The End Of Innocence

3 Pages 757 Words

High school graduation is a day that many people look back on with pride and satisfaction. It is a day that marks a major accomplishment in many lives. I wish that day had felt like an accomplishment for me.
The day had started out ok. All the seniors had to report to the football field early that morning for practice. The sun was unusually strong for that time of day. After two hours of baking out there, we were dismissed. I met up with one of my friends and we made plans to go out for breakfast. I remember thinking it was funny how she showed up to practice in her pj’s. We went over to the IHOP by her grandmother’s house, she ordered the smiley face pancakes, and I had an omelet.
I had been having a weird feeling about graduation and I wanted to know if maybe she felt the same. I asked if she was scared, and I will always remember her answer.
“Of course I’m scared, everybody is. This is a big step on the road of life. It’s the end of an era, and of our innocence.” Her words were comforting, but not exactly what I wanted to hear. I mean, this was it. This was the day that is supposed to pay off for the 13 years of school one had to endure. Maybe I was just making a big deal out of nothing.
The time after breakfast and before the ceremony was like blur. No sooner had I finished my omelet, then it was almost time for me to get to the school. As I drove to campus, I remembered some of the fun times my friends and I had. The lunches in the cafeteria, the teachers we all loved to hate, the basketball state championship. All of these memories hit me like a ton of bricks. It made the feeling that was festering inside me worse. It was over; these times were gone now, forever. After graduation, everything would be different. I could not look forward to going back to school the next year with all the same people I was used to. Everybody was taking different paths. Everybody was starting their life in the real world. I dismis...