For the past two years. you have drained me mentally and physically. You dug deep into me and found my demons, nurturing them while depleting my soul. You are the toxic friend; the one I cannot stand to be around, but can’t bring myself to leave behind. The thought of leaving you brings me a wave of relief, but also a wave of terror of leaving the only thing I’ve ever known.

You cause me constant stress and anxiety, but also give me a sense of relief. Your doors are ominous. I know what lies behind them, but I also know that there is always a surprise lurking in the shadows. I have been terrified of you for the past three years. But I have had enough; I am taking back my life.

I have abandoned everyone's expectations and have started to pave my own path. I've realized that my future does not lie within the halls of a hospital or in an ivy league school.

It, instead, lies in the girls in third-world countries that are begging for an education, in the teenagers living on the streets because their parents cannot accept who they are. You've made it very clear that there is only one path deemed acceptable after graduation--four more years of schooling at a college and then a career that you had picked out when you were five years old.

My present, however, lies within you; a place that has told me I need to be both different from everyone but also the same. I must either loathe any and every school-related activity or I should be Miss School Spirit and attend every activity whole-heartedly.

I've decided that I am going to be neither, I am going to be me and do what makes me happy. I am going to delve into high school tradition and enjoy my last year of being a "care-free" high-schooler.

I'm going to go to all the football games in head-to-toe red and black (JAGUARS FOREVER), go to homecoming and prom, go out on the weekends and party (responsibly, of course) and drive around for hours. For once I am going to BE A TEENAGER, whose mind is focused on more than academic achievement and being better than everyone just because that is what I have been in the past.

I'm going to stop letting you control my life. I'm going to stop caring about making sure I'm at school every day no matter how little sleep I got, or how bad my mental health is. I'll stop spending every spare second I have studying for tests and quizzes, or bending over backwards to please teachers to squeeze a couple extra credit points in at the end of the semester.

This year will be your ultimate test for me: SAT, ACT, scholarships, applications, homecoming, prom, and, finally, graduation. But, I am ready for it. I am ready to put all my worries behind me and show you who’s boss.

So, high school, get ready to feel my wrath.