The morning started off routinely as Victoria Chambers laborously climed up the teacherous hil. Fighting against the ferocious wind, with hair whipping across her face and debris swirling around her, she appeared formidable. As the tension in her muscles tightened from exertion, Victoria winced in pain, reminding herself that this was merely the start of her adventre. She finally reached the majestic castle- like structure, and wailked through the swinging gates.Taking a deep breath, she prepared herslf for the long set of stairs that awaitd her.Glancing at the tower clck, she gasped for breath and quickened her pace. Realizing that she was a bit tardy, Victoria started to run, and nearly tripped on a loose cobblestone. As the bell began to ring, she saw the daunting figure of sergeant Bob shouting, "Last call for College Now !" Musreing all of her strength, Victoria slid past the officer, saved by the bell yet ironically imprisoned by it. At 7:15 a.m. she was only at the beginning of yet another day of the educational adventure known as school.
Grateful for the warmth that welcomed her in Ms.Nierer's classroom, Victoria chided herself for momentarily becoming too comfortable. She grabbed a chair, and sat in front of a computer. Counting to ten, she mentally prepared herself for the ardous task of managing the computer, and dciphering its cryptic technobabble in the "technologically impaired" sphee of Knowledge she called her brain. Forty minutes later, with fingers cramped and a dull Bakache from hunching over the computer, Victoria slipped on her backpack, and composd herself for the doom that awaited her outside room 218.
Stepping into the hallway, Victoria greeted the endless noise that seemed to dominate Jamaica High School. Ducking underneath handshakes that expanded the length of the halls, shemade it through the double doors that led to yet another staircase. Holding her breath against the stench of urine, she treked up the stairs. Gasping for breath, she reached the pinnacle of the stairway, barely missing the heavy oak door that threatened to give her a concussion as she slipped onto the third floor. Minutes later, Vicoria sat in Conversational Spanish, wondering who devised such torture. With the inane chatter of Mdm.Miholi's attempt to engage in Spanish discourse drifting into the bckground, Vicky zoned out into a daydream of schoolless days and stress-free weekends. Awakened by the loud ring of the bell, she hurridly packed her books, and rushed out the door.
Dodging students, and skipping along the edges of a vast spill that threatened to send her sprawling across the third floor, Victoria managed to make it to the locker-room on time. While chatting with her friends, she slackened her pace, making it impossible to get to gym on time. A the gym wardens conducted attendence, Victoria along with the other latecomers stood outside the door, shivering against the cold that seem to seep into the school walls. Minutes later, they trailed in like prisoners, bracing the demeaning remarks of their fellow classmates. As if that wasn't torture enough, Victoria had to play badminton for a whole period: its a pointless game in which the player bats around a tiny aimless white ball in hopes of scoring. However, during most of the class, the sun streamed through the windows, making it nearly impossible to hit the fleck of white, and score. missing yet another opportunity to score, Victoria silently thanked the heavens, as she heard thw wardens terminate the class. Rushing off to the locker-room, she dressed quickly, and steeled herself for the nightmare on the third floor.
As the crowd of rowdy teenagers shifted her along, Victoria held onto her friend Mariss. Together the two made it into the complicated world of physics. Glancing at Dr.Pecorino, Victoria prayed that he had taken his Ginkoba. An old fanciful man, Pecorino often had bouts of Alheizmers, forgetting integral elements of the lesson. By the middle of the period, it was obvious Vicky's prayers had went unheard. For the seemingly hundreth time, Pecorino asked the class in bewilderment, "What are we doing again?.........."
At the ring of the bell, fourth period was blissfully welcomed by Victoria. It was lunchtime! Despite her breathless trek up to the fourth floor to Mr.Polisco's room, Victoria was happy. For forty-five minutes, she was able to relate the afflictions of school and the hassle of college essays to her friends. While discussing the futility of physics and mathematic relations in application to the real world, Marissa grabbed Victoria aside. She pleade with Victoria ti make the journey with her to the Snapple machine, and reluctantly Victoria conc3ede. They made it to he third floor in relative ease. However as hey walked down the Beaver pathway, they noticed the predatory gait of Head Warden Magner. The weight of inevitable doom filled their stomachs. Would he sense their vulnerability, and stop them for identification? Palms sweating, breath held in a suspensful gulp, the two waked by, attempting to look nonchalant. Magner spared them a lethal gaze, and continued walking. Releasing their breath, the girls hurried along in relief. They reached the Snapple machine, and made it back to Polisco's room with seconds to spare until the bell rang. Grabbing her backpack, Victoria turned aroynd, wondering how she would get down the heavily populated staircase.
Driven by a wild spurt of imagination, Vicctoria slid down the banister, backflipped across the landing, and pirouteed gracefully across the third floor. Dodging flying textbooks, avoiding heated debates, and swerving students who haphazardly crossed her path, she made it to the third floor west wing staircase. Using her backpack as a sled, Victoria bounced down the stairs, and made it to math class just in time. As she took out her notebook, she silently prepared herself for the droning of Professor Ali's textbook quality explanations of solving nd graphing relations. The torture carried on for about fifteen minutes, when suddenly the loud shrill of the fire-alarm sounded. Elated, Victoria unconciously took the stance of a criminal fleeing the scene of the crime. Ready for take-off, Victoria's dreams were shattered when Magner annonced that it was merely a false alarm.
Faced with the stark reality of Ali's inevitable lesson, she started to examine her life. According to her calculations, she would spend nine more years in scholastic torture. The nightmare would end at the tender age of twenty- seven. "Hopefully I'll still be able to do backflips", Victoria mused. At this the bell finally rang, ending her mathematical torment temporarily.
Sixth period was greeted with joviality, as this was the only time Victoria's political concerns were actually heard.As Government Expert Eterno opened the floor for discussion on the new school day, Vicky's hand flew up. She indignantly protested against the additional twenty minutes, arguing that there was already a atrenuous amount of stress placed on students without the extra time. She continued, stating that extra- curricular activitues would end even later, making it difficult for students to commute, and perhaps unsafe. Supported by the applause of her fellow classmates, Victoria triumphantly concluded her case with a gracious bow. With regret she prepared to leave class as the bell rang.
With sudden realization that Seventh period English was her last class of the day, Victoria skipped down to the second floor, and sailed into the classroom. Composing her mind for the demanding task of translating Shakespeare, Vicky opened up Hamlet. By the end of the class, discussing dramatic irony and Hamlet's "antic-disposition" had taken its toll on her. Traumatized for the rest of the day, Victoria shuffled out of the classroom wearing the slumped shoulders of defeat.
As she stepped into the bitter cold, Victoria reflected on her "adventure", and reluctantly commended herself for her resilency. She had survived yet another day of scholastic torment in the terror-filled hallways of Jamaica High School.