CHAPTER 1
Before we start with this, I should note that you should NOT take my high school survival advice as 100% concrete fact, nor should you consider me anybody else besides a typical kid. I'm only a 15-year-old socially incompetent child who's obsessed with narrative storytelling, as well as a bunch of other things. I'm just trying to write my experiences down and hopefully provide some advice to those who are worried about high school, even though I'm pretty sure nobody will read this besides me.
And before anyone asks, yes, I got this idea from Ned's Declassified: School Survival Guide (that show was a classic, by the way), but this is for high school, and done by an introvert.
I have always been told by adults that high school is the hardest thing in life, and that middle school is nothing like high school. And then I hear from older friends & relatives that high school is essentially identical to middle school, except the teachers don't care what you do.
Today is the day I find out.
I will fully admit: middle school wasn't my favorite time in life. And when I say that I really mean that I hated every moment of it. 90% of homework exists purely to consume your precious time, your classmates all act like idiots (and yes, they CHOOSE to act like that, which is even more frustrating), and you are put down by teachers for ANY "inappropriate" language, even if you didn't mean anything from it. (I made a stupid joke once about dying. That does not mean I want to die.)
I did not excel in middle school, and basically crashed and burned in eighth grade. I couldn't handle the workload, nor could I understand it. I could never hear anything at the back of the class, especially with all my classmates lacking the ability to shut up and pay attention. The teachers also were… not great. They weren't bad people by any means, but they clearly weren't paid enough.
So yeah. Now I'm sitting here in my advisory waiting for school to start.
So how do I feel about this transition into the "most defining" point in my life? I really couldn't care less. But apparently I should care, and I know there's people that are really worried about it. So that's why I'm creating this guide.
There are four other kids in the room, and more start to flood in. After five minutes there's around twenty kids in the room, almost all of which I've known for years, and hardly ever spoken with them. Which leads me into High School Survival Tip #1:
TIP #1: Don't try and make friends, and you'll be happy. Friends will come to you. If you don't actively seek them out, you're less likely to make enemies.
My advisor starts taking attendance. She's a younger teacher; I think this is her second year teaching. She seems friendly, but doesn't seem the most comfortable with her job.
"Peter Parker?" She asks. I quietly raise my hand, and set it back down without a word. I don't want the attention. Unlike…
"Flash Thompson?" Flash raises his hand, and says "Yo."
I've known that kid since second grade, and while we used to be "friends," he eventually became the definition of a peaked-in-high-school douche, and we've barely even started high school. He's actually quite smart, as I believe he got into almost all Honors classes, but he acts very obnoxious and can't seem to shut up. It's come to the point where just looking at him makes me angry.
My advisor starts going over the rules. Essentially the rules are this: don't do drugs, don't bully, don't wear exposing clothing, don't do drugs, don't cheat, don't do drugs, don't leave class until the teacher dismisses you, don't do drugs, etc.
I've heard that Midtown High has a bad drug problem. I honestly never had the urge to do drugs, but I keep hearing about people doing that crap. And it makes me wonder if I'm the one that's weird for not doing it. I heard stories from people in middle school about kids vaping in the bathrooms, which I have a really hard time believing. Maybe I'm just out of the loop.
And that leads me to Tip #2:
TIP #2: Don't do drugs. And if you do, be smart about it and don't do it at school.
I look at my schedule. I have P.E. first thing in the morning, followed by Spanish, English, Study Hall, and Film (I'm actually really happy Midtown has a film course), all before lunch. Unfortunately, this means that I have Biology, Geography, and Algebra I at the end of the day. Those are supposed to be the hardest classes, and after lunch I am almost always wiped out and ready to go home and die.
Well, RIP my GPA.
I will be completely honest and tell you that the beginning of my day was pretty boring. The bulk of it was teachers presenting PowerPoints to tell the class who they are, and occasional obnoxious behaviors from Flash. (Or at least the classes I share with him. Honestly it feels like I share every class with that prick.) Luckily, the bell dismissed to go to lunch before I could hear much of him.
If you're wondering what lunch is like at Midtown High, it's probably worse than yours. I decided not to eat today, mostly for fear that I'll get food poisoning. Oh, that leads me to Tip #3.
TIP #3: When in doubt, DON'T eat the lunch at public school, unless you're really hungry. (That said, I was never easy to please with food, so take my word with a grain of salt.)
For a split second, everything gets louder. I can hear every conversation going on, and I begin to sweat. A lot. My hand starts to shake, and I feel someone touch my back.
My whole body shivers, and I turn around. I see my best friend since kindergarten.
"...you okay, dude?" Harry asks. "I didn't even touch you."
"Yes you did." I felt it.
"I was trying to jump scare you, but apparently you're psychic. Have you visited a doctor about this?"
"In fact I have."
"Clearly he didn't do a good job checking you out."
Harry sits down besides me.
"So, you have any homework?" Harry asks.
"No," I respond. He seems surprised.
"Aren't you in all Honors classes? Why do I have homework and you don't?"
That is actually a good question. In my experience it just has to do with who the teacher is. I generally prefer more discussion-based classes as opposed to the "busywork" classes. But apparently they're some people who actually PREFER to do written work, which I don't understand.
"I hate my English teacher. She's giving us a quiz at the end of the first week," Harry says.
"You have to do a quiz in school? That's so terrible," I say sarcastically. I never understood why people stress over quizzes so much. I would much rather have a quiz every week than have homework every night.
"Not everybody is as smart as you, Pete," Harry says, somewhat sarcastically, but I can tell a hint of hurt in his voice.
Harry is an interesting person. On the surface, he's an awkward nerd like me, but a bit more douchey. We bonded over both being social outcasts in kindergarten, and have been friends ever since. Unlike other kids in my class, I can tell he has some personal issues, though I haven't ever had an in-depth discussion with him about it. I don't want to call him "disturbed," as that's too extreme, but I can clearly tell there's something more there than what I can see.
Harry and I talk for maybe two minutes before lunch is dismissed, because the education system doesn't understand that it takes more than five minutes to eat lunch.
TIP #4: Don't waste lunch time, whether you're spending that time eating or interacting with friends. It's the best way to keep your sanity.
I would have talked about the rest of my day in more detail, but there's not much to talk about. So I'll just summarize: high school is like middle school, except everyone has (mostly) gone through puberty.
I walk home, energy-drained. I finally make it to the door, and realize I forgot my house key. (I keep doing that, and it's really a problem.) I try to lightly knock on the class door.
I hear the class crack. I merely tapped it, and the glass cracked.
Damnit. Why does this keep happening to me?