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I survived! I finally started high school! I went to all my periods, met all my brand new teachers in the brand new Volcano Vista High School. The day went by slower than molasses, and the outdoors were full of sounds of the drills and sand flying everywhere. What a day it has been.

It starts at the bus stop, where I wait for a bus that sadly, never shows up. We finally get rides from our fellow students' guardians. But, all in good time, we arrive at last.

I walk in, not exactly sure where I am supposed to be, because I left my class schedule behind. I go into the office and ask for another. Off I go to first period.

"Sorry! My bus never showed up," I tell Mr. Zufall.

"Mmmm, I see," he replies, sticking out hand as if to shake mine.

I shake his hand and then notice that he was just trying to grab my class schedule from the opposing hand. I blush as I start to walk away.

"Wait," he says. "I'm not done. You sit right next to Christina."

I try to walk away again and he stops me one more time. "Wait! Not done yet!" He hands me my agenda and my physical education shirt. The class laughs.

I take my seat close to the back of the room. Mr. Zufall explains his classroom rules and assignment expectations when all of a sudden my cell phone starts vibrating loudly in my backpack. Everyone turns, looks at me and laughs.

"I'll turn it off, I'm sorry. I'm probably already on your `bad student' list," I say with cherry-red cheeks.

Mr. Zufall just laughs and continues his explanations.

He hands out a paper testing how well we follow directions. He tells us to put it face-down on our desks. We do so and wait for him to give us the heads-up to start working. We have eight minutes to complete our test.

The timer starts and we turn the page over. It's just a random questionnaire and the directions are all questions asking us to write our names in the right hand top corner and to answer questions such as "What is the capital of the state you live in?".

I look over to Christina and she already has her paper turned over as if it's finished and it hadn't been even a minute yet. I look at her, confused, and she just looks back with a poker face trying not to ruin the humiliation.

I look down and reread the directions. I don't see anything, so I sit there confused. So I read all the questions. I reach the bottom and the last question says something along the lines of "If you read the directions you would have read `Read all the directions before starting.' " I had written down at least seven answers.

Second period is New Mexico history, taught by Ms. Kaufman. I see that my best friend since elementary school, Krystal, is in the back of the room. My heart skips a beat because we haven't had a class together since before middle school.

Ms. Kaufman explains the school supplies we need and what we should have done by the end of the week. My first impression: "She's young!" She honestly looks young enough to still be in college. She's very nice, too.

When the bell rings, I walk down the hallway stopping and saying hi to friends. My third-period class, math lab with Ms. Guzman, is almost empty, just 10 people. I make friends with the few people there.

Fourth period! Last class of "A Day." But today we have to go to all our classes in one day, so we would be going to all eight periods. Ms. Nord isn't there, but we're told all the class rules and then directed to where we get dressed out.

The last few minutes of class we just hang out and relax, talk with our friends or ask questions.

Fifth period - the last period before we all get to go eat free Dion's pizzas! - is algebra with, again, Ms. Guzman. We fill out a little card with our parents' names and other information. Then it's off to the lobby to eat.

I find friends and sit down, but don't see my newest friend, Mike. I look the whole time I'm supposed to be enjoying lunch, and even skip an assembly outside, then finally find him. We hang out until lunch is over and walk to our sixth-period rooms.

Biology with Ms. Davis - she is so nice! She seems to have a lot of spunk and excitement. We write a journal entry about if we were teaching the class, then play a game that leaves us with candy to eat.

Seventh period is English with Ms. Wells. She seems to love her job. She asks us to write two questions of our choice, then reads them out loud and answers them. Some are pretty interesting.

When the bell rings, it's LAST PERIOD! Art with Ms. Sherer, and Nikki is in class with me! We sit next to each other and we fill out our LAST information cards.

In the office, the lady at the desk couldn't find which bus I'm supposed to take. The bus systems are very unorganized today!

I call my mom and have her come pick me up. And off I go, to start writing about my day.

Jessica Marie Britton is a freshman at Volcano Vista High. She's writing a journal about attending the new school for The Trib.