Coming from a small Catholic school where the largest class was 28 students, my first day in Wall High School (average class size 300) was somewhat of a culture shock…

…And there I was, diligently writing away my new teacher’s new rules when a screeching, jarring sound rippled through the air. I looked up a bit confused and saw kids filing out the door and I immediately remembered the TV shows where the bell signaled an orderly transition from class to class. I went out the door and checked my planner for the next class. Guitar, room A-2. I looked back at the shutting history door. D-9. Where was A-2? I took a step and a fat guy bulldozed straight through me. I started to realize then just how many kids were in the hallway. My eyes widened in horror as I saw a wave of wild kids swell up in size and roll straight towards me. There was no time to gawk so I dove right in, dodging elbows left and right. I was moving fast now. There wouldn’t be much time before the bell would ring again. Then, someone clipped my tail and I fell helplessly forward into the rear of another passersby. The guy didn’t even flinch! He’d taken it like it was natural! I picked myself up and resumed my straight away course, but knew something was wrong when the flow of traffic slowed down. We were coming up to an intersection – an intersection known for disaster. I saw three collide and go down within the span of ten seconds, a fourth had mistakenly bent down to tie his shoe and was pounded into the tile. I, on the other hand, struggled and fought the tide but the rip current was too strong and I was inevitably sucked into the very vertex of the calamity. Feeling the desperate pushing, shoving, clawing, and pinching of the other four unlucky freshmen trapped in school’s central core, I knew there was only one way out. With a tremendous surge of energy I throttled my way out feeling as though I was bridging a gap between Heaven and Hell. Human bodies flew past my windshield because nothing else mattered – I had to get to class. The congestion finally began to let up another thirty meters or so and I was back on the highway pushing ninety. The exit signs kept flashing past my eyes…A-13…A-11…A-12…A-10…There had to be seconds left…A-9…A-7…A-8…A-6…”C’mon, c’mon!”…A-4…A-3…THE BELL! I whip-lashed my snake-like body and lurched towards A-2 but recoiled when three others beat me to it. I clung onto some guy’s back and we imploded into the classroom just as the bell ended.



And this was only the beginning…