Homecoming was a week away and I didn't have anything to wear or a date. I wanted Kevin to ask me but he still hasn't so I thought I should ask him instead. I called my friends and they thought it was a good idea and wanted to do it for their dates too. So we all met up and we headed to the stores. We picked up some snacks, posters, markers, and other things. We came back to my house and we made our posters. I took my poster and painted it black. I waited till it dried and added some blue glitter all over it. I then wrote “ Homecoming? “ on the poster with some blue paint. I took this shoebox and painted it black and put some of his favorite candies inside and I was ready. As we were driving to his house I was sweating. I was super nervous and felt like I was going to pass out. We arrived and I rang his doorbell, when he opened it he took a long pause and then he said ….YES! I was super relieved that I had gotten a date but now I had to find a dress and some shoes. That weekend my friends and I went to the mall to look for some dress. I looked into like 5 stores and couldn't find anything I liked. We went to a different mall that was like 40 minutes away and I still couldn't find anything. We decide to leave. As I was walking out I saw this Pink long dress with glitter around the neck. I stopped and said, “THAT'S THE ONE”. We went inside and brought the dress. I still didn't have any shoes but we had to go home because it was almost my curfew and we still had a 40-minute drive. 

The next day my mom took me to this shoe store and I was hoping I could find some shoes because prom was on Monday. I found some sparkly white heels that will go perfectly with my dress. I tried them on and immediately loved them. We brought them and headed home. Monday came super quick and it was homecoming. When I finished school I ran home and started getting ready because the dance was at 6:00 pm and it was already 4:00 pm. I showered and put on my dress. I did my makeup and curled my hair and put it in a bun with two strands out in front of my face. Kevin picked me up at 5:30 pm and we took pictures. We met up with some friends and headed to my school. The dance was in the gym and the theme was blue. We danced and took a ton of pictures in the photo booth. We ate some pizza and all laughed together. After the dance, Kevin dropped me off at home and I went straight to bed because I was exhausted and had school the next day.

For about six month’s  my senior year went great, hanged out with friends, talked about senior prom and other senior activities, went to homecoming, etc. But one day all of that stopped. Let's backtrack to the day I got the worst news of my life. I was hanging out with my friends at lunch when …” Did you guys hear about this pandemic thing called covid - 19 something like that? “ Kevin asked . “ yeah I heard about it, I'm not worried it's probably just like the flu “. Anna said. I didn't think much of it, so I kept going on with my day. During homeroom Mr. Gavin seemed off, he seemed disappointed. “May I have your attention everyone “. Mr. Gavin said. Everyone turned around and looked concerned. “We will not be in the school building for the upcoming 2 weeks “. Mr. Gavin said. Everyone was confused. We didn't understand because we didn't have any breaks coming up so we didn't understand why we weren't going to be in school. “I don't understand, why don't we have school Mr ? “. I asked. “With this new pandemic going on, having you guys in school can be a big risk “. Mr. Gavin said. And at that very moment was when I started worrying. I worried if we would be back in school, if my prom and graduation were still going to happen and how bad the pandemic could get.

“I will be passing out a packet that you guys will be completing  during the 2 weeks. I left my email on the front page so if you guys have any questions feel free to email me “. Mr. Gavin said. We got out of school early, So I didn't have any other classes. “I can't believe this, two weeks without school awesome ! “ Kevin said. Although everyone was content about not going to school for 2 weeks, I wasn't because that was 2 weeks I will miss of my senior year doing nothing. On the other side when I got home my mom had already heard the news and was thrilled about it. She said this could give us time to bond as a family. One week went by and I haven't done any of that packet or heard any news on what day we're going back. The virus was getting worse and a lot of people have been getting sick. Later that day I was watching the news with my family when they announced that we will not be returning to school anytime soon. ‘ WHAT! I yelled. I couldn't believe it. I ran to my room and slammed the door. I didn't want to talk to anyone, I cried for two hours straight. When I looked at myself my eyes were as big as a ball my nose was so red and my hair looked like I just woke up. By the time I had gotten out of my room my parents were asleep, I grabbed my phone and saw 20 missed messages and calls from my friends. All the messages were about the same. “ OMG did you watch the news? “, “Did you watch the news ?, “ NO SCHOOL! “. Everyone seemed happy to hear this news but I couldn't understand why they would be happy about their senior year getting ruined. 

Couldn't get worse than that right? well, it did. Let's see how my first months of no in-person school went. As the pandemic got worse we needed to start wearing masks. Everything was closed and we had to quarantine. Still no news on when we were going back to school but for now we just did online school. My parents also weren't working so having to stay inside all day with the same people could get pretty aggravating. Online school wasn't the same as in-person, everything was harder to understand. You couldn't see your friends. Everything just sucked. At least my prom and graduation weren't canceled….yet. My parents and I had a lot of family game nights which we needed since we never spent enough time together because my parents were always working and I was always busy with school. We watched a ton of movies and shows. I started applying to NYU, UCLA, Stanford, Brown University, Columbia University, and a few more for college and was waiting on my acceptance letters. I prayed that I would get into NYU. For now, everything was okay.  

