What No One Tells You About High School

Your body will start to go through some physical changes that... wait a minute. You actually thought I was going to write an article about puberty? Think again because this is basically the survival guide to the high school BS you're about to go through.

Nobody ever really gives you a manual or guide to getting through high school. I'm sure they probably make them but they're probably like ridiculously expensive because I'm sure it'd be a big ass book. I, on the other hand, will be giving you some pointers about what to expect when you go to high school. Now this will not be the problem solver for all the pointless high school problems that mean the world to you now or the Bible for everything high school. This brings me back to rule number one though. When adults say your high school problems will mean nothing in ten years, they're right. I graduated about a month ago and I already look back on the pettiness I dealt with and cannot even believe I wasted the time or energy to deal with them or make a finsta post. Now my finsta is basically me bitching about life, not anyone in particular. It's basically an accurate account of "just Madison things" as some of my friends would call it. We already discussed rule #1 but lets move onto some other rules and pieces of advice. Don't try to be friends with everyone, because plot twist, it's just not gonna happen. You will hate some people, and I can assure you that someone will hate you. Especially if you're a freshman. Everyone hates freshman so don't act like you're better than anyone else. Everyone goes through the initiation phase of being a freshman so just take it like a man and go through it smiling. Also freshman for real, though, walk on the right side of the hallway and stairs. It is just like a road. Next year you'll be learning to drive so you best be getting some practice now.

High school is nothing like the movies. Cheerleaders do not walk around in their uniforms all day because we are all messy eaters. Not every cheerleader is a size 2. People do not break out in song in the cafeteria and know the same extensive choreography. Nine out of ten times the football all star doesn't try out for the school musical. No school will let you walk around in a corset from Victoria's Secret and an "A" patch stitched on it. I've never seen a real life "burn book" before and definitely not the Mean Girls Christmas song.

Now about the schools themselves, yes I can guarantee that your arts program budget will be cut to pay for the new football field. Yes, your school will purchase a million dollar gym floor but you will still have bathroom stall doors that don't close, jam, or aren't even there and no, they will never replace the lockers so just accept the huge dent in the bottom of your locker from the last person kicking it in. Also, just pack a lunch. This way you're not at risk of finding a stinkbug in your grilled cheese or have a mold infested bun on top of your cheeseburger. Learn to drink water because that's the only thing you're allowed to have inside a classroom. You might be a senior and about to move away from home and begin your adult life, but you cannot be trusted with a non-clear bottle.

Let a boy break your heart, at least once, maybe a couple times. I know parents tell their daughters to never let a boy break their heart but I say do it. I say do it because this gives you tough skin. This makes you realize that you're are worth so much more and this opens opportunities for you to find someone better. Getting your heart broken is obviously terrible, but it's a learning experience. It helps you grow independently and romantically. And whatever anyone ever tells you... it's okay to cry over them. Sometimes that's all you need. Just go to your room, play some sad songs, cry, watch some Nicholas Sparks, cry again, and move on. Take it from me, I have experience.

Someone will start a rumor about you. It's just going to happen and it's okay. In my personal experience, just let people believe what they want to believe, because nothing you do is going to stop them. Just go with the flow and live it up. You will get involved in more drama then you wish to but like I said before it will not matter once you graduate and realize you never have to see your classmates again unless you're one of the ones that actually want to go to the reunions.

On a side note, if you ever struggle academically here are a few apps that will save your life. Slader is a math app. It literally has like every math textbook with all the answers and most of them have work shown for them so your teacher doesn't know that you just copied the quadratic formula from the internet. Sparknotes will save your life because if you're in a literature class and say you actually read the material and still have no idea what they're talking about because it was written like a billion years ago, Sparknotes has a summary for you that actually makes sense. Third and final app that helped me graduate is Quizlet. Literally type in the first question on a worksheet and I can almost guarantee you that some smart student out there created a quizlet with all the answers completed for you.