Ow!
Report cards. The dumb kids hate them. The smart kids love them. I personally have no feelings towards them. Well, I used to have no feelings towards them. But, my mind was changed freshman year on the day every student received his or her report card. It was the end of the third quarter and everyone was antsy as we all gathered into our homerooms at the end of the day to finally take a peek at our fate. Some of us would go home and get grounded. Some of us would go home and pin that clean, smooth piece of the paper onto the refrigerator. My report card was pretty good, if I do say so myself. But as the majority of the freshman class stumbled into the stairwell, itching to go home, one girl would experience the most embarrassing thing that every student secretly fears. This girl would fall down the steps, all the way down the steps, in front of everyone.
That girl… was me.
It all started out when I was walking out of my homeroom and into the stairwell. I saw my friend Kirsten and I sped to catch up with her. We were soon engaged in a very thought-provoking conversation. The only problem was that she was in front of me so I sort of had to lean over in order to hear what she was saying. Everything was going fine until my two-inch high clogs got caught on the step and I soon felt myself gliding down the stairs like a skier on a mountain slope. Except the skier fell on its knees and the snow was very hard and shaped like steps. During this process, my shoe fell off and one student was kind enough to get that for me once my trip had come to an end. I looked up as everyone gasped, and I remember very clearly the look on Austin LaPoten’s face—it was the look of witnessing someone doing something very painful; a cringe of all cringes. “Ow” was all he could muster.
I tried to regain my composure and act as if it was no big deal. Tons of students fall down those steps every year. But oh wait, I fell down the steps in front of everyone—sixty students at least. The stairs were packed; I cannot believe I didn’t take another one of my classmates down with me. I kind of wish I had so that someone else would be involved and I wouldn’t be the only one people were staring at. As I put my shoe back on and walked to the other end of the school to meet my mom and go home, every step I took brought on a little more pain. I was surprised I made it all the way to foreign language. I quickly tried to get into the car so that I could get home and get as far away from the accident as possible. To this day, that was the most embarrassing experience of my life. Every time I receive a report card, the trauma flickers into my mind. And what’s more, I have yet to wear those clogs to school again.
Filed by Mr. Hillman at April 1st, 2008 under Humiliations, Embarrassments and Huh?!?
