Personal Narrative: Vocabulary In High School

The time of the year had come. 5th grade had started! It was a new, fresh school year, which meant something very momentous (at least for me) was coming up soon - the student council elections. You see, I was one of the most courteous, bright kids in the fifth grade at the time, and decided to take a chance in the elections. I thought back to the time I was in fourth grade, making a fool of myself by creating a boring speech with maybe a little bit too much vocabulary. I at least tried my best, and even though I may have known a couple of juicy words which some kids may not have known, all that mattered was that I gave it my all. But now, I emerged as a stronger, smarter 5th grade girl who was ready to take on anything. “I need to get my revenge,”
I thought. “And now is the perfect time.” As I gazed out the window, half-listening while the teacher blabbered on about “multiplication of fractions” which I already knew how to do, the only thing I could ponder about was how I was going to prevail over everybody else in the election. Suddenly, a brobdingnagian flood of thoughts cascaded into my already-stuffed head. “What will my speech be like?” “Will I be teased and considered a failure if I lose?” “What office am I going to run for?” Then, a jolt in my cranium made me clobber my head on my desk. I just couldn’t take the stress anymore. I remember looking up in agony and seeing the baffled face of my table partner, staring right at me. I just didn’t get why people couldn’t understand me better as a person at the time. Soon, I discovered my gaze was shifting to the clock. I stared deeply at it (probably looking very stupid), almost to the point where my arms actually felt and behaved like the hands of a clock! I wasn’t even thinking about anything but the clock. In fact, my head felt like it had magically cleared itself (although it actually didn’t), allowing me to finally loosen up. Looking back, it actually felt like it was just me and the clock in the whole room! The teacher’s words didn’t matter to me at the moment. They just whipped past my ear, as if I didn’t exist. I also got that feeling that you get when you feel adhered to something like a magnet. I just kept staring and staring, and just couldn’t get my eyes off of the clock! I felt so magnificent and peaceful, I didn’t even realize that I still had a horrendous headache. Why was I staring for so long? I tried hard to remember, and I realized I was just waiting for recess to arrive so I could think harder about the campaign and the part I would play in it. A huge grin spread across my face as I fantasized about me winning the election when suddenly, the teacher called for attention in a vociferous voice. I jumped out of my dream, outraged, but my ears tuned in to the teacher’s suddenly musical voice, for the exact words that poured from her mouth were “Let’s go, guys. It’s time for recess.”

As the class paraded outside, I stayed inside for a minute, waiting patiently for everyone to leave, then I marched out myself, the teacher right at my heels.
I strolled to the nearest bench, and decided to plop down on it. As if I were being controlled by someone, my head immediately tilted to the side, and my hand flew to the top of my head, which is what I do to help me think. “What are you going to think of, Brain?” I asked myself. “You know, I’m depending on you for this. If you fail me, I repeat, IF YOU FAIL ME, YOU Have NO IDEA WHAT I’LL DO!” I tried to sound as barbarous as I could, banging and whacking my fists on my legs like a hammer, but my peers probably just saw an idiot who they didn’t even recognize, screaming to herself. I didn’t care, though. I was adamant that I was going to run, and that became my first priority. Because of my determination, I jumped to a phenomenal conclusion within just a few minutes - I was going to run for school treasurer. This moment was very significant, as this was the time when I made up my mind about what office to run for, and when I make up my mind, it’s almost impossible to overwrite it. I couldn’t help but simper. The job of treasurer was just the most perfect and ideal for me! Well, math became my best subject from a very young age, and I managed the $200+ money in my piggy bank easily! The flame in my brain slowly perished, and my head felt almost brand new! No headache anymore! Literally nobody in this whole world can
understand how relieved I felt. “Great, I thought. “Now I need to come up with an original, riveting speech.” And there it was again. My old friend Mr. Headache. Although I have gotten used to it, it still provided my head with a ton of discomfort and torture. A single teardrop fell and stained the blacktop. “Hey, we still didn’t have our meeting about running for student council yet,” I realized. Within a few seconds, the teardrop evaporated. “And that means I have some time before I make my speech!’ The headache vanished. “But if I start creating my speech now, it will be super amazing by the time we have the elections!” Another massive headache conquered my head. As the light of headaches flickered on and off, I wondered, “Who would have known that such diminutive thoughts could cause such major headaches?” Because of the headaches I received when I thought about the speech, I decided to wait for some time before I actually started preparing the speech. But that may have not been the best idea…

