Tower High and Touch The Sky

Date: 7/21/2018

It was a summer day at school, mid July I’d say. School was out, but we were in the cafeteria due to orientation for the new school year. The place looked a little bit like the JMU cafeteria, except without all the food and the ceilings were closed to the ground. I also remember there being something like upside down ramps and a bunch of triangles built in to the ceiling, making it uneven. There were boxes upon boxes sitting on leather pullout chair and tables, with a large letter on the side showing who’s schedule it was holding. I remember showing up with my best friend, worried upon seeing so many boxes thinking that it would take hours just to take through all the schedules. We figure out from our friend who’s already there that our schedules are organized by last name, so we go our own ways, her looking for a box with the letter M while I look for one with a V. My eyes were raking through every box until I got tired, so I went to a table in the middle of the room where many friends and acquaintances were. We chatted for a bit until we we saw our former 7th grade English teacher, and we all yelled out his name in surprise. While everyone was shouting his actual name, I was yelling,”Mr.Rojo!” Rojo mean red in Spanish, if you didn’t know already. It was a nickname he gained cause of his red hair, red shirts, and also due to the exact that his last name is Redd. He jokingly ran around the table as we tried to hug him, which he didn’t let us cause he was holding coffee. Suddenly, I hear a voice from behind me playfully saying,”Wow you took away all the love that my kids gave me.” I turn around and I’m met by Mr.M who is grinning at all of us, and everyone is looking elated that our favorite teachers were with us. I sit down at the table, fidgeting with my fingers as I complain to Mr.Redd about not wanting to do another year of Shakespeare, and I hear a bunch of giggles behind me, which I first ignore until Mr.Redd starts to look over my shoulder and smiling himself. I turn around, and see Mr.M trying to reach the ceiling with my balsa wood tower that I made in tech ed years ago. He’s giving me a mischievous smile, and I look around for another tower, find one, and stand on a chair as I’m able to touch the ceiling with it. One of my friends said,”Alright McMickey she already won, get off your high horse.” He said something like,”Alright if you guys need me I’ll be over there.” He left and sat on an empty leather chair, leaving me wondering where the hell my schedule was. I looked around defeatedly one last time and see that the box with a V is right across from Mr.M and walk over. He’s sprawled out with his phone in his hand, and I take out the orange folder from the box. I recall finding a schedule that was supposed to be for me, but it had my name crossed out and instead had my best friends name on it, which I found strange. I also remember here being a separate sheet for me with a bunch of small and colored pie graphs with the percentage of me getting my desired electives. I’m a fine arts kid, so I immediately grin when I see hat there was a 99% chance of me getting piano and theater arts. I sigh when I don’t find my schedule and hear Mr.M say,”What’s up?” I dejectedly answered with,”I can’t find my damn schedule.” I show him the schedule from where I sit and he looks up from his phone, a raised eyebrow as he’s confused why I’m showing him a schedule. “It had my name on it, it’s crossed out, but those are the classes I’m supposed to be taking,” I had explained. I don’t know why but then after just simply talking to him I guess the prospect of finding my schedule didn’t matter anymore as I lay on the couch across from him, groaning. I composed myself before continuing,”God I’m not ready for so many AP classes, did you take any AP classes?” “No I didn’t, I’m not insane,” he said, which received a glare from me. Lastly, I remember him saying,”No matter how many AP classes you take, you’re gonna be fine.”