Ahh middle school. The best of times, and the worst of times. Okay, mainly the worst of times, but on the plus side, most of us didn’t realize how awkward we were until years later. In the moment, we thought we were the coolest kids sporting green polos with awful blue pants. El Rancho was special in its own way, and it left us with memories we will never forget.

1. One dollar rice.

The only thing that kept us going through the day was the promise of subpar sometimes cold fried rice down the street. It only cost a dollar, which was wonderful for our middle school income.

2. Lip gloss.

Anyone else remember pulling out their mirrors in the middle of nutrition and reapplying their lip gloss? Please, somebody else remember this so it wasn’t just me.

3. Juicy Charm Bracelets.

Because having giant chunks of gold and tacky charms on your wrist was cute?

4. Fashion Q.

In order to break free from the baggy El Rancho pants, the school actually let you buy these skinny pants from an interesting store at the Orange mall. Such class.

4. The Coyote.

Goal: Make friends with the T.A., and he’ll let you change your mile time.

5. Silly Bandz.

We traded them like Pokemon cards and wore them all up our arms. Kandi in the making.

6. Hugging.

This probably happened at every middle school, but why was hugging such a big deal? If a boy that I liked hugged me, then I would think about it for the next week.

7. Giant earrings and crazy eyeshadow.

We had to dress up our uniforms somehow. Oh, and if you didn’t own a zebra belt from Tilly’s, then you didn’t know style.

8. Fun electives.

I thought that in high school I would be able to take cool classes like on T.V. Nope. Luckily, El Rancho let me bake any food item imaginable out of biscuit dough, saw a gum ball machine, learn how to type in Mr. Coffee’s (I think his name was spelled differently) class, and get yelled at for being a horrible artist in beginner’s art.

9. Musical Theatre was intense.

With after school practices going until seven, the dinner show was pretty spectacular. Well, as good as it can get for middle school.

10. The Mr. Evans scandal.

One of the most gossiped about events in Anaheim Hills for a hot second.

11. Rebecca Black.

You never understood the hype about Rebecca Black considering you knew her as normal person at El Rancho. Most likely, you were one of the first people to view "Friday" and still don't get how it got so popular.

12. “Make it a great day, or not, the choice is yours…”