“Oh no” I heard a kid say, “It's raining!”. 

I looked at him, then back at my phone. The screen was soaked, as was my brand new jacket. 

“Everyone come inside,” a teacher demanded. We all ran, all the students stampeded through the crowd trying to get inside. Was I one of these students? Damn right I was!

I was wearing my new jacket, which had no hoodie as a matter of fact. Why wouldn't I be running like I was about to die? 

We all made it inside about a minute later and  upon entering, the teachers directed us towards the gym. They told us to go and eat there. 

I walked in, and there was nothing. By that I mean no tables, no chairs, nothing. “Sit down and eat,” someone said, “once you are all done, we will try to go outside again. It doesn't seem like it will rain for long. Besides, we have set up an obstacle course for you guys”. 

An obstacle course? Crap, what could I do? I already knew the obstacle course would be lame so doing it was not something I was interested in. 

The best option would be to get to my mom who was still spamming me. If I could get to her, I could eat peacefully and I would be able to ditch the obstacle course. But how? 

All of a sudden, a boy got up and walked over to the grade twelve student who was guiding us from before. 

I moved in closer and heard him talking, he was telling her he wanted to go home to eat. 

And she said yes! She actually said yes, I thought we were being forced to eat their burgers. As soon as he was about to leave, I jumped in and told the twelfth grader I needed to leave as well. She nodded and led us both outside. 

Finally, I saw my mom waiting for me. I ran over to her and threw the burger given to me in the back. 

My mom handed me the burger she got me and told me to eat up. I gratefully did what she told me and enjoyed. At that point, I thought everything would be ok. Maybe the bad things were behind me. 

“Alright, I have to go home now. Go back to school” my mom told me. 

And with that, everything went wrong. It had only been twenty minutes since lunch had begun. 

If I went back now, I would have to do the obstacle course. Even worse, I would have to get back to the gym. How was I supposed to find it? Someone helped me get out the building before, how would I find the gym? 

I didn't know the room number or anything! I tried explaining this all to my mom but she didn't listen. 

She said she was busy. And with that, I was standing in front of my high school, with forty minutes left before lunch ended. 

Yep, I took a deep breath and walked in. I was worried, how would I find the gym on my own? 

How dumb would I look wandering around the school with no idea whatsoever of where to go? It would be pretty weird, but I had no choice. So, I turned left and started walking. 

I was about to walk through the entire hallway but for some reason, halfway through, I had the sudden urge to turn around. Thus, I did. What did I see? Something that dropped my jaw. It was the gym! 

On the end of the right hallway was the massive entrance leading towards the gym! I knew it was the right place because I remembered the gym being painted with a pretty big design surrounding the wall. 

I was now seeing the same design! Yea, I would have to do the obstacle course but at least I wouldn't be wandering around like a maniac. 

I ran straight down the hallway, in a matter of seconds I was staring at the door. I smiled and opened it. Silence. 

I looked around and saw nothing. Absolutely nothing. There was no one there. The place was literally empty! Now I was awkwardly standing in front of the very place I was desperate to find with no one else there. I was screwed, again. Where were all the kids with me? 

Did they go outside? They had to, it was the only place, right? I didn't know, but I didn't care. I ran past the gym and to the exit.

I stepped outside and noticed somehow the grass wasn't wet. Unfortunately that wasn't all I noticed, turns out not a single student was outside.

But if that was the case, where the heck were they? What was I supposed to do? “Alright don't panic, think!” I told myself. 

That's when it hit me, I could ask the people in the office! Yea, that was the best solution. Luckily I knew where the office was, I had seen it a few times. 

So, without further delay, I ran over and walked in. I looked around to see about four people sitting by desks all located on different ends of the room. 

There was one student there as well, desperate with no ideas left, I walked over to a lady sitting down and asked her the question.

“Um, excuse me. Where are the grade nine students?”. 

The lady looked up at me, her glasses while sliding down her nose as she gave me what felt like a death stare. 

“They are all outside,” she answered. 

I nodded and walked out the office. Outside? Outside? What a cap! I had just been there! Still, I decided to go check again anyway.

It's not like I had a better plan, sadly. I forced myself to walk out the back exit, once outside, I looked around. 

Yea, no one was there. I turned around to walk back inside when suddenly, I heard a kid talking. 

Of course, hearing this I curiously walked up a bit more. Once my head was locked in the right position, I saw what I was looking for. 

There were about four students all chilling talking to each other! Amongst them was one of my old friends I had met in elementary, everything was just perfect! I rushed over to them and asked them where my group was.

“I don't know,” my friend replied. 

A sigh of disappointment escaped my mouth, I was really hoping he would know where they were. Still, I now knew where all the grade nine students were, now I would just have to find my group. 

So, that's what I attempted. I walked forward even more looking everywhere. But I couldnt find them, I didn't even know where to look. And in a final attempt, I walked over to a teacher and asked her. 

“Hey I was with my group earlier but I got lost. Do you know where I can find them?”. 

