Ummm, Where's The Music?

The High School I Was Promised and the High School I Got

I walked through the doors of my high school and looked around, confused. Shouldn’t there be music playing? Why hasn’t anybody broken out into dance? Where is early 2000s Chad Michael Murray? I’m just joking (kind of).

We all grew up watching Disney Channel and creating this fantasy version of high school in our heads, where everything and everyone were perfect. But plot twist… life is not a Disney Channel show.

Not So Raven

Going into high school, we all had an idea of what to expect, walking through those double doors expecting to see a mirror of what was onscreen.

My personal favorites were K.C. Undercover, Jessie, and Liv and Maddie. The common thread among these shows was a perfect friend group, a main character who could juggle extracurricular activities while still being an A+ student, and the ideal high school love life. And of course, we can’t forget the fairytale prom.

Watching these shows led us to believe we would conveniently bump into a group of people on our first day of school, and—BOOM—a friend group was formed. There’s always the quintessential quirky best friend who manages to be extremely funny and always able to drop everything and come to the aid of their best friend (you’re literally 16—where are your parents?).

These shows follow characters like K.C. Cooper, who made our young, impressionable minds believe that we needed to be straight-A students while juggling our outside responsibilities (and maybe being a secret spy). I can speak for myself when I say I walked into high school with high standards for myself, thinking, “If my favorite character, K.C., can do it, there’s no reason I shouldn’t be able to”.

The most popular of them all was the idea of prom season. Movies like A Cinderella Story and Princess Protection Program made us believe that prom was a guaranteed magical night. There was a prince charming, the girl was wearing the perfect dress, and she was, of course, voted prom queen (duh!).

Growing up, we all had an idealized vision of what high school was supposed to be, inspired by years of watching Disney Channel. Now… what was high school really like?

My Spin-Off

I started high school around three weeks after moving to New Jersey. I was born and primarily raised in New York for the first 13 years of my life. I was scared to begin my high school journey. I knew nobody, and the town I was moving to was known to be close-knit. It was the kind of place where you went to elementary, middle, and high school with the same group of friends.

I distinctly remember crying on my first day of school as soon as I got into my mom’s car. “It was terrible,” I told her. “I made no friends. I’m going to be a loner all of high school”. It might have been a touch dramatic, but it’s truly how I felt at that time. I thought that because I didn’t find my friend group on the first day, I was going to be miserable for the rest of my time in high school.

To be honest, I didn’t find my friend group in the first month or even the first year of high school. It wasn’t until sophomore year that I had solidified my friend group, and that summer, I confirmed to myself I had found my ride-or-die best friend. It didn’t happen on Disney time, and for the longest time, I thought that meant there was something wrong with me or how I went through high school.

As I look back on my high school experience, I realize that just because it didn't go the way I imagined—or others imagined it—doesn’t make it any less magical. I found my magic in the moments when I would laugh with my friends down the hallways, or feel a warmth in my chest when I could dance and be free with my bestie at prom. High school was magical, not because it was a Disney Channel movie, but because it was my movie—my life. And the fact that it’s uniquely mine makes it more magical than anything Disney could produce.

Theme Song (Minus The Song)

Umm, Where’s The Music: The music is in the memories, the friends, and the experiences. When you block out all the background noise and focus on what’s in front of you, you realize there was a beautiful symphony all along.