The World of Stuff .com

Last day of high school

Yesterday was the second-to-last day of high school. The seniors get out a week before everyone else, so senior final exams kind interrupt everyone else’s classes (or vice versa). Yesterday’s schedule was first and second block classes (as usual) and third and fourth block exams.

In third block (physics), Mr. Marchand explained the concept of resistors in series and in parallel. Then he explained how to find the resistance of a circuit with resistors in series and in parallel. For the seniors in the class, the final exam was to get into groups, make circuits, and use those formulas to predict their resistance. Our predictions were right. I think we got an A.

In fourth block (Programming III), we actually had a test, and it had some tricky questions. I think I did okay on it, though. After that, Mr. Mumtaz took a picture of the class for his web site. It’s something new he’s doing this semester. I guess it’s because he loves us so much.

But the highlight of yesterday was what happened at lunch. I was standing outside the cafeteria near my usual eating spot, and all of a sudden, people starting bursting out of the cafeteria while others were running in. It looked almost, but not exactly, like a fight was breaking out somewhere. I went forward to look, and Justin ran past me, shouting, “Food fight!” I had actually heard a while ago that there was going to be a food fight, but I forgot about it. I got closer to the cafeteria, and it was pretty much over by then. You could just see a mess on the floor.

A short while later, people were flocking in droves toward the auditorium. Even though I knew that this hadn’t ever happened before, I was certain that it was going to be the principal and/or administrators scolding everyone in “A” lunch for starting this food fight that a few people started. I was right. The auditorium was packed beyond capacity while the principal furiously told us about how there are children starving in Africa who wouldn’t throw food, how there was a food fight at our rival school last week that required helicopters and mounted police to put under control, how it had better not be the baseball team responsible for this because of all the coach has done for you guys, how he would start enforcing every rule in the book (no “iPods, ePods, aPods, anyPods”), and how any of the perpetrators of the food fight would be suspended for school from 10 days, which would carry over into next school year because there are fewer than 10 days of school left. He was later heard to say over the PA system that he would find a place other than this school for troublemakers (the implication being prison). Don’t get me wrong; the principal is a swell guy as long as you don’t throw food in his cafeteria. That’s understandable.

Accounts of the fight spread like wildfire. The more-or-less standard version is that members of the baseball team did in fact start the fight, a fact corroborated by eyewitnesses accounts of one member (a senior) being led away in handcuffs. In the fight, which didn’t last long, several school administrators allegedly got hit with food, and the walls didn’t fare so well either. A juice box grazed Justin’s neck. Mark looked like he swam in a buffet, and he may or may not have actively participated in the fight.

After school, Ms. Petonick, the speech teacher, offered a few corrections for my speech which I’ll deliver at graduation if I’m valedictorian or salutatorian. She said it was really good. She also said that she had heard about my web site, the one that you are reading right now. I asked what she had heard about it, and from whom. She said that Ms. Castro, an assistant principal, mentioned it. Apparently Ms. Castro was captured by an insightful description of Mr. Bell, the old principal. I don’t remember writing that. At all.

And today was the last day of high school. As I walked in for the last time, I could see the me of four years ago entering the old campus for the first day of freshman year. I imagined the old me superimposed over myself, both of us taking that nervous walk together, one for the first time, the other for the last. I met with Megan, TJ, and Luke, as usual. Michelle wasn’t there because it was a Jewish holiday. She had a hard time convincing the administration that she had to stay home from school today. She might still be having a hard time. I don’t know. Justin’s girlfriend Susann passed by and hugged me a few times, and then she hugged Luke. She was crying. We didn’t know each other that well, but she was still very distraught.

The bell rang. There were only two classes today for the seniors, and then we would be done high school. First was first block, where we had our first block exam. I was a teacher’s aide first block, so I just answered whatever questions they gave me that constituted my exam and an automatic “A.” After that, I got kind of bored. Mr. Mumtaz took a picture of his class, which I was also in. Later, I helped him photoshop Kenny’s extended middle finger out of the programming competition team photo, which is going to be in the yearbook (which, I think, goes to press in the summer). Now it looks like he’s making a fist. No one will be able to tell at that small size and in black-and-white.

