High School is Hell

[Chosen Enemy]

BtVS has always referred to high school as Hell. In the show's case, it was literally on top of Hell(mouth). But Joss used the literal Hell as a metaphore for what we go through in high school.

That got me thinking. How was your high school experience (or if you're still in school, what is it like to you)? Did you feel like you were actually in Hell?

 

[VisionGirl]

No, but if the show would have been about junior high, I would have completely agreed!! Junior high/middle school was a horrific time for me. Let's me honest, your appearance is transitioning, I had some really mean friends, puberty starts happening, the boys are soooo immature!! In general I enjoyed high school, especially the last 2 years. By that point I was more settled into who I was and who my friends were, I had a steady boyfriend those last 2 years. And I was not among the popular crowd at school. I'd say I was medium on the popularity scale, but by that point I didn't care as much. I had friends among all groups of kids (I was kind of a chameleon)- I was in some honors classes (but not all), I was in band, flag squad, I worked a part time job etc. I was busy getting ready for college. First 2 years of high school were a bit iffy for me.

When I graduated I was definitely ready to go though. If you had asked me then, I probably would have told you that yes, high school was hell. University was even better for me- I loved everything about my college/university experience. Well, almost everything. 🙂

 

[sisterofmercy]

Secondary school was hellish to begin with. I was the only girl in my group for a while and so the other girls picked on me a lot. The fact that I got straight A's from day one seemed to give people a reason to pick on me as well. In Year 10 though I found a group of people who were also prime targets for the rest of the school and then by year 11 there were so many of us 'misfits' that we were able to band together and ignore people. We still got the chavs kicking footballs at us every other day, but at least we had the courage to steal their footballs and kick them onto the roof instead. I managed to get my own back a little bit as well as I was made Head Girl so got to report the people who were giving my friends and I grief.

I miss secondary school actually. College was hellish but that was more to do with teenage drama than anything. University has been the most hellish fr me though, as I am completely alone. The people there are awful so I haven't managed to make any friends. At least now I'm in second year I know what to expect and can just accept that I'll be spending a year on my own.

 

[kittenpoker]

Oy! Yeah high school (and middle school definitely!) is hard.... teenagedom is a tricky place, or so I found.... I was insecure and desperate to be accepted (or validated?). I was easy prey. It's taken me a long time to develop a sense of self indepent of how other people perceive me, and to grow confident in being me...In getting comfortable in my own skin... some people seem to arrive at home within themselves more quickly and I think maybe high school years are easier for them, I don't know.... but for me, yeah it was pretty helly.

 

[Lurconis]

I loved high school but I got away with murder at my school especially senior and junior year.

 

[WWGD]

Highschool was great for me. My best friend was in almost every single class with me for the first 2 years and we were just obnoxious. We didn't care what anybody thought about us because we hated just about everyone anyway. We'd just constantly be talking about funny shit and drawing really funny stuff all over our notes and homework and tests. I saw highschool as a big joke, and had tons of fun. The last 2 years my friend wasn't in many of my classes but I then had a girlfriend that I spent lots of time with.

I was never picked on by anybody. Have you ever seen the show Freaks and Geeks? Well, the people I hung out with consisted of a mixture of those. I wasn't one of the popular kids like I had been in middle school and I wasn't friends with many jocks or preppies but it's not like we hated each other either. Some people say they had the best time of their lives in highschool and would kill to go back to that time. Some people say they had the worst time ever and are glad it's behind them. I'd say that I had an amazing time, but would never want to go back. 🙂

 

[WileyDairyGnome]

I don't think High School is totally Hell, but what I don't like is how everything is a popularity contest. Like Willow said at the beginning of Season 4, being knowledgeable in High School was like frowned upon, which is totally true. I like never put up my hand in class, or volunteer to do something 'cause I feel like everyone would think I was weird. :/ I'm sort of glad I'm graduating this year.

 

[Willow My Love]

For most of it? Yes. Rumors flew rampantly about me. People would come ask me about them, and I'd thank them for letting me know, albeit sarcastically. (i.e. "Really? I didn't know that about myself. Wow. Learn something new everyday!") Y'know, that I was gay, I was suicidal, I tried to kill myself 17 times... None were actually true. Yeah, okay, I had a few relationships with girls, but I had some with guys too!

