It was the first day of the school year. My junior year. The "most important year" my parents said. Ugh. I was dreading it.
I walked over to the full length mirror mounted on the back of my bedroom door and adjusted my shirt for the third time. There's always that feeling when you get back to school from summer where everyone wants to look their best. I don't know why- we've all known each other since kindergarten. Everyone already knows what I look like.
Giving up, I headed downstairs with my backpack and grabbed my car keys. I yelled goodbye to my mom and headed to school.
I pulled into the parking lot at the same time as my boyfriend Jeremy. He parked his car and hoped out to wait for me. His little sister, Adele-a sophomore, waved before taking off into school ahead of us.
"Hey," Jeremy said with a smile, giving me a quick kiss and taking my hand.
"Hola," I replied. "Como estas?"
"Switching to Spanish this year, are we?"
"Nope, that's about as far as that goes," I laughed.
We entered the school and headed up to the second floor to the lockers. I tuned out as Jeremy complained about his math class for the year. I couldn't help it. Jeremy is great, but I'd already heard his thoughts on this about six times since we got out schedules in the mail a few weeks ago. He was good at math, he'd be fine.
I tuned back in just at the right time.
"What classes do you have before lunch?" He asked, looking at me expectantly.
"Um… I've got chemistry, painting, and English. So I'll meet you in the cafeteria?"
"Perfect, have a good morning." We kissed goodbye quickly and headed off in opposite directions.
The morning itself was pretty predictable. Teachers gave their guideline speeches and talked about what we were going to cover for the year. Assigned seats were given "to help remember faces" until they got to know us better and then we could sit anywhere. Freshman wandered through the halls looking exceptionally small and confused. Seniors seemed unreasonably excited for the first day of school, though it was their last year. And the juniors and sophomores just looked stressed. Major déjà vu.
By lunchtime, I was bored. Sure, my painting and English classes were my favorite, but the first few day of school were so mundane. When I found Jeremy in the cafeteria with our friends, I could tell everyone else was feeling the same.
"This sucks," Chris moaned. "I hate the first day of school."
"Agreed," I replied.
As I took out my lunch Jeremy slid his hand on my knee. "How was your morning?" he asked.
"Fine, boring I guess." I said. "You?"
"Eh, same. Math doesn't seem as bad as I thought though."
I knew it, I wanted to say. Instead I smiled and told him I was glad to hear it.
The next two weeks droned by in the same fashion. I had my routine down by the third day of school, and while it wasn't terrible, I already worried about it making me jaded.
Wake up, go to school, go to work/go home, do homework, shower, talk to Jeremy on the phone, go to sleep, do it all over again. Sure, there was an occasional variation or blip in my day. But nothing monumental.
Something about this town made it seem like everything was stuck. It was like nothing was moving forward. The schools had been the same for years. Houses looked like they were all varied off more or less the same design- including the historical ones with the plaques on them claiming they dated back to the 1700's.
The kids were the same as they had been since I was five. My boyfriend was the same one I'd been with since the beginning of sophomore year, and my friends were the same crowd as always. Not too popular, but not "nerdy".
And when I looked at it, it wasn't really that bad. I was healthy, happy. I had everything a teenager pretty much needed. But for some reason it just seemed off. It was so stereotypical and… safe. It was boring. But it's where I was. And who was I to complain?
So I didn't. I just went through the routine. I kept Jeremy happy and my parents unsuspicious. I hung out with my friends on weekends, and did my homework. Everything was fine.