My Last Day As A Baker Bronc

     Today was the end of a long journey for me. I've spent the last three years here and changed so much.
     I've gone to school with these people for the past eight years so we have all become brothers and sisters. It's why most of us don't date. Who would want to date their sibling? No one, that's who. It's why if we do date, we date kids form other schools.
     First period we got our end of course exam results (I did well) and the whole class was buzzing with anticipation and nerves. It hadn't hit us yet that this was our last day together. By fifth period however, I was ready to start crying. The following are just a few of the people I had to say goodbye to today.
      I had a couple of friends in theatre who I wouldn't see anymore. Christian was going to Carroll and I asked him if he was going to continue doing theatre over there. He said yes and that made me feel a bit better because I knew I would see him again. I did make him promise to not be better than Ray before I gave him a hug.
     I shared that theatre class with Alec too and he was going to Moody because that dork got into the health and science program. That class we were watching a Broadway documentary and West Side Story segment came up. I looked at all of my friends and they all smiled at me; I looked at Alec and he was slouched over fast asleep. WHAT HUMAN IS ABLE TO SLEEP THROUGH WEST SIDE STORY?! All I'm saying is that he better not sleep like that when I'm up there as Anita. He assured me that he wouldn't.
     The next period was Spanish and I had to say goodbye to Matthew. Matthew is a little monster and he "stans" lots of celebrities. Whenever I am curious about pop culture or music in general, he is my go-to guy. His Twitter is @MatthewBGaGa1 and you should all go follow him. Anyway,Matthew is very...well he's very white. Spanish is not his strongest subject and often depends on other people to help him. The day before, we took our final exam for Spanish and needless to say, we were all worried about the grade he would be making. He needed to make a B and he had a 78.6 in that class. When we got our scores back he informed us that he got a 99! Good for Matthew! We were all very proud of him and sad to see him go. But hey, he heard the Spanish teacher at King is very lenient so hopefully he will survive without us.
    In U.S. History I had to say goodbye to Ryan because he, like Alec, was going to Moody. When I first met Ryan we were doing a duet scene. He was a fox who was trying to convince a bunch of grapes to let him eat them. I was the grapes (not exactly winning a Tony for that performance anytime soon). It was a comedic scene and our director decided to showcase it so it was a success. This year Ryan and I became closer through our History class and NJHS. Everybody had him in a group hug as the final bell rang. Needless to say, the tears flowed freely.
     The hardest to say goodbye to however was definitely Steff. We rode the bus together for five years straight and old each other everything. We were best friends and she is going to Carroll in the fall. We both saw this coming but didn't want to acknowledge it until now. As we got nearer and nearer to her stop the tears came more and more. What would we do without each other? We vowed to do things together over the summer and I hope she stays true to her promise.
    


     Today was a very hard day because I had to say goodbye to say to a lot of people. Really it wasn't goodbye but a see you later. I know I can call, text, and look at their Facebooks, but it's not the same. We can't see each other everyday anymore. When we do meet again, it will be a special occasion, not just another Tuesday. Today was inevitable because now I can go to Ray in the fall and be totally prepared. Even though I said goodbye to these people, I will always have their love and support.

"Roast Beef" and How My Biology Teacher Expects Me to Cut Open A Heart

     When I signed up for Biology, I was warned with things like "You know it's a high school class, right?", "It goes on your transcript." and "Are you sure you can do this?" It's the fifth six weeks and I've made straight A's. Wednesday however I was faced with the biggest test of the year. Not the end of course exam; dissection day.     My Biology teacher, Mr. Jesse, was having the whole class dissect sheep hearts. Who in their right mind asks middle schoolers to do this?! It has the words "bad idea" all over it.
     I put on gloves with the weird power in them, goggles that always left whisker marks all over my cheekbones and an almost transparent apron. I sat at my table with my lab partner, Melissa, and sulked. I really didn't want to do this. I mean really! Who knows where that heart has been?! Oh wait, I do. INSIDE A FREAKING SHEEP!!! What did the sheep do to deserve this, Mr. Jesse? Better yet, what did I do to deserve this?!
     So Mr. Jesse walked around with a tray to all of the tables delivering their hearts. With each table he got closer, I felt another wave of nausea hit me like a brick. I thought about just puking so I wouldn't have to do it but puke is almost as gross as a sheep heart (almost).
     Finally Mr. Jesse got to our table and set down this lump of I-don't-even-know-what on our newspaper next to our tools. It had spots of gray, dark purple, white and even a little green. The smell was ungodly. The formaldehyde (used as a preservative) soaked our paper and got everywhere. Melissa asked our teacher about it and his response was to tell me to go wash it. HE TOLD ME TO GO WASH A SHEEP HEART! 
     After I washed it (set it down at the bottom of the sink and let the water run) the smell was more tolerable. Still not pleasant, but now withstandable.
     Then we had to start making incisions. Melissa made the initial ones because I had washed it after all.
     I had to make some cuts too but I came up with a method. Roast beef. It isn't a sheep heart, its just roast beef. "I am not cutting apart a vital organ, I am just making a sandwich." See but then I started to feel kinda like Sweeney Todd and I freaked myself out again.
     Eventually I got through the dissection (and learned nothing mind you!). I tossed the left over pieces and then washed my hands like I never had before in my life. But that wasn't the end! I have Biology first period so the smell of formaldehyde stayed on my clothes all day. It was unnerving to say the absolute least.
     So words of advice to all you Biology students: pretend it's roast beef. And to all the Biology teachers out there: If you want your students to hate you forever, ask them to do a dissection for a grade.