That, and I hated my teachers, at the one school. They showed favoritism towards the students that looked like perfect carbon copies of each other, and acted that way.

My other school (yeah, I went to two. Hard to explain.) I adored. People took the time to get to know you, the teachers as well, and everyone was on a first name basis. Teachers included. It was easy to get help, no one judged you for how you looked, it was great. Lots of drama though. With only 150 students, drama fills the atmosphere. We called it Linworth-drama. It was it's own brand of crazy.

My twin was popular, so everyone knew me, but I didn't know them. They'd say hi and whisper about me, and I didn't even know their names. That's how much I cared about them! I wore a lot of black and listened to loud music and hung out with angry people. I had rumors flying about me, but no one dared to really bully me. If not for how I looked, out of respect for my twin or older brother. That or fear of my friends...

I did get stalked by a kid in HS though... I wasn't listed in any phone book. My address was unfindable unless you followed me home, which he did. He'd stand outside my house at all hours of the night. A few friends (including the person I'm dating now) threatened him, and he stopped. Then at a concert, my person "accidentally" punched him in the face... Anywho...

All in all, I hated high school, and I'm glad I graduated early. But it does get better. Life after high school is NOTHING like high school! Some people never outgrow the drama, but just brush those people aside. 6 months after HS ends, you'll forget those people ever existed. My moral of the story is: hang in there. Get your education, and screw the people who try to make it hard for you. They DON'T matter. They're people you'll see for 4 years, and then you never have to see them again.

 

[Whirlwind]

For the most part, my high school experience was good. There were certainly a few awkward times there, and a couple of outright bad ones, but also a lot of fun ones. It seemed to get better as it went along. Senior year was probably the best.

 

[PrincessBuffy16]

No. Although, my HS was exactly what I expected it to be.. one of those HS from movies. Many people say how they want that experience, because in the movies, it seems so much fun. I wanted it too, but when I got it, I realized how people are wrong for wanting it. I always had someone by my side, I had friends, we had our own little group, we almost never fought, and we always stuck together. Good side, I guess, because so many people feel lonely in HS, like there's no one for them, and a lot of kids feel like there's something wrong with them. I guess I never had that feeling, because 24/7 I had someone, and being there for them was no problem for me either. But bad sides.. gossiping, talking bad stuff about people, doing really mean things to them, playing games, stealing boyfriends... Now I feel really stupid for participating in that. But we had a pact, we never got against each other, there was no lies between us.. but the thing was, if one of us wanted to do something, others had to help her, no matter how wrong we thought it was. Now it sounds moronic, but when you're 14, it feels like friendship that will last for life. But I never got to be my true self with them. I liked things we discussed.. fashion, boys, shopping. I loved it all. Parties, sneaking out of the house, eating ice cream at 3am in the nearby park. But I always wanted more.. you know, real talk. About what we want to do after we finish HS, our dreams and believes.. even religion and world hunger. But some of those girls acted like their life will finish with HS. Like there is no more. I guess this place helped me a lot. I joined when I was starting my 3rd year of HS. Then I started to open up.. and I met people outside my little safe group. The thing is.. when people know you for 3 years by being one of those mean girls, it's hard to convince them otherwise. So, I kinda feel alone now. I'm in the middle of being friends with my old group, and not being friends with them.. because all they talk is about what had happened in HS. I kinda hope things will change once college stars. But no, I can't say HS was hell for me. It was nice, and when I was younger, all the stuff I did seemed right. And I guess it's all that matters. We all made mistakes, but I'm grateful I wasn't alone.

 

[nightshade]

I hated it, I didn't really fit in, and while I was friends with several groups of people I didn't really feel like I belonged in any group. I was also bullied throughout school, which made everything worse. I never want to go back and don't really speak with anyone I went to school with.

 

[patriot1123]

I was perfectly happy freshman and soph years, and then my parents dragged me away to a new city and a huge high school and I never made any friends there and had no social life and didn't make the sports teams becasue the coaches didn't know me even though I'd been the best girl athlete in my grade at my old school. I felt really alone and isolated, so that wasn't fun. But I studied all the time (nothing else to do), made good grades, and got into a good college. 🙂

 

[Enemies]

I loved high school. I had a good group of friends and all of use were friends with different groups so I got on with everyone. Don't get me wrong I fell out with my friends, got in trouble (nothing to bad) and at times dreaded going but overall I loved it. For me it was a place to meet up with my best friends and we had all our classes together so overall it was really good.

