I am one of those teenagers who is plagued with social awkwardness and I have been since Middle School, when it actually mattered.
This year I'm a junior, an upperclassman which makes me infinitely cooler than all the underclassman simply by being in eleventh grade. It's a new experience, being at the top of the food chain, since it feels like just yesterday I was a freshman.
In the beginning of my high school career, there was nothing I found more terrifying then the cafeteria at lunch time, especially when I had to enter it alone. The thing that scared me was that everyone was there and everyone was so unbelievably big. I learned quickly to avoid hungry senior boys and to grab my lunch and go. I adapted a lost look that said "please, don't bother me, pretend I'm not here" and used it to the best of my ability.
One morning, early in my junior year, I made my way in the cafeteria for lunchtime. As I pushed through the freshman, assuming my regular lost face, it occurred to me that this was not necessary. No longer was I at the bottom of the food chain, no longer was I unable to see over the sea of students, no longer was there anyone in this school for me to be afraid of.
I forced my way out of the mass of freshman and walked with purpose, I know my way around this school, I've been here for two years, I have no reason to feel lost. I didn't even wait in line to get my lunch, following in the footsteps of upperclassman before me. I grabbed my buffalo chicken wrap without even debating, I'd been here long enough to know what's good, and assumed my spot in line to pay.
Someone had spilled around the cashier, it looked to be about two water bottles worth of water and no one had bothered to clean it up. Without even looking at the lunch lady, I showed her my lunch and focused on the spill. I was wearing flip-flops, which have little to no traction and I knew this was a disaster waiting to happen. I stepped carefully on the spill, it was too large to get over, and upon taking my second step- thinking I was home free- I was on the ground.
It happened quick enough that the next thing I knew, my tray was next to my head and I was staring up at a tiny, pre-pubescent, freshman boy. He stared down at me, wide-eyed and clearly glad not to be in my situation.
As quickly as possible I pulled my self up, huffed the hair out of my face and shuffled past him.
Being a junior did not make that any less embarrassing.
