Many things took a heavy toll on me. I wasn’t paying attention in class and lacked school work. Consequences started building up. My friends and I were talking about how we wanted to make plans the day of because we usually go out every Friday as a group. I had four friends, Latrell, Claudio, Kaelin, and Imani. “Let’s go to the city to get Chick Fil A, I’ve been wanting to go there for a while!” Imani said with excitement. “Does it look like we got Chick Fil A money Imani?” Latrell said with concern. We all knew he was joking. He was the one that always made us laugh in the group. We eventually stuck to Wendy’s just because of their 4 for 4 meal. They call it that because it is 4 items for $4. We kept chatting until my councilor came in to remove students one by one although I didn’t know the reasoning behind it yet. Eventually my councilor approached me while I was chatting with my friends. This little meeting was made for her to address my lack in school. “Hey Bri, how was your day? How do you feel like you’re doing in school so far?” she asked pleasingly. I knew I wasn’t doing too great in school, but that wasn’t something I wanted to remark out loud. “Good,” I replied. The vibe was already off. I knew what was going to be expected. “So your grades indicate that you’re at high risk of not being able to graduate. In order for you to graduate, you have to take 2 online courses in a span of one week.” One week?! Change had to happen and fast. I felt so discouraged hearing that but I had to do what I had to do to graduate because nobody else is going to do it for me. Now is where I had to focus this week because I didn’t want to feel ashamed being 19 in high school. “I’ll manage to finish it on time,” I declared with confidence. I knew that I couldn’t accept failure. It wouldn’t be a good reputation on my behalf. “I believe that you’re able to finish it,” she said proudly.
