It was the perfect to day to say goodbye to all my classmates. It was quite a beautiful day, the sun was beaming, everyone was happy for now, and there was a boatload of food to go around. I went into that building knowing today wasn’t going to end well, I knew it was time to put elementary school past me but I still didn’t like the thought of most of my friends from 6th were going to Alameda while me and Michelle were going to Creighton. We all knew it was coming and that we would try to stay in touch but in reality we knew that wouldn’t last long and we were all going to move on. It’s not like it was a goodbye forever to everyone but that’s what it felt like.
At least that was what it felt like at the time, at the time my elementary school was my home, I even liked it better than my actual house. Me and my peers were like family, of course there was some that I didn’t get to know all that well but they still were apart the family and contributed to our environment. The last day was planned out for about a month already, we were going to spend the whole day at Ray Ross park doing whatever we wanted and then at last we were going to play a kickball game. Everyone had to bring some sort of food for the picnic we were going to have, that of course made me very happy. The last event that was planned was that we would go back to the building and say our goodbyes. And that’s exactly what happened but of course there were more details to it.

When I got to my classroom I had two 2 liter bottles of soda in my arm. I stepped in and stared around the cold and empty room thinking about how the walls became empty so fast, one moment they were filled with graphs and colors and with the blink of an eye all I saw was plain white.

“Where should I put these?” I asked
“Just set them down wherever, we’ll leave here shortly.” replied my teacher

After setting down the bottles I went to go sit down on the floor where the desks me and my peers sat in that year. I was always late, every single day since I would wake up 15 minutes before school began. That day though I wanted to be there for as long as I could. Everyone probably thought the same since they were all already socializing by the time I got there. I never could keep up even when I tried.

“You guys ready?” I asked Eliana, Raymond, and Maria.

They were some of my closest and all were going to Alameda next year, me knowing that I was headed to Creighton made everything more depressing than it should have been. After talking a little and taking pictures to remember that day the teacher announced that we were leaving so we all grabbed something to take and headed to the park right next to us. On the way there all classes combined and we took even more photos, a group of 70ish kids walking down the sidewalk carrying a lot of food, taking pictures, having the time of their lives. When we got there everything was fun and games, I was everywhere. I was in the basketball court, the water park, the playground and the grass area playing volleyball. Meanwhile, I was being carefree and full of joy there was a whole feud between girl over the dumbest thing ever…

Over a guy, the guy I was playing basketball was the center of it all. He ditched me to go cry over which girl he should choose, while his choices were killing themselves to get his attention. It was really making me want to be a middle schooler already so they would a whole summer more mature. But until then I just played volleyball and occasionally stared at those group of kids. While that happened I would still walk around and take pictures with people. I didn’t look too bad since the day before was our continuation ceremony so the curls were still in my hair. Also I was wearing my at the time my favorite shirt, it was pink and white stripes along with dark blue jeans and brown sandals.

Last but not least it came down to the kickball game, I didn’t play, I stayed behind with a group of friends that didn’t want to play either. I remember during the game I was realizing this was our last chance to spend together so I decided to go to the group of kids that were fighting.

“You’re as dumb as a brick if you’re going to let some kid get in between your friendship with her.” I said to Monse
I then walked over to Katie.
“I know for a fact you don’t want to end the year like this.” I said annoyed

In that moment both girls walked to each other and began to talk everything out. They realized how stupid this really looked and how they were going to different schools next year and did not what to leave on bad terms. They both told the guy that they were fighting over that it was not worth it.

“I never meant for you guys to start fighting.” said the guy very upset.

Right after that the kickball game ended and the teachers called all of us to pack up and go back to our glasses. We all began to throw away all the trash, grabbed all the leftovers, grabbed all the sport balls and slowly headed towards the school as if they were heading to our deaths. Although to some it felt like a path to death, we were so united, I actually enjoyed being there. The walk felt like 500 minutes, all in slow motion.

When I got to my homeroom me and my classmates all sat on the ground in a circle and all stared at our teacher, Mr.erickson. Mr. Erickson was by far my favorite teacher, he was also my first male teacher. We had the same sense of humor so we got along so good. As we sat there we listened to my teacher speak to us about how good that year was and how we all still need to be there for eachother.

“I know a lot of you guys are separating, but never forget about my elementary school. Most of you guys were here since you guys were four and never left, some came along but were very welcomed and that’s why I love this school. I had a great time teaching you guys are preparing you for middle school, feel free to come and visit whenever.” said Mr.Erickson.

As he continued on I turned to look around at my classmates, his voice started fading out, tears began to pour out… One thing led to another and boom! Room full of 11-12 year olds sobbing. I’m pretty sure the tears made the teacher a little uncomfortable because that shut him right up. After minutes of us grouping up and hugging the bell rang and oh boy the classroom was just the beginning. I began walking to “The Corner”. “The Corner” was the corner of Harlan and Virginia which was where a group of us met everyday after school. Many relationship began there, many ended there, the littlest things the meant a lot to us happened there. When I got there of course I stopped and waited for everyone else, I look down the sidewalk and see the person I was specifically waiting for face full of tears. I began laughing because I thought his face looked funny but quickly stopped as he approached with his arms open.

“Even though we’re headed to different schools I still going to be there for you.” He spoke to me.

This kid was my best friend and going to different schools was so sad to me. We hugged and then I went to go cry with Eliana. Meanwhile Javier, Gio, Eliana, and me were bawling with tears, Diego and Fatima were the happiest thinking about how summer had just began. After crying a little Fatima, Eliana, and me started walking to gold crown.

Looking back at this day it’s still sad thinking about how many friends a lost but I laugh because that was just the beginning of what life has in store, it was time for change. I met so many more people that I enjoy hanging out with, if I really did want to still be friends with my elementary school friends I probably would be. I still am friends with some of them, I met other people through them and hang out with those people more than them. At the end of the day I learned to not get too comfortable.