High School Musical was my favorite movie growing up. I dreamed once I entered high school, my life would be like Gabriella Montez’s, but instead my experience was the opposite.

In the beginning of freshman year, my life was going great. I met my online best friend who made me smile, and I never felt happier. Life seemed like a movie, it was everything I dreamed of, until COVID-19 happened.

I was optimistic for sophomore year. I was ready to make it my year, but then I was doing online school and felt super unmotivated. Classes were hard online, it never made sense to me. I failed two classes and my family constantly reminded me about it.

Everything seemed as if it was going downhill. I didn’t know what to do, and I hoped junior year would be better, but the universe decided to not be kind to me. 

Starting off junior year, I lost my online best friend. I lost myself during quarantine and my best friend betraying me broke me even more. At night I would cry in my bed, hoping all the pain would go away, but every day I worked hard in school. I thought things couldn’t get any worse until they did. 

My childhood best friend, the girl who promised we would still be together in high school began to slowly distance herself from me. Losing one best friend hurt, but losing two in a few months felt like I was dying. 

I wanted to give up. Life didn’t seem fun anymore and each breath I took was painful. 

I tried to not let that break me even more, so I stayed up to study and made sure my grades never dropped below a 95. My school life was better than ever. I received compliments of how smart I am, and my family was finally proud of me. 

The day my journalism teacher said I should join the newspaper class, I hesitated. I thought my writing wasn’t good, I’m a shy girl who couldn’t talk to strangers because my anxiety and having to interview people was scary to me. But I thought I’m not doing anything with my life, so why not join the newspaper?

It’s silly to say, but the newspaper class and the friends I made helped me a lot. I didn’t think my life would ever be good again. I was so used to the pain and sadness I didn’t think I would ever be happy. 

To Taylor: I’m truly heartbroken I will be leaving you. On the days I was sad, you always knew how to make me feel better, even without knowing I was upset. You have this personality that makes people smile and laugh. Thank you for always listening to me rant about Dream and even encouraging my delusions about DreamNotFound. You are one of the kindest people I know, and I’m forever grateful. I will miss you making everyone yell your name because you said something out of pocket. I hope you do well in high school and you keep smiling because you deserve it. 

To Jade: My favorite country girl. You say the funniest things ever, I don’t know how but you can make me laugh with just one word. I enjoyed each time you shared a story with the class, always leaving us in shock yet laughing so hard. When things were stressful in the newspaper, you knew how to calm us down. Especially when it was district for UIL, I was nervous but making jokes with you helped me calm down. 

To Daniel: I’m so sorry for always attacking you, but hope you understand it’s my way of showing I care. You are so easy to bicker with and just letting me say whatever to you is so funny, but I’m glad you started to say hi to me in the hallways now. I never thought we would become friends, but you are so funny especially when you also make fun of James. Hope to see you in college where we can still laugh together. 

To Claire: The trip to Austin was so much fun with you. We bonded over K-pop, us going to Target and making Pinkham watch us open our albums was a core memory. I love just talking to you about K-pop because I never had someone to talk about TWICE with before. I will miss us ganging up on James though, that was always fun.

To James: You are someone I never thought I would hang out with, but you surprised me. In Austin, you made me laugh, especially at the blue men meme. I am upset you don’t know how to cook fish, and no, it wasn’t good. That being said, you are an interesting person but I will miss everyone picking on you for fun. 

To AJ: When we first met I was actually intimidated by you. But as time went on, I realized you are so sweet. The way you talk just gives me comfort. You are the best writer I’ve ever met, and I’m so proud of everything you’ve done. I love talking to you about anything but especially Kit Connor, it is fun to fangirl with you. I will miss seeing you in class as your smile brightens my day.

To Rae: I love talking to you about TWICE and simping with you about our favorite celebrities. The trip with Austin with you was one of the best days of senior year. I also enjoyed the times you, Taylor and I talked about random stuff. It didn’t matter what but our talks are the best. I never thought we would become friends, but once we started to talk about our interests and about people we don’t like, I knew you would become one of my favorite friends. Being around you makes me smile, and you know what to say when I’m feeling down. Even though we are going our separate ways, I will always have a special place in my heart for you. 

To Pinkham: Being in your class was the best part of senior year. Even though I did a lot of writing, I enjoyed myself. I never had a teacher I was able to comfortably talk with and make jokes with, until I met you. You are incredibly awkward but so am I, beside that you still made me feel safe and happy in class. I know you have so much work, yet you still make jokes with us. I hope you enjoyed all my talks about Dream and how much I love him. Thank you for listening to me ramble about my interest and explaining to you why I needed $115 worth of Dream plushies. I will miss you and the class, but you prepared me for the next few years with my writing.

Senior year was stressful, but my friends in the newspaper class made it worth it. While yes, my childhood best friend came into my life again and I became close with her other friend, I was happy again.

The past four years weren’t easy, and I’m so ready to be done with it, but thank you newspaper class for helping me survive this year. This chapter of my life is closing, and it’s heartbreaking to leave my newspaper friends, but I will always cherish and love the memories we shared.