One day, you are a high school freshman. You did it -- survived the awkward years of middle school. Now you are in the big leagues. You go to school on the first day, carrying all of your freshly organized binders with your mechanical pencils, erasers, and pens in a pencil pouch. You cannot drive, so someone drives you or you take the bus. You walk in and realize everyone else is so mature. Why do the boys have facial hair? Why do the girls look so old? Where is your class? You make it to your first period and sit down. Your teacher hands you a syllabus and tells you that the four years of high school go by quickly… but you don’t believe them, because even the thought of the next three day weekend seems ages away. You are sitting in the stands on Friday nights, cheering on your school’s football team, but you still do not feel like you are supposed to be there. First semester ends and you are home for winter break, answering questions about your first semester. You do not remember what happened specifically, only emotions of what had been a drastic change from middle school. Second semester starts and you are back to the routine again, yet you slowly stop feeling like an outsider. The upperclassmen seem to warm up to you and you start to figure out how to study. Then, just like that, the bell rings on the last day of school on a hot May afternoon. You (just barely) survived your first year of high school and you are so glad that it is finally summer.

Then one day you are a high school sophomore. Where did the summer go? Thank goodness you are not a freshman anymore, right? There is a new crop of babies to make fun of, and maybe you abuse your status as a “not-freshman” a little more than you care to admit. You actually know your way around school, no longer confused or lost. You start taking harder classes -- an AP or two, start considering a life outside of the four droning years that you are only a quarter of the way through with, and start getting more comfortable with the older kids. Halfway through first semester, you wish that you had listened to the upperclassman that told you not to take that difficult course load. You realize just how much time that you have left before Thanksgiving and winter break. Can you make it? Probably not in one piece, but somehow you do. Just like all breaks, those fly by and before you know it you’re sitting in a desk listening to a teacher speak about a subject that you couldn’t care less about and using a formula that you forgot.

Suddenly you are a high school junior. Where did the time go? You are finally starting the second half of what seems like the most endless four years of your life. Your parents start pushing “college this” and “college that” and you are spending too many of your Saturday mornings taking the SAT or the ACT. You watch the seniors, jealous that they are almost out of there. You drool over the word graduation, wishing that you were done and on your way to better places. You are finally an upperclassman and as you walk through the hallways, you recognize less and less of the faces you see. Everything about high school starts to annoy you more than usual -- people walk too slow, talk too loud, and try too hard. You have too much homework and you stay up late to do it the night before a huge test. Most of your assignments become a group effort as you struggle to make it through one of the hardest years together. Everyday you do the same thing and you grow tired of your routine. First semester ends and you think that you may just be able to make it to summer before you completely lose your mind, but you are honestly not sure. Time seems like it is flying. Christmas, Valentines Day, spring break and Mother’s Day all go by and before you know it, you are dressed up to go to prom with your group of friends. You take your AP exams and finals, and then breathe a huge sigh of relief as you walk out of school on the last day. You watch all of your senior friends pack up and go off to different schools, say goodbye to them, and shed a few tears. They tell you that senior year goes by in the blink of an eye and to enjoy every minute of it while you can. You wonder how that is possible when the past three years seem like a lifetime.

Then you are the high school senior and everything becomes a last. Your last first day of school, last football season, and senior night come too quickly. You go to homecoming for the last time, but you remember the other three so clearly. You realize it is the last Halloween with your friends and at that time the next year, you and all your friends will be dressed up for parties at different colleges. You start to see your life in terms of deadlines -- when your college applications are due, when you need your teacher recommendations, and when you have to apply for scholarships. Adults that you barely know ask you about your life plans, but you’re only 17 or 18 years old and kindergarten feels like yesterday. Then it is time for early decisions to come out and the people that you have been going to school with for years commit to different colleges around the country and you wonder if you’ll see any familiar faces next year. You continue to go through the motions, because your classes are hard, but your motivation has changed. You slowly stop caring about grades -- you just want to make it out of senior year in one piece. After taking your final exams after the end of first semester, you come to the conclusion that wishing that high school would go by faster might have been a mistake. You would give anything to have more time with your friends, you don’t know what you’re going to do without your dog next year, and how will you survive a rough day without your parents’ comforting hugs?

Then there is one semester left. You sit in class wondering what the hell happened and how you are almost finished. At one point in time it seemed as though you had all the time in the world, but now you have a countdown to graduation and the days are numbered. The senioritis has hits you hard. You’re into some colleges already and the class rank is essentially set. You wonder why the teachers are still trying to make you work. Everyday you walk through the hallway, past that one couple who shows too much PDA and you can’t wait to go to college, but at the same time you totally can. You probably stopped trying to look decent at school a while ago, because everyone already knows you, you forget assignments, and you have your sights on better things. Progress reports come out, you sign up for AP exams with the knowledge that you most likely will not study for them, and your mom buys you college T-shirts because you finally know where you’re going for the next four years. Then it’s spring break, the weather is warm, and the boys start asking girls to prom. You stand with your friends all dressed up at your picture party and take the pictures that will line your dorm room walls, because it is one of the last times that you and all your friends will be together. Then it is May, and you have graduation parties every weekend. Everyone keeps asking you if you are ready for college. You answer yes, but the truth is that you do not know. You realize that high school was not as bad as you made it seem and you laugh at your past self for stressing out for no reason. At graduation, the valedictorian gives a speech that almost makes you cry. You walk on the stage to get your diploma, shake the principal’s hand, pose for a picture, walk off the stage, and just like that, you are done. Your entire education has led to a five second moment that your mom will hang on the wall in your living room.

As you say goodbye to your friends and head for the parking lot to go home, you recognize the fact that you will never see a majority of your classmates again. You wonder where the time went, how you got so old, and what you are going to do now. You wish that you could go back and do the good parts of high school over again, had more time with the new friends that you made this year, and kept in better touch with the old friends that you grew apart from. The four years of your life that used to be in front of you have somehow ended up in your past. The years may have felt like a never-ending roller coaster ride, but now you think of all the memories and can’t remember what happened freshman or sophomore year because the years are blurred together.

To those wishing their high school years away, don’t. One day you have 720 days until graduation, but then you blink and that number has dropped to 50. Before you know it you are on your way home from graduation wondering where time goes and realizing that you wished it all away.