Middle school. When people say those words many things come to mind -- none of which are very pleasant. For a while I've been working with an idea about middle school, and people's experiences with it. I figured that if I was going to focus on writing about other people's experiences I should start with my own.
Middle school obviously wasn't the best for me. It was filled with arguing friends, being "uncool," friends leaving for the popular group, trying to fit in, sitting alone, and of course, all of this was happening while the homework was being piled on. It started when my best friend in the entire world decided she didn't like me anymore in sixth grade. I hope all of you have an idea of what a best friendship is like in sixth grade. To be sure ,let me give you a short description of the one I had.
We exchanged bracelets with two parts, one saying "best" and the other "friends." We memorized each others numbers, had numerous sleepovers, dreamed about being friends through life and laughed a lot. We did fight a lot, but we were like sisters. When that friendship ended it seemed like the end of the world. The group of friends that I had been a part of chose her instead of me. Most people I had been friends with decided to ignore me and be with her since she was moving so fast and far up the social ladder. I did have other friends and I hung out with them, but I didn't want to seem desperate because everyone knew I lost my best friend. She even had the idea to come up to me later and tell me each person in her family's reaction to us not being friends anymore -- all of which were happy.
I finally found a group of friends who I didn't fit in well with, but seemed to be extremely nice. The problem with this was, to put it plainly, we were too different. I tried so hard to cement our friendship. It came to the point where at sleepovers they would be talking and texting about butts and I would try to find something laugh at, but end up going to sleep early. Then something happened. By this point I was in eighth grade and thinking about switching schools. The thought of switching gave me a feeling of freedom I never had before and I started being myself a lot more than I ever had. The group of friends that I hung out with didn't like the person I was and decided that I wasn't going to be a part of the clique anymore. Slowly I realized I wasn't being invited to all the sleepovers, and didn't have a spot at lunch anymore. I was upset, but then I knew I was switching schools and that I could handle it for the rest of the year. I decided to spend most of my time with a group of boys. And I realized guys are much more easy going than girls, and they don't overanalyze everything. (This doesn't go for all girls, but it did go for the ones that I knew.) At this point I didn't try so hard to fit in anymore and was being my own person instead of another clone. I got into the preforming arts school and my confidence was up. Instead of focusing on the friends at school, I was friendly to them and spent my other time with friends from other places.
One day in the cafeteria, a girl who had skipped two grades to eighth grade was sitting alone. Let's call her Ella. She got up to go get water and as soon as she did, a posse of popular girls sat in her place. When she came back she politely told them she had been sitting there. A girl turned around and told her to be quiet and go away, and that her seat didn't really matter. Ella turned around and tried to hide her tears. This may sound trivial, but I knew just how bad she must have felt. I got up and whispered to her not to care what the other girls said, and from then on whenever she was having a social issue, she would come to me.
For the rest of the year I would look for who was sitting alone, or looked upset and go to them. I didn't have the best time, but I learned a lot. Now I'm very glad I'm done with middle school and can pass on my advice and memories to others. Through this blog I am going to share other people's middle school stories, and here is the twist: I'm going to talk to people who are now successful and had a hard time in middle school. To show everyone that being a "loser" in middle school doesn't mean you will be a loser for the rest of your life.