High School: The Early Years

And we’re back on track with the chronological order of this autobiography. When we last left our hero, he was heartbroken at the realization that his years at Tulsa Lutheran School had come to an end. Separated from his friends, he and his good friend Micah set forth towards a new beginning at Mingo Valley Christian School. Fearing what was ahead, our brave, handsome hero vowed to change his disposition. No more would he be the class clown, embarrassing himself with all his silly antics. He would enter this school with a new identity. And thus we enter the next chapter of our story: High school… plus 8th Grade.
Okay, enough of the third-person talk. Anyway, Micah and I entered Mingo Valley for the first time. I am not exactly sure how things turned out the way they did. If I remember correctly, I was not used to having to take initiative, because at TLS, we all pretty much knew each other. In this new environment, we were completely at a loss as to what to do. The first day, we ended up sitting together for lunch. After a couple of days we befriended two people: Adam Dwyer and Phillip Gilley. Adam was two years older than us, but he happened to know Micah from a long time ago. I also became friends with his sister, but it was sort of a love-hate thing at first. Phillip was in our class, and we became friends for awhile. So, the four of us would sit together at lunch and talk. Other than that, I didn’t have much luck in finding friends within my class. It seemed intimidating that they already knew each other so well, and I started to become distant with them. I began to regret my decision to change my identity, because I felt like I lost it in the process. For the first time in my life, I started becoming the thing I used to be shocked to hear: shy.
I tried to get involved in the school plays, but I choked in the auditions at first. In The Sound of Music, I started speaking in a British accent. My excuse was, “Well, the story takes place in Britain, right?” The reply, “It takes place in Austria.” …Oops. The beginning of 9th Grade wasn’t much better. I still didn’t talk to people, and on top of that some tensions were rising between my friends. Nasty rumors had gone around about Adam Dwyer, which pretty much everyone in my class believed, including Micah and Phillip. There were also some tensions between Phillip and me, which would later result in the end of our friendship. By Christmas, I wanted to escape from everything, Mingo Valley, the students, and even my friends. I was done.
After hearing that I would probably go to Wright next year, I had a different perspective. Since I was probably leaving anyway, I should probably learn to take initiative. So, in lunch from then on, I began to sit at the lunch table with everyone else from my class. They weren’t happy at first (simply because the table had already been too full), but a compromise was made, and I was able to get to know them better. I also managed to snatch a minor role in the musical Anne of Green Gables, where I was able to get to know more people from around the school. My last semester there was, admittedly, enjoyable. However, the tensions in the classroom were high, and I still wasn’t feeling much like myself. So, at the end of 9th Grade, I transferred to Wright.
During the summer I began take an interest in soccer, so I signed up for the Varsity Soccer Team in my Sophomore year. It was a good decision, because I was able to meet up with a lot of people in my class before the school year, including Jonathan, Grant, Jordan, Sam, and Ali. I also vividly remember my first day at Wright. I saw Doug and Corey down the hallway, and Doug said hi. Corey freaked out that Doug knew me when he didn’t. Just to make sure he didn’t miss something, he asked Roland, who also knew me. Freaking out, he began to ask other people, all of which were on the soccer team and therefore knew me. Finally, he stopped Nita, whom I’d never met in my life. Despite that, she also said hi, and Corey ran screaming down the hall. I knew then that this was the place for me.
I was still pretty shy and easily embarrassed when I came to the school. I was in an advanced math class, which I was reluctant to share with others in my class, but it got out anyway. Because of that class, I became good friends with Lauren Barger. Everyone in my class helped me up from my “low spot” for lack of a better term. 10th Grade was like my redemption. Slowly, I was becoming an extrovert again.
10th Grade came and went. By Junior year, I had quite a few friends, and a keen familiarity about the school that I never had at Mingo. Granted, I still had a tendency to be shy around certain people, but I was stepping up at least. As a matter of fact, I think I started becoming more daring than I was at TLS. I was a completely different person now, but at the same time, I was still myself. And I became myself just in time to experience that wonderful event that every Junior looks forward to: prom.
Ok, so Junior year alone is enough to give a grown man an ulcer, but somebody thought it keen to add another ingredient to the recipe for stress, and boy does it intensify the flavor. We get to set up the Junior/Senior prom. On top of that, the guys also have to find somebody to ask to said prom. Figuring out who to ask, when to ask, how to react after you’ve asked. I was successfully recovering from the introversive illness, but this was still quite a challenge.
Again, for the sake of living to see college, I will not necessarily mention what happened during the months before prom. Suffice it to say that our worrying was all for naught. Prom was a blast! The person I took to prom was a girl named Emily Allen, a girl I knew through Lauren Barger. She was pretty shy (Can’t really complain though, can I?), but she was a nice girl, and we had a lot of fun. After prom, we had quite a blast at the after-party, where we ate food, raced on inflatable machines, played basketball, and just generally had fun. After that, we had an after-after-party, where we all went to the McIlroy’s for a much-needed rest. After that, we finished off the year, finishing last-minute projects, studying for finals, and adding the finishing touches to our already convulsing ulcers.
But we finished the year with pizzazz, and as an added bonus, we celebrated at Eryn’s house, where we ripped our chemistry books to shreds and threw them into the bonfire, screaming in ecstasy! What a way to end the year! And thus, our early high school years came to a close, and the last year of high school was about to begin.