True friends are friends that are honest with you. Friends that will stick by you in a tough crisis. Friends that will forgive you for big mistakes and friends that love you no matter what.  

I have had many fake friends before. Some wanted to be friends to cheat off of my schoolwork, some only talked to me when their other friends weren’t around, and others stabbed me in the back whenever they felt like it.  No matter who I became friends with they always wanted something. I grew so tired of being tossed around, not knowing who was going to use me as a “friend”.

These were people I did not want to associate with.  Luckily, I already had two very close friends joining me from middle school.  Through freshman year, I do believe that our bond grew stronger. I love them very much and even though we have our own ideas we can find common ground.  We all have different strengths, but we do not get jealous of each others gifts. Instead we know we are stronger together. They are some of the only people I feel most comfortable around. 

Everyone has acquaintances and friends, but it is those special, amazing friends we hold close.  I am so glad to have people I know that I can call my “Best Friends”. 

“THIS IS SPARTA”, my history teacher roared.  My sleepy self woke up in paralised terror wondering, “Is this how my sophomore year of highschool is going to go?”  Well, so far the first six weeks have been filled with a lot of ups and downs.

“Hey, Elana”, I hear a familiar voice call. Turning around, my spirits lift when I see my friends. I am so thankful for all of them.  Throughout this past six weeks they have helped me learn that grades are not the measure of my worth.  

Another recent highlight has been the focus in our English class.  One of the things I enjoy researching is different people’s perspectives.  That is why I like the fact that in English class we read books by authors I have never heard of.  Seeing how one person describes this character’s actions as brave while another views it as selfish really peaks my interest. 

People usually are not able to pick this up from my shy, quiet persona, but I love to present and act.  This year I am lucky enough to fit a business class, which is “project intensive” into my schedule.  I don’t know why, but presenting a speech in front of people is so much fun to me!  Last week I did my first speech project for business and absolutely crushed it.  I loved every minute of it!

Something I learned last year from my ninth grade classes was – if I am going to like a class, I have to like the teacher.  A perfect example is my ninth grade history class versus my tenth grade history class.  My freshman year of history was the worst for me. Class consisted mostly of note-taking and it was very study intensive.  However, this year my history teacher teaches the lesson with a lot of enthusiasm, and I can easily forget I am even taking notes.

Although I know every high has a low and school is not all sunshine and rainbows, it was hard for me to start off with so much homework.  The beginning of the school year felt like a rollercoaster going from zero to sixty. There was homework and projects every day on top of tests every week. No room to breathe, no room for goofing off.  Just school, homework and sleep. If I finished all my work, then repeat. Some nights I went to bed at 2am. Stress on top of stress and then at the end of a hard day at school, I had to be ready to go play my best volleyball.  

At the end of the day, I am lucky to get a good education. Although it may be rough from time to time, I know if I can push through I will be stronger on the other side.  Looking forward to the next six weeks, I know there will be more challenges and struggles. I just need to be patient and take care of myself.

Consequences are a result or an effect of an action or condition.  We have all had consequences following our actions, whether they are good consequences or bad consequences.  There is one specific memory that comes to mind when I think about how an action affected me. 

It started on the first day of school and I was on my way to seventh period. While I was in the locker room changing into my clothes for volleyball, I put my school bag in the bottom locker with no lock on it. I did not think twice about my bag not being locked up and ran off to volleyball.  Later in volleyball, our Coach told us to tell our parents that practice will end early. Our pack of volleyball girls ran into the locker room to get to our phones. I opened my school bag and to my surprise I could not find my phone. Dumbfounded, I looked through my bag over and over and could not find it. 

 After practice I went home not knowing where my phone was.  My parents tried to help me track it, but it didn’t make a difference.  It was lost. I felt a sense of shame rising in me. Everyday I would hear, “Hey, I texted you, why didn’t you answer me?” In a fake cheerful tone I would respond, “ Oh, well I lost my phone.”  It didn’t help that people knew me as the “responsible one”, so I would get cheerful mocking about not having a phone. My father thought this was extremely funny and would tell everyone to remember their phones, while he looked at me with a childish smile.

One thing that this mistake did open my eyes to, is that my consequences did not affect just me, but everyone around me.  When I did not have my phone, my parents said it was a punishment to them too, because they wanted to text me and know that I am safe.  From this accident, I learned to pay more attention to where I put my stuff and being cognizant of how my choices affect everyone.

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

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