Saul_hudson

I'm currently re-working my first novel about a teenage boy pushed into taking his classmates hostage, and it was while I was re-writing both the prologue and slipping in an additional chapter that I struck upon the idea that I would have the narrator telling the story of his first day in high school - the moment in time it all started to go wrong.

Now the big ask is this: can any of you recount your first days in high school?

I have accumulated what I can remember (about being a small fish in a big pond and knowing high school was a place you had to make a name for yourself) but what of your own experiences? What about the rumours you all heard?

I'd like to know what your thoughts are. If you can remember that far back lol.

Thank you in advance.

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Of all the things I have lost, I miss my mind the most.

A Gypsy's Abandon

Vast intimidation by the different classes. Science was no longer just "science", but biology, chemistry, physics - how was I ever going to choose?! Finding my former classmates and clinging to them like shipwrecked clinging to a life raft.

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I know that my face is only too familiar to your sleep/I can see it in your eyes, I can tell by your body heat/Why are you taking so long - you need to come and find me, honey/To set your mind at rest and let your dreams run free.come.here.boy

rumpole40k

Junior High and High School blur a bit for me, but there is one thing that sticks out in my mind, judging from the overview of the story, it may even help.

I was getting picked on by someone (can still see his face but the name is long gone). Finally lost it and threatened to beat him up after school (yea, I know how stupid it sounds). Anyway, I knew I couldn't take this kid, but he never even came near me. Learned he was actually scared of the anger in my voice.

I would never want to be young again. If gets easier as you get older.

Rumpole40k

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A humble wolf with dreams of being on a stamp, releasing an autobiography, having a film made showing his daily struggles, having a world wide fan club... - Code Red

"Doing? You're doing what ANY sane man in your appalling circumstances would do. You're going mad." - The Killing Joke.

Just Me

My first day of high school I remember as being very intimidating. I was a hell of a lot more naive than I am now, but at the same time, I was still a lot less so than most of my classmates. I was also very small, easily identified as "fresh meat" which is something every freshman loves. In my first few days I was messed with a lot by some upperclassmen ("Room 402?! There's no room 402! You'd better go have the office check your schedule...." and "I'm sorry, only upperclassmen can use the elevators in the morning" and so on and so forth) but it died down when the novelty wore off.

My biggest pitfalls as a freshman, though, were my lack of naivete and my unwillingness to put up with shit. There were a lot of euphemisms tossed around, and being the smartass I am, I told the whole world to "F*ck off" which led to a bit more hazing than my classmates.

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"And at the end of the day, is magic underwear really that much crazier than giant arks, or virgin births, or talking bushes. You're either a rationalist or you're not. And the good news is, a recent poll found 20% of adults under 30 say they are rationalists and have figured out that Santa Claus and Jesus are really the same guy."
- Bill Maher

Roa

You can't get fresher material than me!
Haha, I'm a junior in high school right now. I tell you what sucks--exams, a part-time job, and taking all the right classes to get into college. High school's such a pain!

But if you want something particularly significant, when I was in my theatre class once, I had a kissing scene to perform with a boy who I really didn't take a liking to--he was so concerned about the kiss, and not at all about his lines!

Well, we were sitting up in the bleechers one day trying to rehearse, and he was so preoccupied, I was just about ready to give up. I said he couldn't even do the kiss if he wanted to, because he couldn't concentrate on anything. He took that as a dare.

"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Well then, I bet you I could."
"You liar."

But before I'd even finished he kissed me right over my mouth, and I had to kind of push him off after a few seconds when he was getting way too friendly.

lol, eventually, when it came time to perform, he not only forgot nearly all his lines--he whimped out and gave me a fake thumb-over-lips kiss. Not that I wanted another wet yucky from him, but you get my point.

Oi--high school.
And this was my sophomore year. Freshman year, friendships fall apart over boys, and you learn who your real friends are.

Faustling

If life had been a romantic comedy I bet you would've ended up marrying whats-my-line-again?-boy.

As for high school memories, what's high school age again? The American (and English?) school system never seem to stick in my mind.

ClancyBoy

Gratefully I have repressed most of high school.

There's this though. Every year at my high school there is a "senior sweatshirt;" a shirt with the signatures of all the seniors on the back of it. People took this very seriously, apparently.

My freshman year I signed the senior sweatshirt. Just walked up and signed it. No one stopped me, and no one noticed before the shirts went to print.

When they did get printed, people noticed. People were pissed. The student council (and even the student body president!) pulled me out of class into the hall and threatened to kick my ass if I didn't publicly apologize in front of the whole school during an assembly. I said something like "fuck off" but the promised beating never materialized.

That was 1987. In 1991, I was told I would not be allowed to sign the precious sweatshirt. Someone remembered and was still pissed. Like I wanted a sweatshirt with the signatures of 500 people on the back anyway. Seriously.

After I graduated I left town and forgot about it.

