• I had picked a pretty small, obscure high school. All my friends were going somewhere else so it was a fresh start of sorts, not that I was in dire need of one, it just turned out that way. The school was located about 50 minutes with the bus from where I lived and only about 300 kids went there. I remember they advertised with a slogan that went something like "The school where you can be yourself", not that I believed that for a moment, but it still sounded nice enough and I didn't give my choice much thought, mostly because I was occupied with other stuff. And besides, everything turns out for the better in the long run, right?

    It was late August so bicycle was still a viable way to travel. I had parked my dads old bike at a bus central nearby, so I only had to take the bus halfway and save some time by covering the rest of the distance by bike. I had spent the last couple of days riding back and forth to make absolutely sure that I knew my way there.

    I was wearing a black T-shirt and a pair of jeans, mostly because it was the least ugly thing I could think of. I had gone through the last three years of grade school wearing a (by the time I graduated infamous) turtleneck/sweatshirt combo so ugly that when I look back on it I'm not as ashamed as I am puzzled. I was not planning on wearing it on my first day in high school, actually, I was not planning on wearing it in high school period. I had been given a chance to build a reputation from the ground, make a new impression on new people, I was not gonna start by looking like I let my blind mum pick out my clothes.

    Remember strongly that as I pulled in on the bike parking I quietly said to myself "And so it begins...", feeling all dramatic. Cheesy as hell, I know. I also remember strongly that I planned on pulling up to the same bike parking the last day of school saying "And so it ends...", remembering my first day and feeling all sentimental.

    I walked up a couple of stairs and leaned myself against a wall in the schoolyard. We were supposed to meet in the school yard and be called to the diner (apparently the assembly hall was under renovation) for a roll call and some general information. I observed some of the other kids in the school yard. The high school shared building with a grade school so there were a lot of grade school kids around, I probably looked liked I belonged more with them. Most people that arrived came in pairs or groups, I was probably beginning to have second thoughts about going to a school where I knew nobody...

    The building I was standing next to was labeled B1, a name it shared with a character from a pretty well know children's program. It was a pretty stupid show about two bananas named B1 and B2 and it had a pretty catchy theme song, so whenever you saw either B1 or B2 anywhere it was pretty much impossible not to make the connection. So impossible in fact that I wasn't surprised when a guy walked by me loudly remarking it to his friend, loudly quoting a catchphrase from the show. He was pretty tall, had shoulder long, blond hair, tight black jeans and a band T-shirt. He emanated confidence and douchyness, I already hated him...

    Eventually someone came out and called us to the diner. I took a seat at random and listened to the standard welcome speech, "We're sorry we have to be here in the diner, unfortunately our assembly hall is under renovation, but it's going to be really nice once it's blah, blah, blah". I looked at the crowd of students. There must have been around 60 of us, two classes, 30 in each class. As expected I recognized nobody, I would get a fresh start. It was kind of a bittersweet sensation, things could go anywhere from here on in.

    I managed to spot one face in the crowd that looked familiar, she kind of looked like Lisa, a girl in my German class in grade school. Chills went up my spine as I realized who she was and what it meant... I had made friends with a lot of people in grade school, but I was well aware that I had probably ticked more than a few people off too. I had been an overall "good boy", good grades, good behavior, kind of a suck up, kind of proud (some would say arrogant) about it. I had never been shy with my distaste for smoking, drinking and general disobedience, I always assumed that would annoy a few people, but that was okay, I mean, it's not like I would ever have to befriend a smoking, drinking scumbag right? I had never taken into calculation that one of those persons would be the only person at my new school who had ever met me before. s**t, so much for a blank slate.

    I looked at her, she looked at me, we recognized each other. She looked down at her desk and shook hear head with a smile. I couldn't tell if it was a good smile or a bad smile, it was clear she was thinking something but what? Was she plotting evil schemes to ridicule me or was she relieved to see a familiar face. To be fair, I had no reason to assume that she in any way disliked me, but she had every reason to and at the time I was a paranoid little kid. Worst case scenario she would go around telling everybody what an annoying little pipsqueak I used to be. I had absolutely no reason to assume that, but I did.

    I went through the entire year assuming the same worst case scenario: Lisa was a mean hag and was trash talking me behind my back. Needless to say it was a bad assumption that didn't really help clearing things out as the year progressed. I know it sounds strange, but four years later, I still don't know why she looked down at the desk and shook her head. It's still a mystery to me, and it will probably be until I get the opportunity and the balls to ask her about it.

    After that it blanks out. I went home I guess. When my parents asked me how it went I probably shrugged and said "OK" for lack of a better answer. When they asked me if I recognized anyone I probably dodged the question.

    As for what happened next, it's (obviously) a long story. In short, it went bad, really bad, then something really really bad happened and as a consequence of that things took a turn for the better and my two last years in high school ended up being the best in recent memory. So I guess everything turned out for the better in the long run, even though the long run was a whole lot different than what I had imagined.

    Oh and the dude with the semi-long blond hair who gave the impression of being confident and douchy... Yeah he was pretty confident and douchy. But he still turned out to be a pretty nice guy, probably one of the coolest and most interesting people I met during my years in high school. Isn't it weird how sometimes people are exactly who they appear to be, but not who you thought think they are? So anyways was this related to your first high school day? 3nodding


    -Redbulgivsuwings rofl