Prologue

There are no vampires, werewolves or any paranormal activity in this story. We didn’t attend a high school for people with sorcery skills needing to be honed.

It was an ordinary place where we rehearsed for real life outside the halls of academia. We had injured souls and broken hearts and most of us were just adlibbing as we went along.

None of my group of friends belonged to a popular clique nor were we complete geeks like Sheldon or Leonard but we were a mishmash of different societal rejects no one really wanted us to be members of any elite groups. We just fit in where we could.

A few of us had more drama outside of a theatre class than in and that just showed that our ability to act “normal” in the eyes of our peers

Some of us were still trying not to be bully bait and not get stuffed in a locker. If we got through a day not getting insulted; it was a good one.

So the tale I am about to write is highly reflective of my own high school experience; the highs, lows and finally making it out the front doors at the end of 4 or 5 years of hard study and life itself. Just trying to avoid skipping without getting caught was a challenge. 

The story starts in 1979 in our sophomore year. 1978 was not much to speak of Sammie’s main struggle was to be able to walk down the halls of the local high school without hearing a barrage of “Hey four eyes brace face.” She was no longer an “ugly duck, but people fail to forget the awkward kid, and still treat her as such and then compound the insults with spreading the word about being easy bully bait. 

Sammie struggled with math and had difficulties running a five minute mile even though she spent years running home to avoid confrontations with mean girls and  bad asses wanting a piece of her. Most days she was just grateful to still take a breath.

Grade nine was a non year really, as Sammie walked to school with the same kids she attended middle school with as she felt safe in numbers, Paul, Annaleise, and Jasmine were good friends of hers in the neighbourhood, and they started walking to school together as they were all going to the same place anyway. Sammie, Paul and Annaleise, knew each other as little kids even though Annaleise, went to a different public school. They met up again in middle school Jasmine came to the neighbourhood and joined the group in her grade 8 yr. 

Sammie met up with new friends in her art class and acquaintances from grade 8. Charmaine, for one was a loner like Sammie. She was a bit bookish but pretty and didn’t have the confidence to realize it. Charmaine was a great artist and excelled at every project. 

Lunch was a social battlefield. Trying to find a seat not occupied by someone who hated her was a challenge. The right side of THE CAF was reserved for the in crowd. Middle section was food fight central and the left was what was left. I found Carol Jane from the middle school and from there Charmaine joined us along with Maureen, a girl she met in another class and the group sort of just mushroomed with an odd assortment of people everyone knew.

Sammie did well in most classes like English, French, and Geography. Math and Science were a challenge and she found she needed extra help, which matched her up with Mitchell a smelly geeky self-ascribed genius who would have traded a date for all the help he was giving.  Sammie remembered being stuck dancing with him at the grade 8 graduation. He smelled no better now than he did then.  He proposed a few dates, and Sammie deftly sidestepped him every time.  Mitch drew his line in the sand and suggested she either date him or no more tutoring. Sammie, equally stubborn held tight to the principles that her parents would not allow her to date until she was 15 and besides she didn’t go for extortion and would shop for help elsewhere if he kept it up. Thus the two parted company, not being able to reach a level of détente.  Thankfully, Sammie’s Sister Angela was a mathematical genius, and was available to get her through math for the year.  Sammie eked her way through science with a mere passing grade.

Thus the first year of high school, was history. Sammie was happy to survive the year with decent marks and nary a locker stuffing incident.