A Collection of my Essays and Narratives
4 min read

My First Day of High School

My First Day of High School

From the speakers overlooking the smooth, planked floor echoed the principal’s voice preaching us on her welcome speech. My eyes stared out just below from the frame of my slipping black glasses as I searched for my friends. Among the sea of heads, Seb looked over his shoulder.

“Oh hey Ein’s here!” Seb pointed to his white uniform with a striped red tie. “We’re all BIG BOYS NOW!”

Bodhi, who watched Squid Game, puckered his lips, nodding down his uniform. “I am a very hard man to please, but my tie clashes well indeed with my red hair!”

Our clothes still crisp, we all marched through the hallways of the vast and emptiness of our new school. Lockers slammed as students taller than teachers shook their shaggy hair and piercing eyes at us. We all gulped. Without the invisible umbrella of the teachers, we would surely be stamped.

As the door shut behind a classroom, we gathered inside, legs still shaking from the stares the older students had given us. The teacher immediately launched into a lecture about the basics of high school.

“Given the sudden transition into high school, there is not much difference from primary school other than the fact you’ll have different teachers, lockers to store your books in, and you’ll always be moving around. Like conventional rules, there are absolutely no phones allowed in school. We tolerate zero bullying, and, like always, remember to always incorporate one another in your groups. Timetables will be distributed every fortnight and any work you do not complete in class you will have to complete as extra homework…”

I listened with twinkling eyes, my ears soaking in every word the teacher was saying, while half the class stared into the distance. We logged into our computers to familiarise ourselves with the school library network to the teacher’s orders, but whenever he turned his head, students flickered overed to the next tab, clicking at their watermelon game. The recess bell rang, as we all sprinted off for a tour of the high school canteen.

The sticky air gave way to a parade of aromas floating from the canteen. Our mouths dribbled. Boxes of nuggets with crunchy skin and tender juice, cheeseburgers emitting waves of heat, and salted meatballs covered in creamy napolitana sauce winked up at us: a luxurious buffet of luxuries previously unavailable to us. Bodhi squished his face against the glass. “Our old school’s canteen food is no longer food!” Our stomachs sang of their desperation, when the door flashed open as Carl appeared, his chin to his chest and holding out a credit card in his hands.

“Hi guys! Guess what I’ve brought!” Carl waved his credit card in our face. “It’s my dad’s credit card! Everything’s on the house!”

I frowned at Carl. “But Carl, I don’t think your father will approve of this—”

Bodhi thumped me in the back, as he glinted his eyes at Carl. “What Ein MEANT to say was that it’s a fantastic idea and your parents will definitely understand!”

Carl bobbed his chest and head forward to backward. “That’s why they call me the CLEVEREST CARL!”

Bodhi, Alexey, Seb, and Ian groped and screamed at the canteen lady, waving their purchases in the air. I kept approaching Carl. “Are you sure? Your dad won’t be too happy that you spent $50 at the canteen!” Carl bobbed his head up, down, left, and right. “They’ll understand!”

After we had made our final transactions, it was pure heaven for us kids: slurping the burger juice from the box, licking fingers, our eyes turning into half-moon. As we all belched, I slid in my other index finger two red and blue square envelopes: homemade ddakji made by my littlest brother. I walked up to Ian. “Hello sir. Would you like to play a game with me?” Ian squinted his eyes over me through his glasses. “Sure…”

My hand constantly blurred into Ian’s face (fake slaps) as Ian’s face glowered with every failure. “Ah! Oooh! EEK!” Bodhi, on the other hand, succeeded every shot. With every flip, he yawned. We could only stare.

“Ein, give me my hundred thousand dollars?” I sighed. “Bodhi! It’s a hundred thousand WON, not DOLLARS!”

One by one, students started passing through the hallway, coming up to me and thrusting their hands forward, half-jumping. That is, until the hallways reverberated with giggles from a gaggle of girls passing through. They were making their way towards us, pointing and smiling. “Hello, would you—”

My spine shook with Alexey’s interception: “—LIKE TO PLAY A GAME WITH ME?”

The girls started shooting at the red square with the blue squares. However, their arms shook with every giggle and all of their shots missed by centimetres. After they bade us farewell, Alexey and Bodhi pink in their cheeks, Ian whispered in my ear. “Now Ein now! Slap the girls!”

As the first high school day drew to another fateful close, our friends all departed, waving their hands. The first day of high school is allegedly the most challenging day of school to most students. Yet, what a wonderful world of school awaits me and my friends! I am certain that we all share these thoughts. For now, I hoped Carl was having an easy time explaining the canteen incident to his parents, for his generosity had indeed paved the way to a big dent in his father’s bank account.