Right from the beginning, I felt that things were going to be different this year. The hot sun glistened off the tin panel roof, making them shine so bright that they appeared brand new. I knew this obviously wasn’t the case however and I was merely blinded to the rust which lay beneath, but still it was a welcome site regardless. As I meandered through the gates for this first day of year 11, I could see that others in my year felt the change too. Gone were the perpetual frowns which graced the faces of everyone at the end of last year. Instead they were replaced by grins from ear to ear of eager expectation, expectation of what these final two years of school would behold. I of course knew that these smiles would fade as soon as any actual work was required to be done, but they were a comforting first impression none the less.
I slowly wandered down into the court yard for the obligatory first day year meeting. No doubt it would the usual “work, work, work… believe in yourself… try your best in everything” speech that we had been given the last 4 years already. I don’t know why they expected it would have any effect this year, when it clearly hasn’t worked in any of the previous ones. Upon realizing this I immediately searched for some interesting people to sit next to, to at least help pass the time during this mandatory snooze session. However, this proved to be a more difficult task than I anticipated.
For you see not only was I in the transition from year 10 to 11, but you could also say I was in a transition of friends too. No, I wasn’t a loner, but rather had become tired in the same old routine with my traditional friends. I scanned around trying to find somewhere when I received a tap on my shoulder. “Hey, Slider good to see you” It was Anthony Foster, welcoming me back after the holidays. He was not someone I had previously “hung around” with, but a pleasant and popular fellow anyhow and he seemed like as welcome a change as any from my old group that I used to “hang” with.
“Year 11, year 11….YEAR 11!… Please be seated” came over the PA system. Anthony and I thus ended up sitting down to listen to the speech, however I use the word “listen” very loosely. A more accurate description would have been that we made sarcastic remarks about the speech in between us exchanging stories about what we got up to in the holidays.