Family’s Your’s Friend

“Lizzie, you’re coming with me to the office!” That’s the moment I thought I was being sent to my fate. Before I get into that mess though, here’s a recap. 

It all started the summer after fifth grade. I wanted the next school year to be different. My whole life I had been the quiet kid, and the rule follower. I always wanted to please teachers, get straight As, and most importantly, hide from the bullies. Sixth grade was going to be different though. I had a fresh start at a new school, and I wanted to make a good impression, but not a good impression on the teachers. This year I wanted to be one of the popular kids. My whole life I was always the nerd; always the kid being pushed around, and I was fed up. So, I simply changed my ways and decided to stop hiding from the bullies. 

First of all, I had to come up with a plan. So, I decided to ditch the glasses, straighten my hair, and throw on a mini skirt for the first day of school. Of course I didn’t actually own a mini skirt or flat iron. So, I just got my trusty, older sister’s help. She was a bit confuzzled, but there was no time to explain. This was going to be a life changing day. 

Before I knew it, the time was 7:00, which meant bus time! For once I hopped on the bus with confidence, and it was a weird feeling. For the first time, no one stared at me like I was a moldy piece of cheese. No one on the bus judged me, and some girls even invited me to sit with them. I was starting strong with my new look, and my new careless personality. I felt ready to take on middle school. 

When I arrived at school, I knew I was gonna rule the year. Spoiler alert! I was wrong, but that’s besides the point. Anyways, I walked into school feeling like a queen, but then I realized something. I didn’t actually know how to act like one of the popular kids. So, I decided to just observe. The first thing I noticed was a short kid getting picked on, a boy vandalizing the lockers with spray paint, two dudes chest bumping each other, a group of boys having a burping contest, two seventh graders flirting, and a group of girls gossiping. I decided to choose the best way to be popular out of these options. That was the hardest decision of my life. 

The first thing I tried in order to be popular was gossiping with the girls, but first I needed to find the sixth grade girls. After searching for what felt like an eternity, I finally found the sixth grade girls, and to my surprise there weren’t many cliques yet. After about one minute of talking to girls, five other girls and I had started a little gossip group. We were the mini skirt chicks.

 Now in order to impress these chicks, I had to do something a teacher would hate, and the chicks would love. Of course the best way to achieve this was by using one of the classic pranks, but which one? During the first period I thought to myself for a bit. I knew I needed something quick and easy, and by the end of the period I knew I was gonna put some superglue on a chair. Luckily I knew just where to find some, and that was art class. I had art in the fourth period, and Ms. Hopper was kind and clueless enough to let me borrow some of her superglue. Man, do I love teachers like her! What I didn’t  love though, was the math teacher. So the next day was game time.

The next day, I had math third period, so I had some time to plan things out, and of course in between periods I talked to my chicks and even told them my plan. About half of them thought it was a brilliant idea, and the others warned that I was going to get busted for it, and of course I listened to the half that thought it was brilliant. Once again, another spoiler alert! I should’ve listened to the other half. 

When the time came, I precisely, yet quickly, squeezed some glue on the chair. I did it just at the right time so it wasn’t completely wet, but not too dry. My plan was going perfectly, and I rushed to my seat to watch the action unfold. When the teacher came in she sat down right away, and she even sat for a good 20 minutes while we took a start of the year, math assessment. To my surprise, the superglue worked perfectly. Except for the fact that the chair didn’t lift up with her behind like in the movies. Instead, the chair decided to rip off the back of her skirt. Everyone was laughing. It was going great. Well that is until a snitch had the audacity to chime in with, “Mrs. Rogers, I saw Lizzie put the glue on your chair before class started!” Little brats like that snitch are the epitome of evil. I swear he just wanted to see me suffer.

About one minute after the incident occurred, the principal barged in the door, and I was dragged to the office, where happiness is crushed, and discipline thrives. To make this even worse, I had to sit in silence for ten minutes with a death stare from the principal, waiting for my parents to arrive. During this waiting time I could just imagine that snitch with the fattest grin on his face, which made me think that maybe I should ask for a punching bag for my birthday, but I realized that my birthday was probably canceled for life. 

Finally, the ten minute death stare came to an end, and my parents arrived. When I saw the gut wrenching stare on their face, I knew I really messed up. I somehow really thought it would end up like the movies. I really thought life would be so much better if I fit in, but I guess what I really needed was to notice that I already had people who loved me. I had my family, and I screwed up and hurt them by being someone I’m not. 

In the end, I got a one week suspension, some charity work to do, and a disappointed family. I lost my friends which I realized was ok, and my family eventually forgave me. Although I made a huge mistake, I learned that all I needed was to take a look around and notice that I had all I needed. I didn’t need popularity or fame, but instead, the people who truly loved me for who I was.