A change i didn't expect

By: Claire Bott

Starting my high school years was rough. From transitioning into a new campus and trying to figure out which crowd to hang out with was harder than I expected. I started my high school journey in 2023 with 2 of my best friends from middle school. They were good role models, straight A students, perfect attendance and also in AP classes, all of that. I really thought I’d end up like them. But just talking to one wrong person pushed me into the opposite direction, and by the end of freshman year I was already slipping.

Sophomore year was when things turned a different way. I started hanging out with people who were always skipping class, smoking, drinking and doing stuff that wasn't even fun in the long run. They were always relaxed and never stressed about grades or anything, so they were easy to be around and I thought being with them would make things feel easier for me too.

I was barely coming to school at one point. Every day felt like the same cycle of getting in trouble at home or at school. Back then I thought that meant I was “living life”, like leaving or hanging out with people I thought made me cool. In reality I was just 15 years old thinking everything was fine not noticing how people were taking advantage of me and how fast I was losing myself. 

At some point in my sophomore year I honestly stopped caring about anything. I didn't care about school, my family or even myself. I was in that “idc” mind everyday, like my life was already ruined at 15. I felt like I had already thrown everything away because of problems with cops, school, and just life in general. 

Then near the end of sophomore year, I met someone who didn't even realize they were going to change my life. It happened in a sudden way. 

School was going to be out in two weeks. Hanging out in the same spots side by side lets us connect one random day by asking for each other's instagrams. He was about to graduate high school so I didn't expect us to become close but something stood out. 

Talking to him was actually challenging because he was new to america and we had to use google translate just to understand each other. But somehow that made our connection stronger. He was shy, didn't have many friends and he was nervous about school because he barely understood english. We kind of helped each other out right from the start without even trying.  

That's when things started to turn around. I slowly cut off the people who were dragging me down. I started going back to school more and actually wanting to show up. I didn't need to be out or smoking anymore to feel okay. For the first time in a long time, I felt real happiness. Like my life wasn't over at all, it just was the beginning of something new. 

Ever since meeting my best friend my life has been a whole 360. I started focusing on school. I've felt joy without needing to escape my problems. I felt cared about. And I finally realized I can change, not just for myself but for my family and people that care about me.