Dear 9th grade me,

I see you quietly crying in the school bathroom, wiping the tears off of your glasses. You never were fond of harsh words or rude people. No matter how many shows or movies you've watched about that infamous hell-hole named high school, you were never prepared for this type of resentment. In fact, you thought a new school would mean new people, and new people meant polite people. As much as you laugh it off, you can’t seem to walk with your head up. After years of giving love and support, all you receive is hate and anger. Then, just when you find an acquaintance, they leave you immediately after you give them answers to the homework, or they keep you around just to shatter your self-esteem. Well, you know what? Even though you believe that bad company is better than no company at all, you are wrong.

One day, you will read a Helen Keller quote that will change your view of the world: “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired and success achieved.” I know you more than you know. Why? Because I am you. Regardless of the pain, you feel in that moment, you're life is far from over. This is just the beginning. Throughout your life, people will be cruel; they will break you and relish in your failure, but you know what? Those faces and harsh words you tried so hard to forget eventually fade with time and are replaced with loving smiles and new company. Those people who went out of their way to hurt you so much will become entirely irrelevant, and all of your heartbreak will make you stronger. Despite what everyone around you is saying, you do not need a boy in your life at this very moment. It will take you years to find out that you really are beautiful, but you will find that out on your own.

Contrary to your belief, in a few months, you will make friends. Friends that will defend you and will be there when you're life is absolutely torn apart. Friends that you will miss when they are hours from where you are, but are just a call away. If there is anything that I must urge you to do, it is to walk through those halls with pride because those four years will be some of the best ones of your life. Some time from now, you will look back at those red and blue banners wishing you would have appreciated them more. In just a few short years you will walk across that stage, claim your diploma and smile. Trust me, you'll make it through.

Love,