Attending high school comes with many dangers. A major threat on this list– though often overlooked– is the journey that occurs between classes. The hallways of NASH are like plaque-filled arteries, on the brink of bursting and triggering a heart attack at any moment. Yet we’re expected to make it to our third-floor class on time!?

First, we have the stairwells. When entering through those double doors, we are instantly surrounded. Even the most extroverted among us can feel overwhelmed. Watery eyes are not uncommon as it becomes apparent it slipped the minds of some of our classmates to wear deodorant. Also, as a girl here at NASH, I’ve learned it is almost impossible to dress nicely for school due to the stairwells. Most stylish shoes don’t feature the best traction, and if a girl tests her luck by wearing a dress or skirt, she risks showing more than she desires to some teenage boy who unfortunately ended up behind her as she ascends the heights.

Then, after shimmying our way through the stairwell bustle comes the endless maze of halls. I mean, whose idea was it to connect the 50’s hall to the 20’s hall? One wrong move and you’re lost, perhaps never to be seen again.

One particularly frustrating obstacle is the inevitable clump of students moving more slowly in the hallway than you are. There’s that awkward moment when you’re not sure whether to not-so-subtly speed up and bypass or to just stay put and pray they turn into another hall. But then if you do decide to go around, it seems they always choose that moment to pick up the pace as well, leaving you walking next to them for more than a few paces until you fall behind them again, defeated.

I use the word “dangerous” to describe the hallways for good reason. Even a simple transition of classes on the same floor can lead to bloody ankles as the backs of your shoes are routinely assaulted, or a concussion when that one boy’s colossal backpack checks you into the wall, or possibly even blindness from the blunt-force hair flip of a peppy girl.

Of course, I’ve saved the worst for last. This is the point in your journey when you might think you’ve made it– a false flame of hope might light up in your heart as you take one last turn to your class. However, when you take that turn … your class is nowhere in sight. It’s blocked by a stockade of Nike backpacks and gray hoodies.  This is what I like to refer to as “The Jock Flock”.

Making up The Jock Flock is a classy group of boys, of course, who assemble in their matching shoes, shorts, socks, t-shirts, and even hair, talking loudly enough to conceal the desperate grunts of students trying to pass them by.

However, while I can mock The Flock all I want, I won’t deny the sheer strength and stubbornness of that wall. Now, I am a rather tall girl, but even I cannot hope to see over the peaks of that mountain range.

To put it simply, it’s a jungle out there, girls and boys. NA gives us all the skills to survive after high school. But surviving high school itself? It’s a battle every day. 

My suggestion: surround yourself with some really great people — there’s safety in numbers after all.  That, or just steal some hockey player’s gear and suit up to defend yourself.