Tell me about your first day of middle school (sixth or seventh grade)
((6ht grade)) The alarm went off, and the ceiling began to rain. I didn’t want to be awake, it was 6am, I didn’t want to go to school, I didn’t want to get up. My dad started moving next to me, as much as one could move in a rooftop tent. It was cold and dark. We got up and grabbed our bags. It was hazy, it was cold. I didn’t want to exist. The smell of ocean and rot hit me first, and I wanted to cry. My dad shoved two dollars in quarters into my hand as we reached the bathrooms at the beach-side campsite. We both entered the shower enclosure, me first, stripping down and wrapping myself in my towel, then him. One minute under cold water, that’s all I got to clean myself for my first day of school. I dried off, changed. We went back to the truck, packed up, and headed out of the miserable place.
When I finally arrived at school, there was only a few people there. Old friends, familiar faces. It was the same place I’d been my whole life. I was scared, and self conscious, my wet hair leaving me with literal chills running down my spine. This isn’t what I wanted my life to be, but I was excited to see the people I pretended actually enjoyed my presence again. I wanted to see my friends.
I don’t know who showed up first, who talked to me first. The new faces in class were exciting, as always, but the normal crowd of 25 or so stayed the same. Our new teacher seemed better than the last one, by my standards, though later I’d learn that the oatmeal-eating habits and bad breath weren’t the worst thing about him. He’d talked to me the year before, Seth, we knew each other. The day seemed uneventful. Life went on. I was just glad to go back to my mom, though her house was unfavorable, at least it was a house. It was the start of a bad time for me. That’s as much as I remember of the first day. Mornings were always the roughest.
