First thing they did was walk into the front gates of Riverdale Country School, at 8:15 A.M., with the other students following behind. They carried backpacks with fresh binders, paper, dividers, pens, pencils, highlighters, folders, and summer reading books brought just last week. That put together weighed a total of 8 pounds but by the end of the day the whole backpack will weigh 20 pounds or more. Though, they wore different things it was the basic assemble of shoes, socks, shorts, underwear, shirts, and accessories like hats, keys, necklaces, rings and bracelets. No one looked the same but no one looked different or unique. The students walked to their different destinations, some went to the Jeslo Theater while others like Berk, Tyler, Emily, and Madeline headed to the gym where the whole upper school would be in attendance. With the gym in site the group began to feel scared and vulnerable because they were the fresh meat, they felt like the whole world was looking down on them.
Finally in the gym seating close to each other they saw how intimidating the upper grades were. The tenth graders were somewhat tall, had backpacks, didn’t look frightened, were talking to friends, and texting on their phones. The eleventh graders were tall, looked preppy, looked like they could do anything, and were calm like sand on a beach. The group saw that the seniors, who were the kings and queens of the school, were not in their seats and nowhere to be found. At 8:30 A.M. Mr. Kidhal walked up onto a small stage and started to quiet the students using a microphone. The stage was very small, could probably only hold two or three people, black, had three steps of stairs, a railing, and had a pedestal that was made of brown wood which had the Riverdale Country School logo in the middle. Mr. Kidhal talked about Riverdale and its upper school, and then eventually he introduced the 2011 upper school seniors with enthusiasm, though there was no need for it. With his introduction the seniors all ran in wearing firefighter theme clothes. This was probably fun for the seniors but Tyler and Emily just thought it was weird and didn’t see the point to this celebration. Once the seniors were in their seats after “dancing” around the gym Mr. Kidhal and other faculty spoke about Riverdale and the school year. After the group was let out they hugged each other and went their separate ways to their classes while crying on the inside for having to leave each other. They carried their backpacks and the fear of meeting new people who may or may not like them, but they still walked on because they had no choice or say.