People One Comes to Admire Dont Always First Seem Likeable.

The first day of school can be a nerve racking experience. Not only are we worried about how we look or what everyone else may be wearing, but we also may be nervous about meeting our new teachers for the first time. High school may be the best years of your life, or it could be the worst. But through thick and thin, we learn to experience new adventures and learn from them.
My sophomore year of high school was great! My teachers were incredible advisors, the upperclassmen gave me great advice, and I had an amazing group of friends. The year flashed before my eyes and now, I was officially a junior. I couldn’t believe how fast my high school career was going by. The summer quickly went by, and soon I was starting school once again. Because I was now entering my third year of high school, I wasn’t very nervous, unlike the younger class. I knew the majority of the student body and the faculty and staff. As I stepped into the hustle and bustle of the narrow hallways, I knew I was right at home. My first couple of classes were exciting. I got to hear about everyone’s relaxing summer, and it was just great to see some of the people I haven’t seen in months! My day zoomed by, and I finally made it to my last class of the day. I was a little puzzled because I have never seen this teacher on campus before. Mrs. Goldmire was a middle-aged woman with very beautiful strawberry-blonde hair that sat on her narrow shoulders. Her makeup was caked perfectly onto her oval-shaped face. She had stunning blue eyes, but she had a very cold stare. She smiled often, but it was not a genuine smile. While going over her classroom rules, I knew that I would hate this class. She was a very serious person who would not tolerate any nonsense.

As the weeks went by, we started getting into the rhythm of school once again. Mrs. Goldmire began teaching us a new language with a personality of its own: Trigonometry. With a good teacher, math is not very difficult. Mrs. Goldmire was the exact definition of a horrible teacher! When she taught a new chapter, she didn’t fully explain the concept, she rolled her eyes when we didn’t understand her, and she was incredibly rude when we asked questions. I grew frustrated, and each day I dreaded going to class. One day, I couldn’t take it any longer, so I refused to pay attention altogether.

As time went by, I decided that I couldn’t get into the college of my choice if I kept this up, so I started paying attention. I walked into class and gave her my undivided attention. That very day, she announced to the class that we’d be having a pop quiz. My heart was overwhelmed with agony. I was so caught off guard that I didn’t know how to react. She slowly walked down the aisles and handed us the dreaded quiz. For a long minute or two, I sat and stared at the piece of paper. Out of panic, my eyes slowly wandered to my neighbor’s paper. I drew the exact same sine and cosine graph as the person next to me. I hurried to the turn-in box and took my seat. As I sat down in my desk, I promised myself I’d truly work harder from then on.

After class, many of my peers were talking about the quiz we had just taken. I soon realized we all had different versions of the quiz! I panicked. All I could picture was my teacher’s expression when she graded my paper. She would know I cheated, and I’d always be seen as a cheater for the rest of the school year. I only had one option: to tell her the truth. In my gut, I just knew she would yell at me and give me a zero. I slowly walked to her classroom and knocked on the door. I walked inside and told her everything. She just looked at me with that menacing stare. I knew this was a bad idea! After I quit talking, there was a moment of silence. She was probably thinking of a way to fail me.
After a moment, she said, “Diana, it’s okay.”
Wait a minute, what did she just say? That was definitely a big shock! She continued, “No one is perfect and I’m really proud to see that you had the courage to come up and tell me the truth. You can come Monday and re-take it. This will just be between you and me okay?”
And then, she smiled. She actually smiled! In that very moment, I realized something. No matter how someone may seem on the outside, everyone has a warm heart on the inside. That day, Mrs. Goldmire showed be her soft side. To this day, I truly admire her as a teacher and mentor, and I am still extremely close to her.

Throughout my years in high school, I learned to mature and grow. One of the main lessons I have learned is to never judge a book by its cover. First impressions are definitely important, but that very impression can change over time. I’ve learned to become less judgmental, because it may alter your relationships with others.

Annah Bivins was the Barbie doll figure in my high school. If you googled “Barbie” on the web, her picture would be there! She won everything, whether it was pageants, class office, she always had an upperclassmen boyfriend, and she had the coolest group of friends. I personally didn’t know her, but we exchanged the occasional “hello”. She seemed so insincere. Everything she said was dramatized, and I could never tell if she was being genuine or not. As the years went by, we had some of the same classes, and we started hanging around the same group of people.
During the summer of junior year, a large group of friends decided to go to Annah’s summer beach house. We were all extremely excited. There were going to be no parents to tell us what to do, no curfew, and we could do whatever we wished. On the last night of out visit, everyone sat on the beach to watch the sunset.
After the sun had gone, people started to get up and walk towards the house. I decided to stay out a bit longer to get some peace and quiet. Sonya was the only other person on the beach. The weather was perfect. You could hear the crashing of the waves, and it was a cloudless night with every single shining star showing. The sand felt soft and warm against my skin; I was so relaxed. We didn’t have much to say to one another, so we just sat there.
After a while, her voice broke the silence. She said, “Diana, why don’t you like me?”
I was taken by surprise because I’ve never really told anyone how I really felt. I thought about acting clueless, but I decided against it. “Umm, I don’t know,” was all I could muster. I was never good with confrontation. “I guess it’s because I can never tell if you’re ever being sincere when you talk to me.”
Annah stayed quiet for a bit, but finally she said, “My older brother past away when I was twelve from leukemia. He was my best friend and like a guardian. My parents were never there for me, and I don’t have many close friends. I guess I wanted to seem perfect so that people didn’t know I was hurting. He was all I had…”
I was speechless. I thought Sonya was the definition of perfect. I never expected in a million years that she would have the same kind of problems as I did. She was just a normal teenager trying to fit in, and I’ve been judging her this whole time.
That night, we stayed on the beach until sunrise. We talked about anything and everything. That night changed our relationship, and Annah taught me to never judge someone until you truly know who they are. Today, Annah is my best friend and the first impression I had of her is completely erased from my memory.



Still working on conclusion...
I'm trying to perfect my concluion, because in an example essay, the conlcusion is the most important part. Soooo will update again in a little bit.