The Uniform

by MatthewJames7 Sun Sep 13, 2020 4:07 pm

One early September morning, I was sitting with my friends in the main courtyard of my school where we were discussing and comparing our summer holidays. My friend Sarah told us that she and her mother had spent the summer working in Cambodia, helping out those in need of money and other essentials which was delightful to hear. Another friend of mine, Claire, she spent three weeks in Croatia with her family. I looked around the courtyard for my best friend Blaire but she was nowhere to be found which made me slightly anxious because she was always early for school. I wondered where she could be when Claire brought me back down to Earth, saying, "Rose, I'm sure Blaire is fine. Her car could have broken down so that might have made her late." She then asked me what I did for the summer. I was in the middle of telling them about my work as an English teaching assistant over in Madrid for the summer when suddenly a teacher approached us and asked if we would follow her to the assembly hall where our principal was to make an important announcement.

Following her, we all wondered what this announcement would be, was someone getting a prize? A new student? A new staff member?" Eventually, we arrived at the assembly hall and took our seats. I watched as my principal Ms. Simons walked onstage, cleared her throat, and exclaimed, "good morning everyone, and welcome back to this new academic year. I'm sure it will be a fantastic year and be even better than last year. The reason I have asked you all here is that the board of directors and I have been discussing it for the last few days, and from Monday onwards, we are bringing in a school uniform." I looked up at her and presumed that this was a joke, but from the austere tone of her voice, I knew she was serious. I looked at Claire and Sarah and mouthed to them. They looked back at me and each of them shrugged their shoulders, not knowing what to say back. I pondered her words in my head and could not fathom as to why they decided to enforce a uniform. Ms. Simons then told us that some students had kindly volunteered to model the uniform for us and I watched as they emerged onto the platform. I looked at the last student to walk onstage and I could not believe my eyes when I saw Blaire walk onstage. I had to clean my glasses to make sure I thought I wasn't seeing double. The other girls could see that there was nothing but seething rage in my look which was a very rare sight.

Eventually, the assembly finished and Blaire walked over to us. She looked at us and exclaimed, "what do you think?" and the others all replied that they liked it. They all looked at me waiting for my opinion with eager eyes. I turned to Blaire and exclaimed, "Blaire, I have been wondering all morning where you were. You never showed up to meet us in our usual spot, and now you appear wearing the new school uniform, and a tie? Girls don't wear ties." She glared at me with disdain and replied softly, "Rose, you are not my mother so calm down. You don't understand, Ms. Simons asked us to help her and so we accepted. Girls in other schools wear ties and this will now be us from Monday onwards, so get used to it girlfriend."

Monday came along in what seemed like a breeze and I reluctantly got showered and dressed. Looking at myself in the mirror, I could not believe what I was wearing. It was a black uniform with a navy-blue tie and a blazer as well. We had very strict guidelines on the dress code such as hair accessories of a certain color, no tattoos, no earrings, and that ties were to be pushed up and clearly visible and a heap of others. Just as I was finished dressing, my mother walked in and offered to teach me to do my tie which I reluctantly accepted. She tied my tie and pushed it up to my collar, exclaiming, "model students wear their tie pushed up to their collar and close their top button." When she had finished, I looked at myself and resigned myself to have to wear the uniform which made me feel uncomfortable.

by MatthewJames7 Mon Sep 14, 2020 2:08 am

I walked down the corridor in search of the others and eventually, I found them sitting on a bench with someone I had never seen before. Blaire noticed my curiosity and exclaimed, "Rose, this is Diana. She just joined the school after she and her family moved from London. Ms. Simons happened to pass me in the corridor and asked if I would show her around and help her get acquainted with the place." I shook Diana's hand and told her she was very welcome to the school. Just as we were about to get up, Blaire's arch-enemy Margo passed by, clearly delighted with having to wear the uniform. She looked at Diana and exclaimed, "you must be new, I'm Margo, I'm top dog around here, plus the fact my mother is the chairwoman of the board of directors around here adds to my reputation." Diana looked at me with a look that seemed to tell me she was either disgusted by Margo's bragging or that she didn't care about it one bit.

I turned to her and exclaimed, " Diana, you watch out for Margo, she's not exactly best friends with us, and then you have people who worship the ground she walks on. Most people treat her as if she's a queen, of course, we just think of her as a complete spoilt brat." Diana turned to me and replied with her light English accent, "Rose, back home in London, we always had girls like that in school. Mum sent me to this private school against my wishes, I wanted to go to the same school as all my friends but Mum insisted on this fancy private school, and some of the girls there were totally self-centered and didn't care for most people, only their closest friends. My sister was teaching there so she was able to keep an eye on me every day which was helpful."

by MatthewJames7 Thu Sep 17, 2020 6:30 am

Blaire was nodding as Diana was speaking, clearly in awe of her and her private school upbringing. I still could not believe it that we had to wear these uniforms. I had heard of schools in Europe that wore uniforms, but here in Seattle, it was a peculiar sight indeed. Eventually, the school day finished, I was absolutely jaded from it being my first day back which I thought would be great but it had seemingly been a total living hell. I arrived home, relieved that the first day and my first day of torture was finally over. My mum asked me how my day was to which I looked at her with a glare that had nothing but pure venom in it, telling her it had been torture and I did not want to go into a debate about it, I just wanted to go upstairs, do my homework and then play guitar for the evening to help soothe my nerves.

My younger sister Maeve was delighted with her uniform and starting her first day back in school. I heard someone come up the stairs to which I probably knew it was her. My suspicions were correct when she knocked on the door, I was beginning to wonder what she wanted. Suddenly, she barged into the room to my shock and disgust. I glared at her, the same glare I had given my mum when she asked how my day was. Maeve looked at herself in the mirror that was on the door of my wardrobe and exclaimed, "I love this uniform Rose, it's so nice and it really brings out the confidence in somebody, you should really get to like the idea of wearing one." I sighed, clearly bored with the conversation that Maeve was trying to start. "Maeve, kindly do me a favor, shut up. I do not care in the slightest about this stupid uniform. The only reason I wear it is that it's the new school rule. Other than that, I think it's so bizarre to see women wearing a tie."

by MatthewJames7 Thu Sep 17, 2020 3:16 pm

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