Last year I chatted with some friends from high school who found me via facebook. They brought up the sweatshirt thing. 2007 was the 20-year reunion of the class of '87 whose shirt I defiled. My friend Rob, who graduated that year, told me he was disinvited from his 20-year reunion for "helping" me perpetrate my crime against the sweatshirt. I guess that means he was there and didn't stop me; it was completely my idea.

I also found out that was the reason I wasn't invited to my own 10-year reunion. I actually hadn't noticed, but now that I think about it guess I don't remember being invited. Guess that's why.

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"Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons wait for you down there. Little pets they are, little little little pets. Cute little things, they say. Don't you believe it. No man ever saw them and walked away alive. You won't either. That's the final dash, flash. That's the utter clobber, cobber." --Cordwainer Smith, Norstrillia.

ClancyBoy

I think the English system goes like this:

Year 1 - defeat dark lord
Year 2 - defeat dark lord
Year 3 - defeat dark lord
Year 4 - defeat dark lord
Year 5 - defeat dark lord (OWL's)
Year 6 - defeat dark lord
Year 7 - defeat dark lord (NEWT's)

Beats the shit out of the American system. We mainly just watch videos.

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"Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons wait for you down there. Little pets they are, little little little pets. Cute little things, they say. Don't you believe it. No man ever saw them and walked away alive. You won't either. That's the final dash, flash. That's the utter clobber, cobber." --Cordwainer Smith, Norstrillia.

Saul_hudson

Wow, thanks for the feedback. It's good to hear all your high school memories. But how many of you felt intimedated by the senior year mob?

I would imagine high school is high school wherever you are in the world, but back in the day when i was at high school there was always someone looking to be crowned "Top dog" as it were, as if it means jack shit.

How's that work out in the US?

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Of all the things I have lost, I miss my mind the most.

smilinghelps

ClancyBoy,

That is a great story! We had a similar story as Freshman when 3 girlfriends and myself conspired to pull a fire alarm at the beginning of 8th Period (last class of the day). On the day of the actual pull I was out sick, so the other girls did it without me (I broke the glass a week prior to the pull). It took the Administration a full semester to investigate who the perpetrators were, two of the girls were accused, myself and the other girl were never suspected. The two suspects were expelled--one then confessed and the other was allowed to continue w/school. Neither were ever invited to any reunions. It was just supposed to be a harmless prank, much like your sweatshirt story--although, a false alarm to the fire company can cost $10,000.00--which we didn't know back then.


Saul,
To answer your question about the first day of school--What stands out the most in my mind is that they required all the Freshman to gather in the cafeteria on the first day of school. We were herded in like cattle, handed our rosters and were assigned upper classmen to show us where to go for our homeroom assignments. Of course they tried to sell us passes to the "Fifth Floor Pool" (we only had 4 floors) and to the "Boys' Wing" (it was an all girls school) but we didn't fall for it (at least I didn't).

Good luck with your story.

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"I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day."
E. B. White

Milady

I'm still in high school, and I can't remember my first day... then again, that was a different school, and this year all those memories are being smothered by our brand-new sanitized extension-of-grade-school high school.

At the school I'm at now, we're not afraid of the senior mob, mainly because they are the smallest grade and we are the largest, and we are reasonably sure we could beat the crap out of them despite the fact that they're two years older.

At the old one, one of those distinctly American overcrowded undersupervised horror-schools, I as a freshman was afraid of anyone older than me--(which, now that I think about it, was everyone. I skipped a grade in elementary school.) My mother had told me they were all sleazy and drug dealers or something like that. Probably true, too.

For those of you like Faustling who aren't familiar with American school systems... High school is grades nine through twelve, roughly equal to ages 14-18. Except for nerds like me, who are sadly young. As for English, well, I don't have much of a firsthand experience with that, but ClancyBoy's comment sounds about right... :p

Anyway, exams are a pain whether you take them or not... I'm exempt from all but one of mine, and this past week staying at home has been soul-eating BORING. I'm almost looking forward to going back tomorrow... *gets shot*

Kayz, now that I've rambled a lot... I shall stumble away. Toodles!

missmia86

Haha, I have one:

Year 7 orientation day (I was in Year 6 at the school- the school went from kindergarten to final year), and a bird crapped on my head.

Haha!

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Saul_hudson

I'm not quite sure i follow the meaning of all that . . . but we really only have years one to five (the sixth is for nerds who want to stay an extra year) . . . but the dark lord kind of reminds me of our old high school headmaster. He was a mean S.O.B

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Of all the things I have lost, I miss my mind the most.

Nefieslab

Wow... the first day? Now that was fun! My first day in secondary school as a little year seven some year nines decided to pick on some of my friends (that i'd just made) but they kinda backed down when they saw that i was twice their size already and really angry. I just love being tall. It makes you harder to bully, i've come to the conclusion that bullies, like pigs, can't look upwards and so have difficulty hitting tall people on the nose.

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Faustling

In case you're not just really ironic and I'm stupid for missing it... it's a Harry Potter reference. At the end of every school year he faces an evil wizard, defeats him and then graduates. In the fifth and seventh year he also has to take special wizard test (Ordinary Wizard something and something Extraordinary Wizard something I think...).