...that people regain school spirit upon graduating high school?

Three years ago most kids in my grade denounced the town. It was stupid, boring and they couldn't wait to get the hell out of there. Now, as a junior in college I've noticed a change in the attitudes toward the place where I grew up. Everyone loves it. They love coming home during their breaks and they love doing the same things they did in high school, except now drinking in a basement or getting coffee at the diner at 4 a.m. is "nostalgic" instead of boring; "sentimental" as opposed to futile.

I can't believe I used to care what these people thought of me. I used to be jealous of the popular group who went to parties and always had boyfriends; now I see how far I've left those people behind. Wow. All those hours I wasted wishing I had a new car and trendy clothes and a hangover. It is ever so rewarding to come home and find the stars of the football team pissing away their lives in community college and part-time jobs, and what's odd is this sense of community they've tried to foster since we've completed high school like we're all this big, warm family who loves and supports each other. Ironic, huh. No one gave a damn about me in high school but whenever I see someone from my class now they're so interested in my life, probably because they don't have their varsity sports and they've gained the dreaded Freshman Fifteen. "Heeeey, how are you? how's college, oh my god!" Blow me.

I like my town. It's a safe place with a great education system and green trees. Yet unlike some kids I've come to terms with the fact that high school is over and so is the petty infrastructure of who is doing whom and where. In fact you might just say I'm glad no one really talked to me in high school because I had no ties to cut when I decided to go to college seven hundred miles away. Here's to sweet, blissful unpopularity.