The next day, I finally decided to pay attention to the morning announcements. Usually, I’d zone out in the middle, as the talk was really boring, but at that time, today, tomorrow, or any day after would be the day when the student council would mention the candidate meeting dates. It turned out to be my lucky day! The words my ears picked up were, “Student council meeting… come… running… 7 AM… have to come if… run… tomorrow.” This was it! I was finally going to get the forms filled out to run for treasurer! I leaped into the air continuously, zoning out yet again. Soon, the announcements came to an end. As I foolishly jumped up and down, I got walloped in the face by a classmate. And it turned out to be a classmate who didn’t seem to be in the best mood at the time…
“Move it, Shivani!” he taunted.
“Uh... um… I, I’m sorry,” I stuttered as my body turned to ice.
“Well, ya better be. You have to learn a skill called ‘paying attention’ in order to succeed in life. Well, see ya in class, which is in, like, one hour?”
I stood there frozen for a few seconds, thinking about how much of a failure and loser I was. Thoughts from the past flashed in my head like an endless slideshow for what seemed like hours. I remembered all of the times I got out of control and all the times I did something erroneous. I just wasn’t mature enough to run for treasurer. I couldn’t control my excitement, either. As the distasteful thoughts poisoned my head, my feet surprisingly conveyed me all the way to the classroom, and right to my desk. Because of my instincts which told me I had to behave in a classroom, I immediately snapped out of my trance and completed the worksheet on my desk. I was surprised that I wasn’t late to class. No teacher walking up to me, nobody complaining about me being late. I just entered the class like I normally would. Maybe I was responsible, after all. “Oh boy. Less than 24 hours left until the meeting!” I cried.

Because I was looking forward to the meeting, the day seemed to pass by at the speed of light.
All of the exhilaration started when I woke up from bed, rubbing my eyes, and yawning loudly. Today was the day! The student council meeting! I squinted at the clock above my bed, and it displayed the time 6:00. I was going to be on time! Despite my sleepiness, I sprung out of my bed, brushed my teeth, took a quick shower, and blasted down the stairs for breakfast. My body filled to the top with excitement, a water jug out in the rain. I gobbled down my breakfast, not caring whether I chewed with my mouth closed or not. Within a matter of a few minutes, my plate was licked clean and I was ready to take
off!
“Get in the car now if you don’t want to be late!” My mom addressed sweetly.
“Oh, all right,” I replied. “This is going to be awesome!”

The car trip seemed to take a while, even though our house wasn’t very far. Maybe I was exhausted? Maybe the drive was mundane? I didn’t know, and I didn’t care. Finally, after what seemed like half an hour, I arrived at Williams Elementary School, the school I went to and cherished from the time I was in kindergarten.
“You can get off! Have a nice day, and I’ll see you in the afternoon!” My mom called as she drove her car out of sight. I turned and saw her one last time for the morning, then continued on, ready for the future.

The school turned out to be deserted. There was nobody at all, except for a few teachers to whom I asked, “Do you by any chance know when the student council meeting begins?”
All the teachers replied, “At 7:30.” This led to me walking around the school by myself for 30 minutes until the meeting started; until people appeared around me.

First came a boy who looked like he was in fifth grade like me. Although I didn’t know him, I got the guts to walk up to him and ask him if he’s here for the meeting. He was kinder than I thought, and replied, “Yes. Would you like me to show you where the meeting is?” I nodded timidly. This boy seemed mature enough to trust, so I followed him to the room, not speaking a single word. As I walked into the room, I felt like a completely different person. I actually felt sensible and responsible, which wasn’t something I felt very often. The faint scent of new books wafted up into my nose, brightening my mood even more! I sat down at the best seat that was currently vacant, and patiently waited for further instructions. As I began to inspect my surroundings, I noticed that my friend Pranavi was frantically waving at me to come and sit next to her. How sweet! She reserved a seat for me! I immediately walked over to her, and sat down. Just like any ordinary group of friends, we began to chat.
“I never knew you were running!” Pranavi exclaimed.
“Same! I never knew you were running!” I replied back with a wide grin. We kept conversing and I started to feel at home, more calm and relaxed. Even better, I had a friend who had a part in the election as well! But then a dark thought shoved its way into my head. What if Pranavi was running for the same office of me? Math’s her best subject, as well. “Not treasurer, not treasurer, not treasurer,” I chanted with a pained face.
“What’s wrong?” Pranavi inquired. “Is everything alright?”
“I guess,” I responded, then I decided to let it out. “Hey, what office are you running for?”
“Uhhh… I’m planning on president. You?”
I felt completely relieved. “Me? Uh, I’m running for treasurer. We’re lucky to not be competing against each other. That would be fun, but tough, knowing you.”
“Yeah. Anyways, good luck with your speech and stuff.”
“Same to you. Let’s wait and see who wins.” We shook hands, then turned in time to see the teachers in charge of the election walk up to the front of the room with their sizable stack of freshly printed papers that was yet to be passed out to us. As they started speaking to us,