So, I was walking around the commons area before the school day started, and I saw a bunch of people arrive at school from their buses, cars, vans, trucks, etc. But then, as soon as people started to get closer to the shaded picnic table area, I noticed how the mob of people slowly separated into little groups, like when oil separates into water.

I boldly remember the summer before I came into the ninth grade at West Shore. I was talking to my friend Abby (who had moved to West Shore in the eighth grade) about the social aspect of the school. I wanted to know if I would fit in easily, or if it would just be like on television where the cheerleaders, band geeks and jocks all shun everybody else. She told me that everyone was like a huge family; everyone helps each other out through thick and thin. She told me how everyone knows everyone, and I would fit in perfectly.

Though there is no particular “nerd herd” because we are at West Shore, and everybody is somehow academically advanced, it seems to me that my high school years here are probably more cliquey than my middle school years at Cocoa Beach were. It was a pain to find a place to belong; everyone was already preoccupied with their little friends and foes.

You’d think that since West Shore has a roughly estimated 965 head count (meaning it’s extremely small), that everyone would know everyone, we’d all be ‘bffs’ but that is hardly the case at all. A few days ago, I was asked to pray in the commons area right before lunch. For the first couple of days, I was too scared to do it because I knew I would be judged by others; my precious reputation would be capsized. Life would just be so much sweller if people would just mind their own business. We’re praying, not burning the school down. I hear people judging others all the time, about what they look like, who they hang out with, how they spend their weekends, and even their study methods. Some always find a way to tear someone down, or they hold a grudge for the longest time. Seriously, what’s the point?

Overall, I just wish we could all just set aside out differences and focus on being friendly to each other. As we get older and go through our high school years, we are going to have to learn to rely on one another, so we might as well start now. In a few years, nobody is going to care who is the most popular, who’s got the most luscious hair, or who has the cutest boyfriend.

Maybe it’s because we were brought into a generation that is becoming more and more separated; or maybe it’s because our generation is just so nosy. But, West Shore, we go to school five times a week, for roughly six hours a day, and whether you like it or not, you are stuck with these classmates until your high school career ends. Stop being so judgmental and go make a new friend.

By Tania Martin