I have realised since leaving high school how quickly friends come and go. I made one best friend in middle school and we're still friends now although there are other friends that I would have said at the time I'd never not be friends with and now I never see them. And it is true in my opinion that school years are the best of your life, simple for the no worries attitude 🙂

 

[WileyDairyGnome]

For most of it? Yes. Rumors flew rampantly about me.

Ugh, rumors are so annoying. I heard one about me that was completely idiotic and untrue, I literally cannot imagine how any person could come up with it. I mean, do people just sit around all day thinking up random fake rumors to spread, even though they know for a fact it's not true? Teenagers can be so immature. 🙄

 

[LoveLoveLovix]

I love high school. I really starting growing into myself in my freshman year, and that just expands with each year I spend. I went from being the odd, nerdy girl in eighth grade to a girl with friends... then to a girl who wasn't afraid to be herself... and now, hopefully, into someone almost confident. High school also has been giving me some awesome memories, between my music classes and the random pranks and mini flash mobs my friends and I pull together.

Though I wish I would graduate this year like I was supposed to, I am a little bit happy I have to take an extra year, simply because it means I can possibly become an even better person than I would with only four years, and because now that I'm just getting adjusted to my new school, I have more times to make real memories instead of memories of being the moronic new girl. 🙂 I love hs so far- I have so many stories from it and my mindlibrary is only growing.

(Also, middle school sucks and anything is good compared to it). 😀

 

[Mithol]

I love High School. It helped that my school encompassed primary and secondary school though, so I didn't start out knowing nobody. I had a great time, I had lots of friends and I felt I was quite popular.

It's uni that sucks. If I don't drop out or fail I may cause myself harm from how much I hate it to death. It's too hard, too much work, too many things I don't understand and I have no friends.

I miss High School so much.

 

[prophecygrrl]

I didn't really like high school. It was all right, but half the time I hated a lot of my classes, I didn't really like a lot of people at my school and I just wanted to leave really badly. I had the WORST senioritis. I wouldn't call high school "hell" exactly, but I imagine for a lot of people it totally can be. Thank god for my friends. If I didn't have them, I definitely would've felt like I was in hell. I think the worst part about high school is that you can't leave. You can't elect not to go without screwing up your future. You have to follow their rules, be watched and graded and tested all the time. It's unnatural and it can really tear you down.

I've only been in college (uni for non-US peeps 😀) for a few weeks but so far I'm having a good time. I like my floor mates, I met my brain twin and we're really fast friends, my classes are all interesting. Robert Reich is coming to speak at my colloquium on American Politics next week. Robert Reich! 😀 Things are infinitely more interesting and exciting here.

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

My high-school experience certainly wasn't hellish by any means, but it certainly wasn't anything to write home about, lol.

My first year I went to Catholic high-school, which was a lot of work and there was a lot of rules. I had a core group of friends and a boyfriend, and was in drama club. I didn't concern myself much with popularity.

The last two years, I did a program called Running Start, which is a college-prep program where you actually attend community college classes and get dual high-school/college credit. So, I guess I never had a "typical" high-school experience - which is fine with me. So, I graduated in three years instead of four, which was cool I guess.

Junior high was hard, though. I was bullied and depressed, and semi-anorexic for a time. Seriously, I think I blocked out the years between age 12-15. They were just awful.

 

[Kean]

My teenage years were Hellish, but not because of school. I finished secondary school 6 years ago, and to be honest a lot of is a blur to me now, but I'm pretty certain I had a great school experience: great friends, student government, school plays...the whole nine yards.

If anything, I bullied and tortured myself through secondary school. There were, of course, some sticky situations, but thinking back now I can't help but feel I brought that on by being so incredibly hard on myself.

 

[PrincessBuffy16]

Joan the Vampire Slayer agrees: Interesting. Sounds kinda like Gossip Girl, lol. I'm glad you enjoyed your HS experience. Being an adult is so boring! Enjoy your youth while you can

I wish it was like GG! Maybe then I would be sexy like Serena, witty like Blair, have awesome clothes and a boyfriend like Nate 😛 Unfortunately, I had none of those things.. well, I know how to be witty 😛