The Woes of Junior High School

I had a late night last night. I woke up early. Somehow I ended up with three and a half hours of sleep. I'm not the happiest/most alert I've ever been and I have somewhat of a pounding headache.
I had my Spanish final today and I am thrilled to say I have successfully completed Spanish 101. It is such a satisfying feeling completing a class so rigorous and intense as that. However, my good feelings about finishing such a course is not what I intend the subject of this post to be about. Instead, I wish to write about what occurred this morning just 30 minutes prior to taking this final exam.
My test was at 11:30. My cousin Megan and I went down to the basement of the JFSB to wait outside the testing room and get a little last minute studying in at 11:00 sharp. We walked down the stairs, rounded the corner and the halls seemed oddly crowded for a reading day and oddly noisy for a college campus. After a brief minute of concentrating on the sound and observing the faces in the crowd of people I was trying to push my way through, I was instantaneously transported back to my Junior High days. I was being swarmed by hundreds {slight exaggeration} of 12-15 year old kids. What was going on you may ask? Why, foreign language fair of course. I would like to know who had the brilliant idea to import hundreds of kids from Junior Highs all over the state of Utah to a college campus on a reading day, just hours before finals start. And even more perplexing is who agreed to have the JFSB host these children when every foreign language student at BYU is able to take their finals during the reading days. Clearly, there was some miscommunication somewhere along the line. Now, I support foreign language fairs. I just don't support them when I have only had 3 hours of sleep, a wicked bad headache, and my final exam in 3o minutes. Observing these Junior High kids got me thinking back to my very own Junior High days. And boy, am I glad to be out of them. I once read a weird time travel book and the main girl was trapped for life as a 13 year old; I think that would be my worst nightmare.
I think there is just one word to sum up the Junior High days: awkward. The first aspect to this awkwardness is the physical body. Your body is changing in ways that you don't want it to change. In order to cope with this change you're constantly tugging at your clothes in hopes that enough pulls will make the fabric form to your body correctly and look flattering. Unfortunately, this trick never worked. You've reached the point where you're too cool to have your mom do your hair, however, you still struggle at this task and going to school with a bad hair day is more common than finding a penny on the street. You try in a vain attempt to cover up your pimples and blemishes with the cheap makeup from the drug store, however, you're even worse at applying make up than you are at doing your hair. Talk about disaster.
I don't care who you are, you struggled with self-esteem in Junior High. You're coming into your own, trying to figure out who you are during the few brief years (that seem to go on forever) between childhood and teenage years/adulthood. As previously discussed, you're body isn't doing anything to help your self esteem. From my own experience and from observing other tweens that age, we all go through a bit of a moody time period. Although you're self-esteem is plummeting every time you step foot in the confines of the Junior High School, you for some strange reason think that you are cooler than every other human being that has ever graced this planet earth. Why is that?
And then there are the cliques. The idea of a clique first originates in Junior High, 7th grade to be exact, and one would think that after you graduate from the 9th grade and move on to better and bigger things (High School) that these so called cliques would disintegrate. Unfortunately, I've found they remain in tact far past the age of 14; in fact, I've learned that they are still very real even in college. Looking back into my memory, there are all varieties of cliques and stereotypes that come along with them. There are of course, the popular kids. These are the kids that somehow miraculously skipped the awkward stage. There are only about 3 of them per grade and they all bond together, wear matching clothes, do their hair and make up the same, and make life miserable for every other kid at the school. They know their hot and they flaunt it. Then there are the choir kids {That was me. I didn't actually do choir, but I hung out with all the kids who did, so I guess I was a wanna be choir kid. They accepted me, though} There were the drama kids, the jocks, the nerds, all the typical ones you always hear about. I think every Junior High School in the nation has the exact same kids and cliques, the names of the students are the only things that really vary from school to school. Don't get me wrong, it makes me sound like I hated Junior High and don't have one good memory from those three years of my life. I'll be honest, I hated 7th grade. I had such a good time in 8th grade. And I absolutely loved 9th grade. I thought I was on top of the world and had the time of my life while I was living in it. It's looking back on those years that I realize that while they were good learning experiences and for the most part I had a fun time living in them, I would rather repeat any other year of my life than those three years, from the ages of 12-15. They are just rough for every party involved.
Today as I was annoyed out of my mind with the foreign language fair kids treating the JFSB like it was just another hall in their Junior High I thanked my lucky stars that I was out of those years. Although I find much satisfaction and humor in watching other people feel awkward, it's not something I particularly enjoy feeling myself. I'd rather just watch awkwardness from the sidelines than experience it first hand. Thank goodness the only time I have to return to Centerville Junior High is when I cover for my mama and pick up my little brothers after a long and tiresome day of trying to fit in. Best of luck to any one in the midst of Junior High, my thoughts and prayers are with you.