King Lab, King Arts

by Josephine Teoudoussia

King Lab, King Arts

Whatever you want to call it

I have been going to this school

For 9 years

From field trips to the bank and Panera

To switching classes in cramped, narrow hallway every 40 minutes

We have been on the same 2 play grounds

Same 2 floors

Same lunch room

For 9 years

It’s not as bad as you think

Being at the same school for almost a decade

The memories you make are like no other

You could bring up the time when we had karaoke in the lunch room

Or when we had two times more subs than actual teachers

As much as we complained

And wanted the “norm”

We adapted, learned, transformed, and conformed

It’s like a blanket or toy that you’ve had since you could remember

It’s old and messy, maybe even torn and broken

But you have been with it for so long

And you see it differently, unlike outsiders, who will judge it

It’s special, and you could never let go of it

You’re tired of it

but at the same time

not

We would think of this mountain to climb

from kindergartners at the bottom of the mountain

to now moving on, going to the next hill

For all those years, and now we are here