2011
"Georgie Sophia Tapper." There goes my sister. Don't cry Porter, just don't cry. Grandma don't look at me. There she is. She looks beautiful. And here come the water works.
Today is the day my sister graduates from high school. And in just a few weeks, I'm going into high school. I'm finally moving up in life, high school is going to be the greatest ever.
"Porter, we are going out to find your sister. Let's go." My mom says as she gets out of her seat. She was crying too. Her daughter had just graduated high school. She spent Georgie's entire senior year yelling at her about scholarships and applying to colleges.
In the great state of New York, you have to be extremely smart to even make it in middle school, let alone high school. So you can imagine the stress of applying everywhere and praying you get in. The cool thing about my sister though, is that she knew exactly what she wanted to be the moment she came out of the womb. She wanted to become an event planner. Like planning huge weddings for people like Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult. I'm only saying him considering they are together. Anyways, Georgie got into NYU and all the other colleges that she applied to, but she chose NYU. We move her in in June I think.
"I'm coming." I tell my mom as I take a tissue and wipe my face. "Come on sweet heart." My dad says holding his arm out. I go up to him and he puts his arm around me.
We go outside of the building where Georgie's graduation was held and look for her there. There were so many caps and gowns we couldn't tell who was who. Finally we saw a familiar face, but it wasn't Georgie. It was actually her boyfriend, Dave. They've been dating since Georgie's junior year. He's not the brightest guy considering he was suppose to graduate in the class of 2010, but he's going into the military so I guess that's pretty cool.
He's six feet tall according to my sister and he was curly brown hair and brown eyes. He has an attractive face, I'll say that.
"Dave, have you seen Georgie?" My mom asks.
"No, not since she got on the stage to receive her diploma."
"Don't worry, don't worry, I'm right here!" Georgie says appearing out of no where. "Look at you, Porter, you look so beautiful. I love your dress." I was wearing a blue dress with white and pink flowers on it. She went shopping with me for the dress so I could wear it especially to her graduation. She also convinced me not to dye my hair a different color before going into high school. She said our families notorious red hair worked for her all four years of high school and that it will work for me too.
"Georgie, I'm so proud of you." I tell her. She smiles and hugs me. "Thanks sis, I'm just happy it's over. But I'm starving, how about we go get some lunch and celebrate!"
We all climbed into my dads car and went to my sisters favorite restaurant, Olive Garden. It was me, my sister, mom, dad, and grandma. "Do you want to see my year book?" Georgie whispers to me as the adults begin to talk about things like college.
"Wouldn't you much rather join in the conversation of you going off to college in like two months?" I joke.
"Oh of course." She smiles and pulls out her year book. ALBANY HIGH SCHOOL was written in lights by skyscrapers that were on the front of the year book. AHS always did a good job at year book designs. She opened up to the senior portraits and I looked at hers.
"You look so beautiful." I tell her. She smiles.
"You should start scoping out some of the freshman from this year." She nudged me and winked."I think I'll be okay." I laugh.
"Too late." She says and opens up to the underclassmen photos. She points out a few freshman she thinks I would possibly like. They were good looking, and I had recognized some of them who went to my middle school, but none stuck out.
"Well you'll have plenty of time to look at them when you get there." She laughs.
"So Georgie, what do you think about going off to college?" My grandma asks her.
Basically the next two months are all about Georgie. Orientation weekend, apartment shopping, apartment supplies shopping, clothes shopping, settling on an apartment, packing up Georgie's room, moving her out, moving her into her apartment, meeting the roommates, and then finally saying the goodbyes.
My entire summer was based on her. Which was fine, I didn't care, I love my sister, so I knew it would be okay. But saying goodbye to her was hard. Knowing I wouldn't see her again for another, oh I don't know, two weeks, was really weird. She was two hours away, and so she wouldn't be coming home every week like some students will for the first month of two. Instead, she's probably going to come home every two weeks. Maybe just once a month. Who knows, I just hope it's not like two months at a time. She came home two weeks later, for my freshman year orientation.
We arrive at AHS orientation. My heart is pounding, I was getting my freshman year schedule. I just couldn't believe it. "Here, orientation is in the cafeteria." Georgie says to me leading the way. I follow her through a door leading inside of the school and down a hallway.
"Oh look, there's my picture!" Georgie says pointing to the Albany High Hall of Fame. She was there, right next to the valedictorian. We reach the cafeteria and see a bunch of freshman in a line.
"This is the line for your schedules." She tells me. I nod my head in understanding. We wait for a good ten minutes and finally reach the front where some teachers were sitting.
"Last name?" An old woman asks without even looking up.
"Uhm Tapper." I tell her. She flips through the papers and grabs a piece of paper.
"Porter?" She asks finally looking up. I smile and nod and take my schedule.
"Thank you." I say and walk into the ID picture line. "Is it like this every orientation?" I ask Georgie.
"Basically. What's your schedule?" She asks. I hadn't even looked at it yet.
My home room teacher was Franks. I had biology honors first period, geometry honors second, english honors third, world history honors fourth, french fifth, early childhood development sixth, and gym seventh. Wait, GYM!
"I have to take gym?" I whine.
"You have to have one credit of gym to graduate. At least you're getting it out of the way this year. So be happy." Georgie says. We reach the front of the line and I stand in front of the wall and smile. I walk over to the girls who took my picture and wait for my ID to be printed out. After a few seconds it comes out and I look at it. It wasn't bad, I mean my smile looks a little cheesy, but aside from that I think I look pretty cute.
"So was that it?" I ask my sister.
"Now you have to get your bus route. Mom and dad aren't going to drive you." We go over and grab my bus route. I have to be at the bus stop and 6:10 every morning. Which basically means waking up at like 5. This should be great.
First Day
"GOOD MORNING!" My mom shouts as I walk down the stairs. I was too nervous to really sleep much.
"Morning mom." I yawn.
"Are you ready for your first day of high school?" She asks me.
I shake my head no and walk back upstairs to change into an outfit. I decide on a grey shirt, beanie, and jeans. Pretty simple for the first day of school. Might as well make an impression.
I walk to my bus stop, and it's still dark outside, just great. There are two other kids already there engaged in conversation. The bus came a few minutes later and I got on. I was on my way to my first day of high school. I was sitting in my seat alone listening to some Katy Perry when two stops later, a random boy sits in my seat. I look up at him and take my music out. He was a bit chunky, wore glasses and smelled like axe body spray.
"This seat is taken." I tell him. He turns to look at me and takes out his music too.
"Sorry, I didn't realize. I sat in this seat all the time last year. My bad, I'll move." He gets up and moves to the front. The moment he moves another boy takes his place before I can even put my music in.
"This seat is taken." I say sternly.
"It's fine, I'm not looking for a relationship anyways." The guy says.
"What?" I was seriously confused.
"It was a joke. You know, you said it was taken and I said I wasn't looking for a- you know what, it doesn't matter. Hi, I'm Chace." The guy smiles at me. He was attractive, that's for sure. He was tanned, had dirty blonde hair, and bright blue eyes.
"Hi Chace, this seat is taken though." I tell him.
"Well I see that we are both sitting in it, so yes I suppose it is taken. What's your name?" He looks at me.
"Porter." I tell him.
"Cool. I'll see you around." He says and gets up and moves to the back of the bus.