2026 – Aria Horrocks – Bear River High School HS

Sophomore Year Struggles

Just a note beforehand, this essay is one that I wrote for one of my concurrent enrollment classes. I was asked to write a personal narrative about a time in my life that changed who I was and impacted my whole life. Another thing to mention is that in my school district, you start high school sophomore year which gives a little more background on this situation.

Aria Horrocks

Heidi Jensen

English 1010

19 September 2025

Personal Narrative

It’s the beginning of the school year’s Halloween orchestra concert. I’m so excited to perform in my first high school concert, the nerves build as I wait for our turn to perform. It feels like such a long time to wait. Finally, what I‘ve been waiting for, it’s our turn to play, excitement mixed with anxiety fills the stage as we enter. Just because I’m a Sophomore and lower on the totem pole doesn’t  mean I enjoy it any less than last year. We begin playing through our songs, finishing with a medley of music from the movie The Greatest Showman. I am so happy and proud of what I have accomplished. The crowd stands as they applaud, a standing ovation. Pure joy and happiness fills me, I’m at my highest, happiest point I can remember in my life.

Fast forward to the middle of the school year. I wake up at my usual time of 6 am, getting ready for the school day and then going and catching the bus. The first bell rings soon after the bus drops me off at school, signaling the start of the school day. I’m not the biggest fan of school, but it isn’t the worst thing ever, especially now that I’m at the high school instead of the middle school. 1st hour comes and goes, then 2nd hour. 3rd hour comes, my favorite part of the day, orchestra class. I wish it would last longer, but not all the other classes, it gives me a break from the rest of school to do something I love. Plus it’s one of the only classes I have a friend in, a friend that I’ve known since 3rd grade. On my day goes whether I want it to or not. 4th hour comes, then finally ends, marking the start of lunch.

I head to the library for lunch and I get there before all my friends, as usual, so I go sit down on the couches and wait for them to get here. They slowly filter into the library among other students, going straight to the couches to sit down and start talking. I’m not much of a talker so I just listen and observe. They start talking about things that make me more uncomfortable. Again. Today is a family “bush” that they made up of themselves, like a family tree but a circle, I don’t really understand it. But then they start saying that one of them is Jesus, that is what makes me uncomfortable. This isn’t the first time this year that they’ve talked about things like this in this way, and I don’t think it will be the last. In the past they’ve been good about respecting those things because they’re important to me, but not this year apparently, or maybe I’m just noticing it better than I used to.

As I leave lunch I think about how they have stopped caring about the things I believe in and care about. I realize that I need to either keep dealing with this problem, or get myself away from it. I think about my predicament the rest of the day and into that night, thinking about what to do about it. I’ve tried asking them to stop before but they seem to “forget” what I ask them to do often so that’s out of the picture. That pretty much leaves me with one very difficult, scary choice to make.

The following day, I’m heading to the library again for lunch, but this time, going somewhere different at the same time. Doubt about my decision slowly seeps into my thoughts, about what will happen when I act upon my thoughts. None of my friends really seem to notice that I don’t sit with them, except one friend that I’ve known since third grade, Marely. She, thankfully, comes and sits with me at the random table I’ve chosen in the library. “Hello,” I say. 

“Hi,” she says back, distracted on her phone. I explain why I’m sitting over here instead of at the couches, but then it’s pretty much silent between us for the rest of the lunch hour. I sit there awkwardly, watching my now old group of friends, sitting at the couches, loudly talking and chatting, none of them noticing, or maybe even not caring, that I’m missing. I think to myself in the midst of the noise of the library: why did I stay with them so long, they don’t even notice I’m gone, maybe they never cared at all. And so, I go through the rest of the day with that feeling of dejection and loneliness.

The next day comes, same as any other school day, dragging on. Lunch comes again and I go sit at the same table as yesterday. Only today, Marely doesn’t show up. Where is she? I know she’s here today, she was in orchestra. So, I wait a little while to see if she’s just running late. She still doesn’t come. So, I get out my phone and send her a text: “Where are you?” After a few minutes, she responds with “I’m going to golden spike.” Great, alone it is today. “OK” I text back. Dread fills me for the next 30 minutes of lunch spent by myself.

Today, lunch starts the same as yesterday, no Marely. I ask her where she is again, this time she tells me she’s hanging out with friends this time, same place as yesterday. Great, just great. Since she’s with friends I get to sit alone from now on. I’ve been replaced. I think back to how the school year started out so well, the orchestra concerts from the year, specifically the Halloween concert. I wonder how I could go from my highest to my lowest point after just a few months of school after making one big decision.

I sit alone almost every day from then on out. I silently hope that some friend will notice me, or anyone really. I only see Marley, my only “friend” in the orchestra. That class is my only solace from the struggles I’m going through, the music helps me to forget my troubles that I have to deal with.

Later on in the year Marely starts to sit with me again at lunch. She ran out of money to spend on food every day. To be honest though, her being there ignoring me is just as bad as when she wasn’t there at all.

Bright lights shine into my eyes, yet they’re comforting in these times of trouble. It’s the end of the year. I’m on the stage again, this time for the Finale Concert. As the conductor lifts her arms, I lift my violin up to my shoulder, taking me away from the world I’m having to deal with all around me.

Afterword

I used a lot of fictionalization in this passage, these events occurred more spread out than I wrote them out to be. To make the story go smoother, I decided to put those events together, mainly the parts when I left my friend group and Marely left me. I did this to emphasize how much it affected me and that it was more impactful on me than it might have seemed at the time. I also don’t really remember the thoughts I had and the words I said, but I tried to choose the words that would best help to convey the story. 

I chose this memory because this time in my life helped me to realize that I can do things that I might find difficult, like going from a large group of friends who didn’t respect me, to only one person who was only there for me sometimes. It also helped me to get out of my comfort zone more and be able to make new, and better, friends that actually care about me and want what’s best for me too.