We can all agree quarantine wasn’t easy for most of us, especially for someone like me, a freshman starting high school on Zoom in 2020. I attended school in Harlem called Democracy Prep High School, but quarantine brought out the worst in me. I started missing class meetings, ignoring assignments, and falling into a routine of doing absolutely nothing productive. Instead, I mindlessly scrolled through social media, not realizing the damage I was doing to myself. I’d stay up late binge, watching YouTube videos, telling myself, “I’ll do it later. They’ll pass me to the next grade, regardless.” It was like I was living in a bubble, completely disconnected from the real world and the future I was supposed to be preparing for. The laziness, the unmotivated days. I thought quarantine would last forever.
Then came September 6, 2021. The world was starting to open back up, and it was my first day of in-person classes. I wore my gray dress pants and my navy blue collared uniform shirt with the yellow dragon logo on the left side. I remember sitting on the train, fidgeting with my hands, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone, my nerves eating at me. The train’s metallic screech as we approached the 125th Street stop only made my anxiety worse. Walking into Democracy Prep High School for the first time felt surreal. The blood like red carpet in the auditorium was unfamiliar, and the air was filled with nervous energy by everyone. We had to sit six feet apart, according to Mr. Daniel, our principal, and the space between each seat only heightened the awkwardness of the moment. As I sat there waiting for the announcements to begin to see which homeroom I’ll be in, I was still confident I’d be moving to 10th grade. After all, why wouldn’t they pass me? I had convinced myself that everything would just fall into place. But reality hit hard when I found out I’d be repeating 9th grade in the same homeroom 305 as last year on zoom.
That realization felt like a punch to the gut, but it didn’t fully sink in until later that evening. After school a long, quiet walk home, I found myself on a video call with Amina my girlfriend at the time. I tried to brush off the whole repeating 9th grade thing and asked her about her day…
The imagery you provide in a couple paragraphs is amazing. It’s really easy to feel empathy will the relatable and/or gut-wrenching details. I also experienced a nasty downfall in 2020, so yeah, I agree it was rough. This is so good, can’t wait to see the rest of it.
VERY GOOD start! Lots of good CSD! Good writing.
You give me a look into what it was like for students like you to jump from quarantine school with social media as your “life” — to — that day of back to school post=quarantine=weirdness. This shows the reason you were in an apathetic state of mind as you returned to real school.
I like how you then move straight to the main focus of your story here — how your relationship with Amina will change you.