I still had hoped my prom and graduation weren't going to get canceled. But everything is just getting worse. I logged onto my computer and saw “ Unfortunately due to the pandemic prom and graduation will be canceled, we are extremely sorry for our seniors but there was nothing we could do . We hope you will understand “. My heart dropped down to my stomach, I could feel the lump in my throat that we all get when we're about to cry. I reread it 5 times to make sure I wasn't reading it wrong and every time I read it I was closer to crying. One second I felt one drop of a tear then the other second I was balling my eyes out for 5 hours straight. I went through 6 boxes of tissues. I ended up falling asleep, when I woke up my mascara had been all over my face. I looked like a zombie. My eyes were puffy, my hair was a different story and my nose was all stuffy. I cried for a whole week, I didn't get out of bed, I barely ate. I was broken, my heart was broken into a million pieces. I eventually came to the realization that I can't cry forever and there was no fixing it. 

Everyone was posting their acceptance letter from NYU, So I logged onto my computer and saw I had gotten an email from them. My heart started beating and i could barely breathe. I crossed my fingers and slowly opened the letter. “ We are sorry to inform you …” and from there I knew I didn't get accepted into my dream school. I was pretty bummed I didn't get into NYU because I really wanted to go but I knew there were still some good schools left so I didn't worry too much . 2 weeks later I got my acceptance letter from UCLA and I got the same feeling from when I was opening up my NYU letter. I opened the letter and I got accepted. I started jumping up and down and was screaming. I was super excited that I got into UCLA because it was a very good school and I was grateful I got into one school so far. As time passed I got accepted into Stanford. I didn't get into my other choices but I was still happy with at least 2 schools. I just didn't know which one to choose. I decided to do some research on both schools because I wanted to choose the school that was right for me. After weeks of research, I decided to go with my heart and choose UCLA. I was very pleased with my choice.

My 18th birthday had come up and I didn't think my parents were going to plan anything since there wasn't much we could do with the whole pandemic. I was woken up by my parents singing happy birthday to me with a cake. I blew out the candles half  asleep. I woke up 2 hours later and my parents had made me my favorite breakfast pancakes with strawberries, raspberries, and whipped cream on them. After breakfast, I got ready even though I couldn't go anywhere. I wore this white dress with blue flowers on it and some white flats, and I straightened my hair. When I went downstairs there were so many presents and the whole house was decorated. There was a pink cake that said “Happy birthday Natalie !” hanging on the wall was a banner that said “HAPPY BIRTHDAY”. There was a big 1 and 8 pink balloon. There were a lot of pink balloons on the floor. I didn't expect my parents to do anything. I opened my presents and most of them were clothes then there was one present that my parents saved for last. Every time I opened a box there was a box inside. I kept finding a box inside until I got to the last box and when I opened it, it was Airpod pros. My face lit up and I had a big smile on my face. I've been asking for these since they came out and I didn't think I would get them unless I paid for them myself. We ate some cake and watched a movie for the rest of the day. 

Fast forward to June it was the last month of school and we ended up still virtual and the pandemic had gotten a little better but we still had to wear masks. Some stores were opening up with the policy that only 5 people could go in at a time. The whole month was just me focusing on school trying to end my high school years with all A’s. On the bright side, my SAT was canceled so I didn't have to study for that. Just like that, it was my last day of school and I was officially done with high school. Even though I didn't get to have my prom and graduation, I came up with the brilliant idea to throw a prom/graduation party at home. I told my parents about it and they agreed. We headed to party city and grabbed a bunch of decorations. We stopped at a few dress places and picked out a blue dress with white sparkles on it. We got home and my parents started decorating. They wanted it to be a surprise so while they worked on that I went upstairs and got ready. I did my makeup to match my dress, I curled my hair and put it in a half up and half down ponytail. I put on some sparkly white heels I had there from homecoming.

When everything was all done I went downstairs. My mouth dropped down to the floor. I was so shocked at how pretty my parents had made it look, it didn't even look like our house. We had a photo section with a blue background and some signs to hold up for the picture. We had a snack bar with my favorite snacks. There was a disco ball that made the whole living room look like a party and we had blue balloons next to a sign that said “CONGRATULATIONS''. There was a cake that matched my dress. I couldn't invite any friends because it would be a big risk so for the whole night,  My parents and I danced and played games. We ate snacks and laughed together. My dad and I had a daddy-daughter dance which made my prom unique. My parents had gotten me a gift. I didn't know what it was, they blindfolded me and walked me outside. They told me to open my hands and they placed a key in my hands. When I took the blindfold off there was a black 2020 Honda civic in front of me. I started jumping up and down from the excitement and was screaming I couldn't believe I had gotten my very own car. I was super excited to have my car and go places on my own. I might've gotten my traditional prom canceled but this prom was a one-of-a-kind prom and I wouldn't trade it for anything. And that was how my senior year went. Now I am a freshman at UCLA majoring in Small Business Management/Operations. I'm starting my year virtual but I'm making the best out of it. My parents have returned to work so it is easier for me to focus even though I miss them.