Then Mr. Mumtaz gave me his car keys and asked me to get something from his car, as he’d done several times before. It’s easy to find because he’s got a custom tag: “MUMTAZ.” As I was walking out, I passed my sister, who was standing outside her pottery class. Further ahead was the teacher parking lot, which is where the old school buildings used to be. I couldn’t help but notice that these cars were parked where I had spent my first day of high school, and now, the old buildings were gone, and here I was on the very last day, on a nice morning, getting something from Mr. Mumtaz’s car. I got back to class in time for the morning TV announcements. The principal made another speech about how we shouldn’t start food fights.

Then the bell rang, and it was second block — my last class of high school. Rather than walking hurriedly, I assumed a leisurely pace, knowing that this would be the last time I would walk through the hustle and bustle of the halls. At last, I made it to the classroom: Mr. Gates’s class. It was AP Calculus BC, the only class where I actually had an exam that I needed to study for. I entered the room. Emotions were running high. I talked to Luke, who was in my class at the very beginning of the first day of high school. I wouldn’t make friends with him for another two years, but there you go.

We had both had Ms. Bruton’s Business Systems and Technology Class. It seemed dark outside, and the artificial light in the computer lab was oppressive. The room was cold, or I was just shivering because I was nervous. I saw this kid who later turned out to be Luke and thought, Hey, at least someone’s more nervous than me. The teacher introduced herself. We introduced ourselves, and I saw a girl who made me think, Maybe high school won’t be so bad after all. Mr. Bell, the former principal, made a welcoming announcement over the PA. That was the first year, the first day, the first class.

Now here we were: the last year, the last day, the last class. I asked Luke if he remembered that fateful first period. He said kind of. Some people said that we seniors would be dismissed at 10:40, before end of the block at 10:50. That’s not good news if you’re actually taking a test because you have ten fewer minutes. So we went ahead and got started on Mr. Gates’s final while the underclassmen in the class did some other work. The test was pretty hard; I knew some of the stuff, but I had to make more guesses than usual. I was going to run out of time, so I made those guesses than I needed to make, and I handed in my test. As 10:40 rolled around, we seniors were standing up. There was no bell to release the seniors, but someone said they heard seniors leaving their classes out in the hallway.

Mr. Gates gave us some parting words and said that he’d be at our graduation. He also gave me and TJ passes to the Guidance office. I wasn’t sure what that was about, but we left Mr. Gates’s room, and that was the end of high school. We went downstairs. There wasn’t a lot of excitement outside, probably because they were trying to prevent another “incident” like yesterday’s food fight. Lots of people were just smiling, and that’s all I could do myself.

TJ (#4) and I (#2) went to Guidance, where we met with Rebeca (#1) and were given some forms to fill out in case we were valedictorian or salutatorian (which we should find out tomorrow). Two of the forms would be sent to newspapers that publish that sort of thing at the end of every school year. The other was for Ms. Scott, one of the English teachers; you have to describe yourself so she’ll know how to introduce you and your speech at graduation.

After that, my sister’s friend Lisa picked up me, my sister, and Yamilee, and we went home.

As I have in years past, I’d like to say thank you to my existing friends that I’ve had throughout this school year: Alberto, Amanda, Andrew, Brian, Dan, Ed, Justin, Kelsey, Kevin, Kristen B., Gabby, Gilbert, Lisa, Luke, Mandi, Mark, Megan, Michelle, Mike, Nacole, Natalie, Nick, Omar, Sean, Sivan, Susann, TJ B., TJ S., Tyler, and Yamilee. I’d also like to thank the people I’ve gotten to know better over the course of this year: Atar, Baba, Danae, Hillary, Ivan, Jason, Joe, Kenny, Kristen N., Laine, Marcella, Matt, Meghan, Natasha, Sarle, Tanner, and Val.

It’s not quite over yet. Tomorrow is the senior breakfast (at — sigh — school), Friday is prom, and Tuesday is graduation. In less than a week, all that will have passed, and I’ll officially be a high-school graduate.