By Marley Muirhead

Straddling Chapters

It’s been eighteen days since the deadline for the scholarship competition and tonight is the End of Year party. I’m definitely looking forward to meeting everyone for the first time, but if I’m honest I think it will be quite an overwhelming experience. For me personally, tonight marks the beginning of this course. We’ve had the scholarship competition, assignments and reading, but this is the first official school event that I’m able to go to. I do think I’m ready for the course. At the same time, it’s still in some distant next chapter of my life and I’ve still got a good twenty pages left of the current one. Actually, I don’t think chapter does it justice. Try volumes. Can you tell I’m a literature grad? This party feels like jumping ahead to the first page of that next book in a series. You know, like it’s definitely a progression from the last book but it can’t be denied that this one still stands alone. There’s some kind of natural break or pause that happens between the two, prepares you for the transition, all of that good stuff.

Alas, you haven’t read that far yet. So now you’re straddling two narratives but let’s face it,you’ve been slacking on your yoga so you’re not really flexible enough to be doing all that for too long.

Don’t get me wrong, I know it’ll be fine. In the words of soccer dads and dance moms around the world, you can never start too early. For me, and all of my future classmates in fact, we’ll probably be better off for this little look into the crystal ball. It kind of reminds me of that first day in year 7 where you got to meet everyone but school hadn’t started yet. I still vividly remember that actually. Even if I didn’t, the socks and sandals I wore that day means I never really get to live it down (I have great friends). I remember being nervous too, but ready for that fresh start and new people. And I remember being excited for what I’d be like throughout secondary school, whether I’d be ‘cool’ or all nerdy – given my attire I don’t know why I thought the former was an option but hey we’re allowed to dream – what I’d be into or what would happen to me. I knew that I was about to enter five pretty important years of life peppered with milestones and key moments that weren’t yet specified but were promised.

My imagination then was capped at sweet sixteens, first kisses and parties but I think this kind of feels the same, just a pinch more grown up. If nothing else, I hope that this party helps me feel a bit more oriented. That would be a treat. If not I’m sure it’ll be a wicked night.