Friday, August 31, 2012

The Denim Vest Girls and the First Day of High School Part 2

In honor of back to school week I started telling my first day of high school story yesterday...and here is the rest of the story!

I can’t recall all of the exact comments, but as Kristie took her first step and I limped into Monterrey high school we could hear people ask, “Who dresses alike on the first day of school?”  And we realized that we weren’t going to blend in quite like we thought.

We had a quick conversation in the hallway and as much as we wanted to stick together we decided that we would go our separate ways to our first class and meet up later.  I had taken a tour of the building earlier in the summer so I knew where to go but I was mesmerized by all of the chatter, laughter, and beautiful boys.  At the same time I tried my best to walk with confidence...but with a foot that had just been ran over it was an attempt that was failing.

My morning classes went fairly well.  I had people I knew in each class and my teachers seemed nice.  Life was getting better until the final class before lunch.  Kristie and I had this class together and although it was so nice to see my dear friend we had the dilemma of whether or not to sit next to one another in our matching outfits.

I guess that we had gained some confidence at this point so we braved the snide comments and sat together so that we could converse about what had happened so far.  Had she noticed the “Cowboy Corner?”  Had I seen how some of our friends had “blossomed” over summer?  The gossip was flowing, we were laughing, and we were certain that all of our catastrophes were behind us.

We walked out of our class and headed to the lunch plan.  We stepped outside and began our trek to our friend’s house.  Lunch time was a whirlwind on the campus and as cars began to pull out of the parking lot Kristie and I in our matching vests became a sight to see.

Before we realized what was happening, cars began to honk and seniors threw all sorts of lovely comments our way.  I’ve blocked it out to the best of my ability but I seem to recall “Double-mint twins”, sexy sophies”, and your basic cat calls directed our way.

We hurried as best we could - faces red and something between a laugh and cry coming out of our mouths.  What was going on?!  This was not part of the plan.  We thankfully made it to our friend’s house and rang the door bell ready to find refuge in the confines of her house.  But no one came to the door.

We rang the bell again...and again...and again.  We knocked and continued to hear the occasional - woohoo thrown our way.  It was obvious that no one was home.  So with a big sigh and shrug of our shoulders we took a seat on the front porch and pulled out our brown bagged lunches.

We both sat in a daze for awhile.  I went over and over my plan....and realized that everything that I had so meticulously drawn up had failed.  I took a bite of my pb&j and shook my head...was this what I had to look forward to in high school?  Bad clothing choices, unexpected pain, and embarrassing encounters?  Maybe I should ask my mom about homeschool?

 And somewhere in the quiet, one of us just started to laugh.  I think we were slightly hysterical...but either way, laughter was good medicine.  And I realized...at least I wasn’t aloneThank you Lord for Kristie.

And with that...a car filled with friends pulled up to the curb asking in earnest where we had been...didn’t we know that we were meeting up to get a ride to this house? 

And from that point on...the day DID get better.  No more embarrassing moments or mishaps.  We had survived.

In hindsight, I think I learned two really important things that day:

 In life’s curveball moments it is always bearable...laughable even so long as you have a friend by your side.

As much as we try our best to blend in (that was my goal with the entire plan) we were all created to stand out.  Although I didn’t want to stand out in the way that I did that first day...my secret desire really was to stand out in high school.  I didn’t need to be the most popular or best athlete, but I wanted to find my place and flourish there.  And by the end of our time in high school, Krisitie and I had done just that...Kristie found that she loved working in the journalism department and was the Editor of our Year Book.  I loved to run and found myself the captain of the track team.  Most people in a school of over 1500 knew who we were - we were made the stand out - and thank God it wasn’t because of our matching denim vests!

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