sound like.
Although Billy knew how to be cool around other elementary school students, he did have some fears of which nobody knew, the fear of middle school, juniorhighphobia, of you will, and there was one thing that went against him, his height.
Billy is four-feet-six-inches tall. In elementary school, his height made no difference because he was around first and second-graders every day. In middle school, he would be interacting with seventh and eighth-graders, who were known to reach heights at tall as six-feet-four-inches, and even taller, in the most extreme instances. To add insult to injury, Billy knew he was the shortest boy in each of the surrounding elementary schools. The next shortest boy, of which he knew, was Johnny "Short-Stuff" McGee, who stood at intimidating four-feet-eleven-inches tall.
"You'd better be getting dressed up there," Billy's mom threatened.
"I am, Mom; don't worry," Billy replied, as he made his way downstairs, to be met by his soggy waffles marinating in room-temperature blueberry syrup.
"You better eat quickly; we need to leave in 10 minutes. You need to get to school early so you make sure you get your schedule."
Billy's stomach began to churn as he and Mom packed their belongings into their stagnant gray minivan and Billy bucked himself in the front seat, barely being able to see over the dashboard.
While in the car, Mom turned the radio to her favorite station, 105.5 Pop Radio. Billy hated this station. The station only played music from ten-to-twenty years ago, none of which Billy enjoyed.
"Welcome back to 105.5 Pop Raaadiiiiiiiio," bellowed the DJ and background tracks. "This one is for all of you kids heading back to school today, the Beach Boys: Be True to Your School."
"Rah rah rah. Be true to your school," bellowed from the speakers. Mom started dancing and singing horribly, as she always did, whenever Billy was in the car.
Billy rolled down his window to get some fresh air and placed his chin on his arms as he laid them on the arm rest, dreading his arrival at Willow Peaks Middle School. Without realizing it, Billy had just fallen asleep as Mom pulled into the school parking lot.
"Ok, kiddo, we're here," Mom's words woke him from his brief slumber, and Billy looked up to see the sea of middle school kids scattered as far as the walls would allow.
In a bit of panic, Billy smiled and pleaded, "Can't I just go to work with you, just for day?"
"Nope," Mom replied, "this is your first day; you can't miss your first day."
Billy let out one last sigh, opened the door and hopped out of the van. "Bye, honey, I love you! Have a good day," Mom exclaimed, almost to the point where everybody could hear her. Billy glared back and gave a frustrated wave as he heard some snickers holler from the sea of adolescence.
There was nothing Billy could do. He put on his most confident face and made his way through the sea of kids to begin middle school.