Freshman Year: High School

Some say these four years are the best years of your life; the archway, or the bridge of new opportunities full of new adventures. Some say these years go by so fast you really don't remember what happened. But what they don't tell you is that first year—freshman year—is the worst. They don't tell you that you will spend countless nights up all night trying to meet a deadline. That you will lose hours of sleep trying to get up early and look "perfect" and look up to high school standards, but you will always think someone is prettier than you, or has a perfect body. They don't tell you that girls are bitches and guys are man whores. Girls will make fun of you for things you say and things you do, they will even make fun of you for who you talk or hang out with. Some will act like your best friend and within a day or two, they will hate you. They leave out the part where guys will tell you that you're "beautiful" and he "loves you" and will lead you on for weeks, then all of a sudden he is dating a new girl. They also didn't mention that you will study for hours on end and still get a C or D on your test, and that trying your best means that you have to emotionally kill yourself and put huge mental strain on yourself. But they swear "these are the best four years of your life."

These are the years that count. They teach you the pigments in leaves and that a guy’s learning is more important than a girl and that what girls were distracts guys, but never teach you about your 401k or how to file taxes or how to save money. High school shows the truth, that things are way unfair and you get judged for everything, and lose friends faster than the pencil you had last period. So is it really the best four years of your life? Or is it just what people want you to think? These years can make or break you literally. Physically, mentally, emotionally. But see, the weird twisted thing about high school is that it gives you a new kind of anxiety. You think everybody is against you and that everyone's talking about you. You get scared in the hallways, you get scared to get up to get lunch and to take your tray back. Friends are not friends, they are just people you know. Teachers are not teachers, they are people that are standing in the front of the room and just keep talking while you don't listen. And your parents, they seem like your enemy; someone controlling you. It makes you feel as if you have no one that you are alone but it doesn't teach you that there are probably 400 other kids just like you. These kids think there is nobody there for them and high school does nothing about it. They tell them that things will get better and don't stress. But how can you not stress? This is literally counting towards college. High school splits you into groups. Popular and non-popular, cool and not cool, pretty and not. They make you think that you have to be in a group or have to be defined but you don't. That is what I call high school a nightmare in the daytime. And as you sit in your class thinking when will this end it is horrible. Just breathe, be you, and don't give in and form to be someone you’re not.