It’s an honor to be waiting outside the school gates in the winter cold.
This is what I’ve been telling myself for the past hour as I shiver in my ironed blazer and watch my fingernails turn a concerning shade of purple. It’s an immense honor. A privilege. A joy. It’s exactly what I envisioned when Ms. Hedge, the year level coordinator, called for me in the middle of my math honors class yesterday and asked that I show a few visiting parents around the school.
“I trust that you’re the right person to do it,” she’d said with a wide smile, her gnarled hands folded neatly across her desk. “As school captain, you can tell them about how much Woodvale Academy cares for its students, and how well we’ve set you up for success. Feel free to also mention all the extracurriculars you’re involved in and your many achievements— like how you recently came in first in the track-and-field regional finals. The parents will love that.”
I’d smiled back at her and nodded along with so much fake enthusiasm I gave myself a neck cramp.
My neck is still stiff as I straighten the badges pinned to my front pocket, stamping my feet hard to ward off what feels like imminent frostbite. My best friend, Abigail Ong, always jokes that I collect badges like a magpie. She’s not wrong, exactly, but I’m not just admiring how the gold lettering for school captain catches the pale morning light. It’s also a matter of symbolism. Every single badge I own is proof of something: that I have perfect grades, that I’m the MVP of every sports team I’m on, that I’m an active member of the school community, that I help out at the local library. That I’m smart and successful and have a good future ahead of me—
Footsteps crunch on the dry grass.
I jerk my head up and squint into the distance. It’s so early that the parking lot is still empty, save for a rusted brown Toyota that’s probably been there since before the school was built. All the redbrick buildings on campus are quiet, the windows closed, the clouds rising over the bare trees painted a soft watercolor pink.
No sign of any lost-looking parents…
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