The Closing of a Chapter, Part 2

The hallway is empty. Boxes are piled on the benches, filled garbage bags are slumped beside bins, and the lockers stand as sentinels, rid of their locks and all the important content from this year's learning.

I'm looking down the hall, and through a partially open door can see into the counselling centre, where teachers are walking around, sitting at their desks, putting last minute touches on this year's marks and report cards. I just finished my last exam, French, and it's all over now.

I feel so lonesome, and more bereft than I was expecting. I don't want this to end yet. I don't want to not be a student here... But then again, I do.

My locker is the only one still filled, with a flag of Québec, pictures from camp, and a little paper marked "nucleic acids" from a biology game first semester. There's piles of documents from organizing the Famine, an unused calculus textbook from last year's course, and my name tag from the Gospel Mission. A blue ball of sticky tack is still stuck in the locker... It was horrible quality.

There's a sinking, sick feeling in my stomach, and I can feel it creating a knot in my throat, but I don't want to cry yet - right now would be awfully inconvenient. I'm going to meet someone from McGill, who'll tell me all about the lovely things I can look forward to next year... I shouldn't be crying over the end of high school for that.

Well, my locker needs to be cleaned, and textbooks returned, in the next seven minutes. So... Goodbye.