Dear future high schooler,
I hope you’re enjoying elementary school so far! I know it must be difficult; after all, sharing the playground with your classmates, surviving classes without all your friends and bravely enduring the blisters on your palms after swinging on the monkey bars isn’t enjoyable. But beware: High school doesn’t get much easier!
High school is not what it seems like in movies, where there are titles for every friend group, everyone has perfect confidence and nobody struggles with homework (if it exists at all). In truth, high school is more like a complicated video game that’s just as stressful as it is fun.
Imagine you just installed a brand-new game on your iPad called “I’ll Do It Later,” a phrase you’ll say quite often during your high school adventure. You’re excited, but as soon as you start playing, you notice a few restrictions.
First, there is no tutorial on how to play the game, so you have to figure it out on your own and with the help of other characters. Second, there are four central, unskippable levels: freshman, sophomore, junior and senior year, each level getting significantly harder with more quests and tasks to complete. Lastly, outfit customization is limited to three hoodies, two baggy sweatpants and a backpack that weighs more than you do.
Every Monday morning for all four levels, you come face-to-face with your first obstacle: getting up from your bed. While not the worst, it’s a tiring task that requires lots of effort, so it’s important to not stay up until 2 a.m..
Once you get to school, you officially start playing the game. You’ll notice that there are multiple teachers and multiple classes, unlike your one core teacher in elementary school. Every class is like a new sublevel: Some are fun and easy while others are confusing and feel impossible. In these levels are your teachers, who act as NPCs. They will give you countless quests that you have to complete, which will take up a lot of your time after school. And sadly, the quests are a thousand times worse than coloring pages.
Every game has enemies, and high school is no different. Every once in a while, there will be huge boss battles which you will have no choice but to face — tests and final exams. These are intense, mentally exhausting and sometimes unfair, especially when multiple bosses strike within the same day. Luckily, you have the opportunity to prepare for the battle beforehand by studying the behavior of the enemy.
Even though these battles are super important and will either strengthen or damage your XP, you will always end up preparing the night before. That’s because you constantly have to fight one of your worst secret enemies: procrastination. But that’s okay; you might still have a chance … hopefully.
The most important aspect above all is your health bar, which depends on how much sleep you get. If you don’t get at least seven hours of sleep, everything becomes 10 times harder. It is important to guard it and keep it one of your top priorities, because if there’s one thing that high school is good at, it’s stealing your sleep.
Luckily, one of the best aspects to this game is that you get to play in multiplayer mode. Friends are your co-op team that help you survive difficult levels, laugh when the game glitches and constantly ask for your P.E. clothes. Some of the best and happiest moments of the game happen because of your teammates, who make it way more enjoyable and survivable.
All in all, high school can be scary, confusing and come with a lot of challenges. The good thing is, you don’t need it all figured out by day one to survive, as it’s also a place where you gradually find out who you are at your own pace. High school is a game worth playing, and you have what it takes to win. Good luck!
