Couldn’t Be More Cliché By Alana Swinton
Alana Swinton is an aspiring dancer and writer who lives in Baltimore, MD. She goes to one of the top ten high schools in Baltimore City. Her poetry has appeared in an anthology and I BelongMagazine.com
I'm not going to start my story with "this day was like any other," like every other story, because that would be a lie. This day was very special because, unlike any other day, I was getting an acceptance letter in the mail. I was going to high school and the high school I wanted to go to was Baltimore School for the Arts, also known as BSA. I was waiting patiently by the door for the mail lady to come. I was anxious but excited; I get to go to my favorite school. Finally, the mail lady arrived and my heart dropped. I was so scared I forgot to tell her "Hasta luego." Shuffling through all of the mail I finally found mine. But before I opened it I closed my eyes and said to myself, "I won't cry if I don't get in, I won't cry if I don't get in, I won't cry if I don't get in.” Fast forward to now. As I'm writing this I have four piercings in total. I have one on my face and three on my ears. Because of the number of piercings I have, my father is very disappointed in me and thinks that one day I’ll become a stripper, but that's not my future. I have been to the eye doctor 4 times and each time they give me glasses I seem to break. During the day and the night I spend my hours watching YouTube on my TV and in doing that I have 1,315 hours of it. On Youtube I listen to music and seem to break twenty pairs of headphones. Around the house, we have five-game systems in total but two are mine and I plan to put SpongeBob stickers on them. In total, I have over thirty SpongeBob things and plan to get more. But only in the future, I will continue my process, starting today, July 10, 2020. Reliving the past, I slowly opened the mail praying that I got in. I pulled the mail out and quickly put it to my chest and took a deep breath. I finally unfolded the mail and looked. I read the first word: "Unfortunately." I dropped the paper and walked away from it and began to cry. I was so mad I started reflecting on what I possibly did wrong. Then I just went to sleep. Right now in life, I go to Baltimore City College and I am enjoying it. The students are really fun and the school tries to push me. I'm actually glad I didn't get into BSA. I realized they have no social life. Sometimes they stay in school until 6 p.m. working on dances and have no time to talk to anyone. I am just really proud of where I am now and wouldn't change a thing.
Reprinted with permission from Goucher College
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I BelongMagazine.com , Autumn 2020. All rights reserved. Published by Unified Efforts, Inc., Baltimore, MD, https://unifiedefforts.org
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