Sidonie, Wendy, Sinead, Chantelle, Sofia, ME, Kate, Scarlett, Florence, Molly, Caprice and Gaby lying across the table - no surprises. If someone told me this whilst I was at secondary school I would probably have drop-kicked them. But looking back on secondary school now, I can hands down say it was, as well as being the worst, one of the best times of my life (so far).

If you're reading this now and still in secondary school, you're going to probably hate me but seriously, as soon as you walk out the front doors for the last time, you'd wish you could go back.

And here's why...

1. You don't have to worry about what you wear 

(Unless it's mufti, but that's a whole other story) Yes the school uniform may have made you look 5lbs heavier than you were and yes there were teachers constantly nagging you to "roll you skirt down" but you didn't have the daily struggle of not knowing what to wear. You could simply just chuck your school uniform on and you'd be ready.


2. Everyone was at that "awkward teenage growth" part at the same time

Whether your body clock was a few months ahead or behind your peers, it was almost socially acceptable to be covered in spots or have really long arms that your body hadn't grown into yet. I guarantee that if you look back to your Year 8 days when you think you hit your peak of cool, you really looked like some out-of-proportion teenage girl who had a fight with a make up brush - and lost.


3. You made friends for life

Regardless of whether you liked them or not, the people you were friends with at secondary school are the ones who you'll say "Hi" to walking down the street in 10 years time. Plus you'll have bare Facebook friends.


4. You learnt so many life lessons - by basically making 876543 mistakes

Yeah that eye-liner you wore to school that day, well let's just say, thank god you got laughed at and never wore it again. School is the time to test and try new things to begin to morph yourself into the person you want to be. Everyone is trying to find themselves and it's a good thing because your harshest critics are your peers. If they give you that look of "oh my what has happened to her hair, it looks like she's just stumbled out of Claire's Accessories" when you come into school with - what you think is your best - hairdo covered in pink hair clips, then take their advice, seriously.


5. You probably had your first kiss at school

This has got to be one of the best reasons. It may have been saliva city and in front of all of his mates but you had your first kiss, a proper kiss and you probs won't ever forget it.


6. All the memories

Oh the memories. The ones where your note passing with your friends gets intercepted by a teacher, which was no biggie because all it said was "Hi, I'm bored xoxo". And you can't forget the ones which involve being asked by your crush (who did actually get down on one knee) but breaking up the next day because "it's not you, it's me".


7. You didn't have to shave your legs for PE

Sounds gross I know, but when you get to secondary school and your PE lessons involve no sweaty boys and watching pathetic attempts of girls try and play netball, no one cares about the hair on your legs. If anything, it was "cool" to have gone the longest time without shaving your legs. So embrace it whilst it lasts girls.


8. You had the thrill of making the first page of your new exercise book the best

Yes, that does mean whacking out your new fine point BIC pen, writing in your best handwriting and underlining your heading with a ruler AND A PENCIL - ahh bliss.


9. Eating all your lunch at break time, then getting free food from your friends at lunchtime

Yeah so you basically had two lunchtimes a day (lucky you).


10. Spending half of your ICT lesson planning what WordArt you'd use

Would you use the rainbow with shadow? Or the semi-circle without shadow? Decisions, decisions. Treasure these moments because when you're in Sixth Form you don't have time to make it look all pretty and bold - it's all Times New Roman now.


11. You could burn pens in bunsen burners

C'mon, you can't say you've never done that. You can't do that now, unless you take Science A Level but you've got no time to burn pens because now you need those pens so go burn all the pens in the world and have fun.


12. Changing your name when you had a substitute teacher

There's always at least someone in the class who does this every cover lesson, even if you change your name to something ridiculous (I apologise if this is your name) like Bob, Norman or Gertrude the substitute teacher still believed you, what a joker.


13. School Trips

Singing on the coach, missing days of school because of school trips, seeing teachers in jeans (I know wtf they do really have normal clothes!), being given over €100 spending money by your parents, just school trips in general.


14. Prom

This is when you could pretend you were at an Ameican High School Prom and get driven to the venue (in my case it was a football ground - wow, I know) in a swanky car, in a very expensive dress that you'll definitely never wear again and make up and hair that took the whole day to do. Ah Prom.


15. New Stationery every September

Yeah that's right. New pens, pencils, pencil cases, ruler, well you get the idea. New everything for the start of a new school year, even though your pencil case from last year was still usable, you needed a new one - of course.


16. That wall in the girls toilets

We all had that wall. The wall which was a collage of phone numbers, "I <3 *insert name here*, conversations and most important of all...gossip. That's where you'd go to find out who kissed who or what lies people had spread. Regardless of whether it was true or not, it was fun to read whilst having a pee.


17. House Parties

I don't need to say anymore. House parties, just house parties.


18. You learnt things you'd never need to know for the future

Pythagoras's Theorem, Photosynthesis, Trigonometry, yeah you're wasting you're time.


19. You learnt things you'd definitely need to know for the future  

How to lie, which websites have the answers to all the mocks and how to deal with boys.


20. You could carry so much in your blazer pockets

Who needs a bag anyway? You could carry your phone in one pocket (there was even a pocket dedicated for it), decanter your entire pencil case in another, roll up your books and put them in one and your lunch in another. So what if it made you hips look wide enough to be able to give birth, you were hands free - durh.


21. You could get away with being late to class because your friend was "being sick in the toilet"

Especially if it was a male teacher because he wanted nothing to do with all the "lady problems", when in actual fact she probs wasn't being sick, you were just in deep conversation about the latest gossip and put her arm around her when you walked in to class 10 minutes late - no biggie.


22. To be popular all you needed was a stash of chewing gum 

Something happens and as soon as you hit 12 all you want in life for the next 5 years is a bit of gum. As soon as someone whacked out a packet, everyone would flock around like seagulls and pester them until the whole packet was empty. So here's my advice, stock up the night before and offer chewing gum to everyone - trust me.


23. The teachers actually cared about you

Yeah they might have shouted at you and given you too much homework but that's their job. You may think they're annoying when they constantly ask you if you're okay but trust me, enjoy it whilst it lasts, because as soon as you leave it all changes.


24. It's easy

If you're still in school and reading this you're probably think I'm delusional but trust me on this one, secondary school is easy. As soon as you walk out those doors, your life begins and boy does it get harder. So enjoy it whilst it lasts, enjoy being looked after, enjoy all the freedom because it all goes downhill once you leave :) :) :)

Thanks for reading!

Bethany

XXX

To contact me or for business related inquires, please feel free to email me at bethany@bethanyemerton.com