As the last few weeks of my high school career tick by, I can’t help but feel a mix of nostalgia and disappointment. My mind keeps replaying memories from the last four years, from the time I almost failed drivers' ed to the time I did an entire play blindfolded. Each of the remaining days of school I walk by my old classrooms wearing my rose colored glasses thinking, “Aw, remember when?” But amidst my memories, both good and bad, I can’t help but feel a slight sting of disappointment. High school wasn’t what I expected it to be. I didn’t ever get to sing about my feelings. I never met the love of my life over winter break. I didn’t even get to work at a prestigious country club as my summer job. I sure as hell won’t be doing a choreographed dance with my entire senior class after graduation. "High School Musical" lied to each and every one of us!

It’s no secret that Disney set us all up for exceptionally high expectations with their movies. I can’t be the only one who had dreams of being a princess because of their franchise. I was terribly let down when my toys didn’t talk to each other and form secret bonds. And I’ll admit, I was devastated that there weren’t any friendly monsters living in my closet. But nothing can match the amount of disappointment I felt inside, when I realized that "High School Musical" was a total hoax. Sure, I wasn’t expecting there to be musical numbers with insanely synchronized choreography in between classes, but damn there was absolutely no singing. I took chorus for a year and we sang less in that class, than they did in just one of the "High School Musical" movies. And believe me, I tried to get a rousing chorus of “Stick to the Status Quo” going during lunch, not a single person joined in. And can we talk about how these kids would always stand on their lunch tables? I personally witnessed kids at my school being forcibly removed from the cafeteria for even standing on a chair.

Another lie this beloved movie told us was having access to every part of the school...at any hour of the day. Troy and Gabriella were always on the roof of East High. I have never been to the roof at my school. I couldn’t even tell you how to get up there. Also, in the third movie, Troy was singing about his dreams at what could only be assumed to be around midnight. Midnight? Now if I tried to pull that, I would end up on Wake County mugshots! The kids of East High ran that school. They seemed to have the “all access pass." However at my school, I basically need a letter of recommendation and a check for 50 dollars just to get a bathroom pass.

One of the biggest lies has to be lockers. No one uses them. No one hangs pictures of their boyfriends in them. No one has a locker that is as big as they are. And I’d put a hefty bet on the fact that most people don’t even know how to work one of those combination locks. Let us not forget Sharpay’s attitude problem. She was able to mouth off to teachers and nothing happened to her. I could roll my eyes and my ass would be in lunch detention in a nano second. Ever seen a kid wearing a fedora or any other type of hat in the school halls? No. Because we don’t all go to East High and none of us are Ryan Evans. "High School Musical" gave me the unrealistic expectation that I would learn all my classmates’ secrets. I never did hear a public confession from anyone. No one told of their secret cello playing, their love for baking, or even how they like to “pop, lock, jam, and break!”

The thing that gets me the most about high school is that as much as "High School Musical" portrays it to be, we aren’t all in this together! At East High, everyone seemed to know each other well enough to do group sing a longs at the drop of a hat. My graduating class is almost 600 people. I don’t even know these people well enough to say “bless you” when they sneeze in class let alone harmonize with them. In "High School Musical," everyone at East High was bonded by their school spirit and respect for each other. Not so much in real life. In real life, we have no respect for each other, and our bond begins at the fact that we all attend the same school and ends with the fact that we all attend the same school.

I’m not saying I don’t love "High School Musical," and I’m definitely not saying that I don’t have the words to every song committed to memory. All I’m saying is that at no point in time did my classmates, and I throw our papers in the air simultaneously while singing about how excited we are for summer vacation.