The Story of a Firebird

So today, a few of my friends on Facebook shared a news article about my high school's wrestling program. Honestly, I was never a fan of the wrestling program at my high school, but just reading that article and realizing that what was going on there was really happening, and I actually started to get sentimental.

On December 14, 2012, my first official day home for winter break, I received an email announcing that my alma mater, St. Peter Chanel High School, would be closing at the ed of the 2012-2013 school year.

 Everyone's recollection of their high school years are different. Some are described as "the best four years of your life", while others say it was "the most pointless bullshit in the world".  So, just for the hell of it, here's my Chanel story:

St. Peter Chanel was my first choice while applying to high school for many reasons, including the awesome people, the awesome drama department, and the overall homely feel. When I got accepted, I was ecstatic; it was like I was handed a golden plaque that announced I wasn't a dumbass and was smart enough to get into high school. Also, KP, whom I've known since the tender age of 3, was accepted as well, so I was relieved that I had someone I knew ridiculously well to talk to.

The day before orientation, the drama director, my friend Gina's mother, held a special get-together for everyone interested in joining the drama club. KP and I went, and while I was there I started chatting with someone who would soon become one of the most important people in my life.

That little drama get-together was the day I met my best friend, my brother-from-another-mother, my Jalapeno. Sure, there I met a lot of people during my time at Chanel that I would consider really close friends, but Peno makes the top of the list.

Freshman year I was put in Honors English, and for each quarter, we had to do a special project. For fourth quarter, Peno and I teamed up with our fellow classmates and made the most cheesiest, most awesome project ever, and since I don't have any pics from freshman years saved on Macky, I thought I would share it with you.

Freshman year was when we made "The Freshman Dramedy":


Sophomore year ended up being even better than freshman year.

 I lost about 15lbs the summer before sophomore year, so for the first time in my life, I was actually confident about my body. I actually went to the homecoming game and dance that year and had an awesome time. I passed all my OGTs, got a Wii for my sixteenth birthday had a bunch of friends over to play, and made the honor roll for the first time in my life.

The musical the drama club was doing that year was Anything Goes (or Anyone's Hoes as we liked to refer to it). I got the part of Mrs. Harcourt, which meant 2 things: I had to dress like an old lady, and that I actually had lines (since in the previous year's musical, Peter Pan, I was a line-less pirate who had to wear three bras). Well, if you're familiar with Anything Goes, you know that there's always a big tap number. So one night, our director put us on the stage and started teaching us the big tap routine of the show. I was in the back, along with Riko, who was also a pirate in Peter Pan the year before. I didn't really really talk to him during Peter Pan, and Jess and Drew, the guys he usually talked to, weren't there, so I decided to bring up my resentment of tap dancing to him in between learning the steps.

Did I know he was going to be my boyfriend by the end of the show? Nope. But it was a very nice surprise.

After Anything Goes, it felt like I was walking on clouds. I had a decent body, an awesome boyfriend, and gained even more friends because of it. For the first time in my life, saying that I was happy was an understatement.

Junior year was a little rough, but still awesome nonetheless.

 

You know that awesome feeling when you know you have a date to the homecoming dance? Isn't it awesome? 

You know what else was awesome about my junior year? When the drama club went to New York City:

 Now, I'll get more into detail about this trip when it gets closer to my second trip in April, but overall I will say that, not counting Disney World, it was the best trip I have ever taken in my life. I had buckets of fun, and I am very excited to go back with Rachel in April.

The rest of junior year was a little rocky.

Peno and I weren't really on the best terms because I was glued to Riko, and on top of that, Riko and I were stressed out and fighting about the silliest things, and on top of that, I was failing chemistry. Plus our spring musical, Zombie Prom (also nicknamed Zombe Hell, Zombie Fuck, etc) wasn't really helping the stress level for any of us, either.

So the last day of finals, when my friends and I became seniors, it was like we were on top of the world.

For our last homecoming game, a bunch of us painted ourselves and lined up at the top of the bleachers to spell out "GO FIREBIRDS!" and my Squirt was able to join us for the game. 

The dance was just as epic:

For the fall play my senior year, under a new director, we did a show called Lie, Cheat and Genuflect, aka "the show where Al wasn't an old lady for once" or "the show where Riko had to dress up as a nun named 'Sister Fernando'". It was hysterical, and it was already bad enough we couldn't contain our laughter during rehearsals, but somehow we were able to do it for the live performances.

The rest of senior year was really rocky.

With applying to colleges and getting harassed by my parents about my grades, I was literally stressed about everything. I seriously can't remember crying as much as I did that year. What was worse was that because of the constant stress, I was relying a lot more on Riko for things, who was really getting frustrated.

That was one of the many things that led to the downfall of our relationship. On April 11th, three days after Easter, one week before our 2-year anniversary and one month before prom, we ended it, and y'all know how that turned out.

For my final production on the Chanel stage, we did Curtains:

Curtains was also a bucket of fun (besides the fact that I was still emotionally psychotic because of the break up), and I felt that it was a good farewell for us seniors.

Soon after Curtains came the day I was waiting for since the moment I became a senior: prom.

Like I said in the post about Cupcake, I was so fucking excited for prom that Riko banned me from talking about it until after soccer season. When it finally rolled around, I was so excited (and relieved I still had a date since Riko promised the night we broke up that he would still take me). All my friends looked absolutely stunning, and even though he wasn't my boyfriend anymore, I still had a great time going with Riko.

Ever wanted to know what our prom picture looked like before I ripped it up out of defeat?

Soon after prom was the bittersweet day we were all waiting for: graduation.

When I say that graduation was "bittersweet", I really mean it. On one hand, I was really sad that I was saying goodbye to my friends, especially after I became so close to them over the past four years. On the other hand, I was excited about starting a new chapter in my life.

Where are my friends now, you ask? Peno, KP, J. Lynch, Stephan and I still talk to each other regularly, I'm still praying to make peace with Riko so we can be friends again, and out of the loads of underclassmen friends I made at Chanel, I only still talk to only a few of them. I truly think that high school wasn't a complete waste of four years of my life, but more of a learning experience. High school taught me about responsibility, friendship, love, all that jazz.

With the inevitable closing of Chanel, I would like to thank everyone at that school who aided me in becoming who i am today. We had our good times and we had our bad times, but we still had fun. To this year's seniors - the last class to graduate - I hope you enjoy the time you have left there. To the underclassmen, though a lot of you will be separated after this year, remember that you'll always have each other, and that you'll always be firebirds.

We all will still be Firebirds.

"That's the spirit, now go on to victory".