Ahh that’s right. The good ole junior high days. The days of hair dyed strange colors, braces, puberty, awkward first kisses, and pimples. When thinking back on junior high, it’s hard not to laugh and cringe at the same time at some of the things we all said and did. And the worst part about it all is that when we were that old, we actually thought we were cool. We had finally escaped the “elementary school babies” phase and high school, “the best four years of our lives”, was so close we could almost taste it. It was a time of doing what everyone else did because no one wants to be the odd one out at such a terrifying age. And for some reason, some of these things that everyone did were….let’s just say…questionable. Time for a little stroll down memory lane. Let the nostalgia of the days that were junior high set in.

1. Puffy paint pants

Yes. That’s right. We are all guilty of owning at least one pair of these bad boys. There was also the occasional puffy paint shirt version. The goal of this trend? To cover as much surface area as possible in neon puffy paint with a million inside jokes that only you and your few close friends understood. Why these were such a fashion statement still remains a mystery, but whoever invented the puffy paint clothing trend was both a legend and a creator of a massive fashion faux pas.

2. Duck faces and peace signs

Iconic. This pose that was struck in 75% of all photos just screams 2009. Whether it was just the peace sign, just the duck face, or both together, you could never go wrong with this combo. It was as if you were only a part of the cool kids club if you could touch your nose with your upper lip. I’m not sure why everyone decided a smile just wasn’t good enough anymore, but I think we can all be thankful that this trend has been put to rest and a good ole smile while saying “cheese” does the trick just fine these days.

3. Overly edited pictures

Picnik really was a dangerous weapon. The makers of Picnik are actually just cruel. Give teenage girls the opportunity to edit their pictures as much as they want and just see the masterpieces that are created. Once again, inside jokes were the go-to to when choosing what to put on the picture. Probably due to the fact that middle school girls are clique-y. They would look for any excuse they could to show off who their squad was, and how others can’t be a part of it because they just aren’t on the inside. Middle school girls really are mean. And good at taking a perfectly good picture and slabbing as many edits on it as possible until the photo is barely identifiable anymore.

4. Abercrombie/Aeropostale/Hollister graphic tees

You weren’t cool until you rocked these bad boys on a regular basis. Everyone’s go-to outfit. Perfect for the first day of school, picture day, and of course, school dances. You can't go wrong with a new t-shirt with the giant words “Abercrombie” plastered right across the front.

5. Feather extensions

This trend was a short one, but a popular one. Everyone had a different color feather that they rocked for solid few weeks. Where did the feathers come from? We will never know.

6. Bermuda shorts

The perfect article of clothing for when it’s 95 degrees outside, but wearing anything shorter than the length of your arms was just not acceptable. Could anyone pull of Bermuda shorts? No. Did we try anyways? Of course.

7. Text message signatures

Can you think of a better way to end every text message you send other than with your own personal trademark? 2010 was a time when it was completely acceptable to actually send a message saying “g2g ttyl BBFs 4evr -2Cute4U”.

8. Silly Bandz

Anybody who was anybody rocked 20 of these at once. The more you had, the more your social status went up. And the rarer your Silly Bandz were, the better. Some of them we weren’t entirely sure what shape they were even supposed to be, but that wasn’t important. Looking back, it’s crazy to think how some dude somewhere got rich from rubber bands shaped like animals.