Even in the early morning the August sun beat fiercely down upon the backs of everyone. Its rays penetrated the skin of each individual, some more than others, with the sensation of fire. Looking out across the campus even the most untrained eye could see that not one person was alike, they were each their own, like a snowflake. Different faces, different clothing, different attitudes, everything could be seen, everything was just so different. With one deep breath and a few encouraging thoughts I took my first step out into a new world.

It was loud. With all the hustle and bustle of a new school year, new people, and a new atmosphere, it was loud. But for me, in my own little bubble there was a strange silence. A silence quiet enough for me to hear my heart getting ready to beat right out of my chest, and a silence quiet enough for me to hear myself breathe, but no matter how silent it was I still could not hear myself think. Although it might have seemed silent to me, it was not. It really was actually quite loud. Hundreds, probably thousands of students were carrying on their own conversations with their friends. When I looked out among the crowd I tried to scan for someone that I knew, anyone would do, but I could not seem to find anyone. I just stood there for what felt like hours waiting for my eyes to connect with someone else’s, but there just was not anyone. In the back of my mind I wondered how there could be no one to make small talk with or even just stand by so I did not look so lonely in that giant sea of two thousand students.
I looked at my schedule, looked at my watch and counted down the minutes until I would officially start a new chapter in my life.

The bell rang, or at least I assumed that it rang, because the sea of students started to disperse and all go their separate ways. I looked at my schedule again. In small black letters on the blue piece of paper instructed me that it was time to go to math. The 600 building seemed so far away and it seemed almost impossible to push my way through the crowds in the short space of only five minutes, but I kept my head up and just kept walking forward through the crowd of people and through the doors. It was chaos. The crowd of students trying to get to class was what I would compare to as Black Friday aWalmartrt; the bigger you were the easier it was to push your way through, I for one was not big. As I entered the hallway for the first time I could no longer feel the sun beating down upon me. My heart started beating faster and my breaths got quick and shallow. I was about to step into my first high school classroom.

It was not exactly what I had expected. All the movies on the Disney Chanel had lead me to believe that the classroom would be full with obnoxious students sitting on top of their desks throwing paper airplanes or footballs and spitting spit balls at each other, but everyone was just sitting there conversing with one another, it was not until later in the year that they officially became obnoxious. There were so many seats. Rows and rows of places I could sit, but still I felt as if I did not have many choices. The seat next to the girl who was texting was empty, but I could tell by the way she looked at me as I walked by that it was not available. The desk in front of the kid with the long black jacket and black painted finger nails was empty as well, but I figured it could stay that way. When the final bell rang the teacher asked everyone to take a seat and quiet down, the classroom fell quiet, but not yet silent. The teacher stood at
the front of the classroom and introduced himself in a tone that made me feel as if he was just as excited to start a new school year as I was. His lack of enthusiasm was not very comforting for a new freshman. The teacher started to take roll and the students sat there, mostly quiet, and told the teacher they were indeed “present” when their turn came. There seemed to be a hundred names read before mine but when the time came I shouted out the fact that I was there and gave the teacher a wave of acknowledgement so he could see my face.

The first class of the day went well and the other five followed most of my expectations as well. My first day of high school was complete and I hoped the next would go just the same. The second day started the same. The sun penetrated my skin, and the crowds of students pushed me around, but the second day was not the same because on that day I was no longer fearful of change.