This short story is a work of fiction by Student Voice Intern Annabelle Barrett (Gr. 8).  It is meant to be an example of what the first day of high school could look like for students across Living Sky School Division, specifically those who may be attending North Battleford Comprehensive High School.  She shares it to help those preparing for high school in the fall to feel more at ease or at least know they are not alone if they feel any kind of nervousness or anxiety.
 

The First Day of High School

“You ready Emmy?” Asked Emmy Baker’s best friend, Katrina. The two girls were standing outside of their new high school, looking up at the huge building. It was the first day of seventh grade, and Emmy would have been lying if she said she wasn’t anxious about it. Her last school had been small, only 150 students across the six grades. She wasn’t used to being surrounded by a whole bunch of people, but she could have survived it if she had Katrina by her side. But, by some cruel twist of fate, they had been placed in separate classes, leaving Emmy completely, irrevocably alone. So, in answer to her best friend’s question, no, she most certainly was not ready. She couldn’t say that, however, so she just flashed Katrina a shy smile and walked in with her.

They ducked and weaved through the crowd of people, searching for their lockers that they had been assigned. They found Katrina’s first and Emmy stood by while she put her stuff inside and talked about how cool it was that they were in high school. Katrina thought it made them seem grown up, she wasn’t scared. Emmy wasn’t a jealous person, but she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of envy at the way Katrina could make friends so easily and get along with practically everyone.

Her thoughts were interrupted as the warning bell rang, letting everybody know that they had five minutes until class began. Emmy waved Katrina off when she offered to come to her locker with her, not wanting her to be late to class. And so, Emmy found herself dashing through the halls alone until she arrived at her locker. It was a smaller one with a second locker on top of it, and that top locker currently had a blonde girl unloading her backpack into it. Emmy found herself standing there awkwardly, too nervous to ask the girl to move. She didn’t have to, though, because she turned around and saw Emmy staring at her.
“Oh, am I blocking your way?” She said.  “Yeah, my locker’s the one below yours. Don’t worry about it, I can wait,” Emmy responded nervously.  “No no, I can move, just give me a second. I’m Izzy, by the way. I’m in seventh grade.” Izzy said as she moved over and shut her locker.  “Me too, it’s my first day. I’m Emmy.”
“Nice to meet you, Emmy. Hey, who’s your teacher?”  “Mr. Jameson, who’s yours?” Emmy asked as she hurriedly stuffed her bag into her locker.  “That’s my teacher too! Hey, how about I walk with you? The school’s kind of big, it’s easy to get lost.” “Yeah, that’d be great, thank you so much. My last school was way smaller than this, I have no clue what I’m doing,” Emmy said gratefully.  “Don’t worry about it. I have five sisters, and so I’ve seen them do this tons of times. I’m practically an expert, if I do say so myself. Hey, do you have anybody to sit with at lunch? You’d be welcome to sit with me and my friends, if you want to. You could even bring some of your friends, if you want too,” Izzy asked as she led Emmy through the halls. 

Had Emmy misheard her? Things like this didn’t happen to her, nice girls didn’t walk her to class, and they definitely didn’t ask her to have lunch with them. And yet, Izzy just had.  “Yeah, I’d like that. I’ll have to ask my friend if she’s okay with that though, we planned to eat lunch together.”  “Of course, just let me know before lunch.  Oh, here we are!” Izzy exclaimed as they arrived at Mr. Jameson’s room, just in time for the second bell to ring. They sat down in two available seats that were next to each other near the back of the classroom as the tall, tanned man stood up from his desk at the front of the classroom. He strode to the centre and clasped his hands together as he addressed the students assembled before him.  “Good morning, my name is Mr. Jameson, and I will be your teacher this year. I’m sure that I'll have my hands full with all 24 of you, but if you all follow the rules and instructions given to you, then I’m sure we’ll have a great year together!” He exclaimed with a warm smile on his face. And as Emmy Baker sat there, she couldn’t help but think that he was right. She wouldn’t be alone, like she had thought before, she had managed to make a friend before class had even started. Even without Katrina by her side, maybe she could survive high school after all.