High school has been a roller-coaster ride of exhilarating highs, and rock-bottom lows. It's been the beginning of self-discovery and the end of childhood.
Everything is new and unexplored during the first year of high school. The hallways seem huge, and top lockers are almost out of reach. You stick to your elementary school friends as you all struggle to find the home ec classroom.
People are getting shiny slide-out keyboard phones and pretending to text when they're bored.
Your parents ask you how school is everyday, and eventually you can reassure them that you've found your way in this big fish pond.
Grade 9 begins with a sense of recognition. You remember where you used to eat lunch, and the girl who was in your socials class last year now sits beside you in english.
You begin to branch out and meet new friends, and also meet new boys, and for me one of them became my first boyfriend. I remember how nervous I was when he said he wanted to kiss me. I had no idea what to do!
But it turned out OK, and I remember it was snowing that day. Grade 9 was also a time when MSN was all the rage. It was so much cooler than email.
Until one day my boyfriend dumped me . on MSN. It wasn't so cool anymore.
I thought it was the end of my life as I cried into my pillow. I remember my dad patting me on the head saying, "Oh Megan, this is only the beginning." And boy was he right.
Grade 10 and 11 blurred together in a chaotic jumble. School academics became harder, and I got my first tutor for math 10.
But people began to care less about school work and more about popularity.
All that mattered was who you hung out with and how many Facebook friends you had. We started going to parties and caring more and more about impressing boys. Nobody wanted to talk about the new 90210 episode but instead our very own drama and gossip we had at our school.
Grade 11 was an introduction to freedom. We were given more variety and choice in what classes we took at school, and parents began to extend curfews.
But with all this freedom, it was also a time of decisions. You had to decide if it was a good idea to sneak out at night to hang out with the older boys (I decided against it), or to help
your friend cheat on the final exam (not me, for the record.) It was a time of testing boundaries, and learning your limit.
Now that I am in my final year, everything has changed.
It's crazy to think this is it, the final stretch. Come this September we won't be coming back to the familiar halls where we know exactly what to expect.
The realization is starting to hit more as I start to look at grad dresses, and fill out college applications. It is bittersweet to see this chapter come to a close.
I'll miss the friends I have made and all the carefree fun we had together, but I won't miss the constant pressure to be pretty and popular.
I've learned that one true friend is worth much more than 400 fake Facebook friends.
And that staying home with your family for games night can be a lot more fun than trying to fit in at a party.
These last five years were nothing, yet everything, that I had expected.
Here's to the late nights and early mornings, to first love and first heartbreak.
Here's to all the silent giggle fits behind the teacher's back, to the never-ending line at the cafeteria and the unavoidable sweaty palms during your French presentation.
Here's to being cheered while dancing onstage and for passing the test you didn't study for.
Here's to the locker buddies and life long buddies, to the inspiring teachers and the supportive peers, to the boys who made you laugh and the ones who made you cry.
Here's to the rules made to be broken and the traditions made to be followed.
Here's to high school.
Megan Bobetsis is a student at NWSS. She contributed to The Record this year, through a work experience program.