The teacher nodded, “what color shirt are they wearing?” she asked.

I shook my head, what did she mean what color shirt were they wearing? How was I supposed to know that? 

“We gave all the students shirts in the morning, what color was the shirt your class got?”.

It was like something lit up inside my head as soon as she spoke those words. I now remembered what tshirts she was talking about, they were the ones we received in the morning. 

“Oh the color is turquoise,” I responded. She nodded and began looking around. To pass time, I did the same with almost little to no expectation of finding my group. 

But, I guess miracles do happen. Because as I looked inside the huge soccer field, there they were! My group, none of them were wearing their shirts, and I mean none of them.

But I remembered a few faces, I knew it was them. I told the teacher I found them and she told me to go meetup with them. 

Doing exactly that, I went over and lined up beside the other kids. As I was doing that, my stress was just melting away. 

I had found who I was looking for, and now I wasn’t desperately freaking out. The old man walking with us from earlier stepped in front of us and began talking.

“So, it's time for the obstacle course. It's pretty simple, all of you will get a chance to do it. So, who's first?” he questioned. 

Not giving a damn about what he was saying, I focused my eyes on the obstacle course itself. It definitely wasn't what I was expecting.

Basically, it was a straight line of nothingness. The course started with a soccer ball and three cones, the goal was to go around all the cones with the ball. That sounded simple enough, the next part was basically just running beside a large pole? 

Yea, it was a bit basic to say the least. That was followed by three more obstacles. 

The first of the final three was basically just jumping through some circles, by that I mean circles laid on the ground. We would then have to duck under a hockey stick held by two chairs. 

I already knew someone was going to knock down the stick. I mean, there was no way it was staying up the entire time. 

It had to come down! Before the old man began talking again, I moved my eyes a few meters up ahead to see the last obstacle. Technically, there was a little pillar surrounded by chains. 

In the middle of the chains was an empty space, some little dodge balls were laid in front of it meaning we would have to toss the balls in the centre.

“Would you like to go first?” the old man said as he pointed towards me. 

“What, no!” I screamed, a bit too loud.

He nodded and decided to use some random number technique to decide who would go when. 

Somehow, I was placed at the complete end. Of course no one wants to be at the complete end but I personally had mixed feelings about it all. 

Pros, If everyone was slow, I could possibly ditch the course and not have to do it. 

Cons? I would have to watch every kid go before me as I anxiously stood in line freakingly waiting for possible embarrassment. 

Yep, the situation could go both ways. Unfortunately, I stood there for about fifteen minutes, and then everyone else was gone. It was my turn, I didn't know why but I was just so scared. 

“Alright, start when you're ready!” someone shouted. I nodded and began the course. 

Fun fact, I wasn't ready, but were they giving me a choice? No! No they weren't, why would they ask me if I was ready if me being ready didn't even matter? 

I angrily moved one foot ahead, followed by the other, followed by the other, until I had the soccer ball. In just a few seconds, I was controlling it awkwardly, but steadily. I had to make it past only three cones, that wasn't bad.

It was actually quite easy, as was the next part, and the next. The complicated part was the hockey stick, before I was even close to it I was thinking of what to do. 

I had seen some people rush in to duck, many of them failed. I wanted to get it over with quickly but that seemed hard. 

So, as soon as I got close enough, I slid down on one knee and basically slid under the stick. And I felt damn cool doing it, I didn't even know how I pulled it off. Well, it didn't matter if I felt cool. 

Because I had to snap out of it, the next and final obstacle was in front of me. It was the thing where I had to throw the ball in the metal thing. It seemed kinda basic, pick up the ball and just throw it right? 

I did what my gut told me, I grabbed the ball and threw it overhand. It missed, not even close to being on target. I grab it again and throw it overhand, missed. Again, not even close. 

Frustrated, I threw it again with all my strength. Missed. At this point the entire situation was getting pretty embarrassing. All the kids were staring at me and I wasn't able to get it.

I was worried, and because of that I decided to switch things up. I grabbed the ball again and threw it, but this time it was underhanded. I thought maybe precision would beat power. 

WRONG. I threw it and again embarrassingly missed, I tried again and again but just could not get it. It was so weird, I knew I could do it but it just wasn't working! Desperate again for about the fifth time, I decided to take one step forward, you know to get just a little closer. 

I wasn't cheating, I just didn't realize where my leg was at the time. I threw the ball again, and thank god I made it. 

Hearing the chains clash against each other was one of the most satisfying things I had heard in a while. 

And with that, lunch was over. I got lost a few more times when getting to my next class but still, I found my way. As for the next subject, it was even more boring than french.

Luckily I was a warrior and was somehow able to pull through the entire torture of listing to grade twelve students giving lectures again. 

The end of the day came soon and I was ready to go home. My first day in high school was finally over. 

In my head I couldn't believe I had experienced all those crazy things, but it did make it memorable. 

So who knows, maybe it was for the best?