Make a Wish

Today was the last day of school / yearbook day. I was feeling pretty decent this morning; I was relieved that the school year is finally over. To be completely honest, I kind of hate high school. There are a lot of days when everyone is mean and the homework is hard and I'm really not looking forward to going back. It feels like a prison / asylum / outer darkness. Too bad I'm only a sophomore.
Anyway, I walked to school by myself at 7:20, like usual, to discover that today school doesn't start until 8:45, and we didn't even have classes. I met up with Ale when she got out of ARC, but then I remembered something super important. I had a school fee for a class that I only had one day because of schedule changes at the beginning of the year, which I had totally forgotten to take care of earlier. (You can't get your yearbook if you have fines.) Ale cooperatively followed me to the financial office, where we found a  g i a n t  line that looked something like this:

There really was no other option than to stand in it.  You can't just pay $50 for a yearbook to not get one. We stood in line for a little over 45 minutes. It was boiling hot. It should be illegal to put that many body heat producing people in the same room. When I made it to the window, I told the lady about my unnecessary fine. 

"Okay," she said as she punched numbers into her computer, "but you still have a library fine."

Library fine??! I never get books from the school library.

When she told me which book it was, the light came on. I checked it out during one of those English class days when the teacher says everyone has to check out a book for book reports, but you never actually read it because you already have a different book to fulfill the assignment. Yeah. That one. Apparently that stupid book I never even read built up a nice little pile of fines.

"Go get the book and bring it back," the office lady said to me. And with that, I was out of the line and walking down the hallway towards the doors. I remembered where that book was, so I walked home. I retrieved the book and some money, changed my shoes, and walked all the way back to the school just in time to see an even BIGGER line and the student council members beginning to unpack the yearbooks.

For the next hour and a half, everyone scurried around with Sharpies, giggling and writing their signatures all over their peers' books. All I did was stand in line. Brenda, Ale, and Sarah went to get Brenda's crush's signature, people started filtering out of the school, and I stood in line. I filled out the form for overdue books while I waited. Ale held my place for me so I could retrieve my yearbook (they didn't even check for fines), but the entire time I only got a whopping four signatures. Out of my school of 1500 kids, I got four signatures today. You can call me Miss Popular. All I did was stand in line for a really, really long time. My feet were killing me and I felt like crap by the time I made it to the window AGAIN. I held out my hand, on which was perched the book, the form, and the money. 

"I'm sorry," she said, "You need a stamp from the library."

I couldn't believe what she was saying to me. This was absurd. "You mean I have to stand in this line AGAIN?" I inquired, shocked, "I've stood in it twice today!"

"That's just how things work around here," she replied.

I walked into the library. My palms felt hot. I cannot stand in that line again. No one had told me I needed a dumb stamp. Heck, no one warned me that school books have late fines in the first place! I was frustrated beyond belief. I turned in my book and got my stamp.

"Is there any way I could pay my fines here?" I asked the librarian hopefully, but I was turned down. I walked away from the librarian's desk and towards my friends who were sitting at one of the tables. "What did she say?" they asked. I have never felt so frustrated. I started crying.

I sat down at the chair next to them, buried my face in my hands, and cried for a good few minutes. I cannot stand in that line again. Sarah and Brenda disappeared one by one and soon it was just Ale and I. We talked as I cooled down.

"11:11 make a wish," Ale said dully.

"I wish my life didn't suck," I pouted. 

She laughed at that, and we decided to check and see how long the line was and discovered it to be slightly shorter. Ale's mom came to pick her up. Now that my feet were rested and I was done crying, I stood in line for about 15 minutes and FINALLY got everything taken care of. The not-so-nice lady at the desk handed me a small piece of chocolate and I went home.

Man, I hate high school.