It wasn’t something that people looked forward to and in no way was I an exception to that rule. Anxiously I held my breath as I got into the line of others who also begrudgingly awaiting their fate. Powerless to change what was about to happen all we could do was just shift our weight from one foot to the other. How hard some of us had tried yet failed to get out of taking part of this garish tradition, some going to so far to even make themselves sick.
By last names we were all grouped together in those extensive lines meaning most of us were separated from the comfort of our closest friends. Desperately we would look across the room to try and catch the eye of someone who we trusted and they would look back with the same desperation in their eyes. There were attempts to send messages to one another but those in charge did not allow us to speak loudly enough so our much loved companions could hear. Lip reading was also an art that was lost to all of us during that time of extreme apprehension.
There were a few, a few that nobody else cared for at the moment, who found themselves unmeet by the unconfutable feelings everybody else had. Outside of the situation they were our friends, our families even but there in those lines we were herded into they became the enemy. How dare they be above the unhappiness the rest of us had to experience during this most unpleasant time. They would stand in those same lines, which were lousy with sadness, with smiles and what a crime of treason they did commit by letting their lips form grins.
The lines moved so slowly that if we had been in line for anything else we surely would have grown impatient. But that was in reality and in that time of nervousness we did not deal in reality so the lines seemed to diminish rapidly to us. One by one a new victim made it to the front of that line and was forced into unnatural situation, and to make it all worse they knew everyone who had not yet been up to the hot seat was watching them.
Bright and painful flashes fired off often and sometimes without proper warning to the unfortunate soul whose turn it was to face the music. The instructions called out to them were of no aid either. Nothing seemed to lighten the harshness of the experience expect for the resolution of the situation and even then a slight anxiety remained. There was a chance that if you did not perform well enough that you would have to relive the day again.
And to think the whole terror of the horrible event begins at least a week before the day even happens. I swear there is just nothing scarier to a bunch of awkward pre-teens with low self-esteem than the ghastly announcement and arrival of picture day.