"I wish I could go back to middle school," said no one ever.
It's inevitable. From the time we start preschool as the cutest little kids, we are destined for the path that leads to high school, college, and eventually a job. Basically, the cycle of life. However, this cycle would not be complete without those two-to-three years in between elementary and high school, a.k.a: "junior high," "middle school," and, my personal favorite, "the awkward years."
Braces-filled mouths, acne-prone skin, lockers, switching classrooms...the biggest transition any average 12-year-old has experienced in his/her life so far, and possibly the one they may repress the most memories from.
To say my middle school memories make me laugh is an understatement, some of them make me "ROTFL" (roll on the floor laughing, in case you forgot) because I just want to go back, walk up to myself and ask, "why?" Why did I think I was the greatest thing since sliced bread at the mere age of 13? Well, if you asked myself in seventh grade it was definitely because I could rap the rap section of "Beautiful" by Akon. Where is Akon "Right Now (Na Na Na)?" Yeah, I would like to know the answer to that too.
Even though it may be embarrassing for pretty much everyone, and if you're thinking to yourself, "Oh I'm not embarrassed of myself in middle school!," go look at your yearbook and then come back. I don't think a little walk down memory lane ever hurts anyone! Our parents warned us that we would laugh at our ridiculous ways one day. Well, congratulations that day is today.
Two words: Abercrombie & Fitch (for kids).
I still have no idea why a moose, eagle, or bird emblem on the corner of my shirts made me "cool," but if you didn't shop at Hollister, American Eagle, or Abercrombie in seventh and eighth grade then there was something seriously wrong with your wardrobe. Even worse than this fashion fad was the layers. Don't get me started on the layers...it is one thing to wear those "not-really-t-shirt" t-shirts, but was it really necessary to wear a lace colored cami underneath? No, absolutely not. But, according to me back then you couldn't wear one of those shirts without layering it! They say that everything eventually comes back into style, and I can guarantee I am not the only one who hopes that this is one style that never makes a comeback. But...if it does I still, unfortunately, have plenty of shirts.
"Will you go out with me?"
That question should be rephrased to: "will you be considered my 'girlfriend,' but never: talk to me, sit by me at lunch, or act like you like me?" And yes, you are welcome for forcing you to remember your girlfriend(s)/boyfriend(s) from middle school. Thank goodness we matured and got over our fears of talking to our significant others because those were some awkward times. Am I right or am I right? I'm right. As awkward as it is though, middle school would not be the same without the "so-and-so has a crush on you," or "who do you like?" notes passed during class. And oh we cannot forget my personal favorite, the boy who would never ask or pass the note himself, it was always one of his friends. Ah, young love, gotta love it even in its most awkward forms.
The Swoosh.
It is necessary to thank a certain celebrity who peaked in the 2008-2010 middle school era, Justin Bieber. I don't know why your long hair, that touched your eyelashes, became the only ideal hairstyle for a boy in middle school but it certainly did. Around every corner a boy could be spotted doing the "swoosh." You remember it, that hair flip boys would do at least 50 times a day? Maybe even 50 times in one class period? Yeah, you remember it. And boys, please don't try to deny it. We all saw you. I don't know why, but it seems that every boy has to go through a "long hair" phase, and it usually happens in middle school. Then again it seems to be the "frat" thing to do these days, but hey guys, the swoosh is not frat. There are certain things that belong strictly in middle school, and that is definitely one of them.
Sup?
Nm. U?
End of conversation. We went to school in order to learn proper English, yet we all refused to use it when we talked, oh I'm sorry, I meant texted each other. Lol, gtg, lmao, brb, ttyl, lylas, ily, omg, nm, and there's probably more I'm missing, but our middle school text vocabulary was quite extensive. Why we felt the need to have innocent meaningless conversations with our friends I have no idea, but it makes for a nice joke now. Also, just to make us all feel like we have actually grown up, iPhones weren't even a thing when we went through middle school. Our first phones were those lovely Razors, Sidekicks, flip and slide up phones, and if you were lucky then you had an iPod touch that you could play games on because let's be honest, Angry Birds is so much more fun than Tetris. These days it's a tragedy if you're in middle school and don't have an iPhone, but even with the autocorrect built into the keyboard, the text language lives on. LIK OMG IDK LOL GTG TTYL!!!!
"Whatcha Say?" The soundtrack of middle school was "Burnin' Up" "Stronger" than "Dynamite"? "Yeah!" "Crank that."
Taylor Swift, Jason Derulo, Chris Brown, J. Biebs, Black Eyed Peas, Nelly, Sean Kingston, Soulja Boy, Kanye West, and shoutout to my fave Akon, still wondering where you went buddy. But I would just like to thank all these artists for providing the background music to my tween years. It wouldn't have been the same without you. Of course there are more artists who topped the charts of pop music during those years, for example LMFAO, The Jonas Brothers (yes, One Direction, there was another boy band before you), Miley before-the-wrecking-ball-hit-her Cyrus, and who could forget Ke$ha's "Tik Tok" and Katy Perry's "I Kissed A Girl." Those are some of the great sounds of our adolescence folks. Now, if you could please take a moment to remember:
All the dances created with your friends at sleepovers.
The contents of your first iPod.
How awesome you felt listening to "All I Do is Win" (admit it, we all did).
These songs cannot help but bring back memories made over the years, no matter how embarrassing, because at one point you thought it was the funniest thing in the world. Let's be honest though, it probably was and still is hilarious.
It's safe to say that without those years we would not be the "adults" we are today. Middle school is a time for embarrassment, it's inevitable, but it's also a time where we begin to grow into our true character, some better than others. Regardless, we all find our place and our group. From personal experience, even though I went to a completely different high school, four years was no match on friendships formed in those lovely junior high days.
Today, we laugh even harder when we talk about the guy who wrote notes to every single one of us in seventh grade saying that he had a "crush" on us. And for those of you who knew us in middle school, it is definitely safe to say that we are just as weird as you remember. In fact, we're probably weirder because throughout our journey on the cycle of life we realized: weird is rad and it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.
Oh! One more thing and then you can get off this torturous memory lane:
Akon recently released his new album called "Stadium," featuring five different genres of music and he also created the organization Akon: Lighting Africa. You're welcome.
