After a long couple of days planning out my safe routes to class, figuring out sneaky ways to tag a certain senior, and making sure I would never be alone for some days to come, it was finally Mar. 2, 7 a.m., the start of Senior Out. Most seniors wait all of high school to participate in this hectic and tense game of tag. No one can trust anyone, however, some consider alliances.

Before I walked out my door to get into my car, I received a phone call. My friend already chased her victim until he slipped on the grass, dropped his muffin, and finally gave up. One senior down; a lot more to go.

I had my dad walk me to my car. Maybe there was a suspicious senior under my car, about to grab my leg as I started my journey to school.

Then, I got to my friend’s house to pick him up for school, since we both needed someone to walk with on our way to class. He, too, had his mother walk him out to my car in case someone was lurking in the bushes, about to pounce.
Along the way, we talked about how crazy things were going to be today. As we pulled into school, we heard of a few more attempts by seniors to tag fellow classmates out. The walk to first period was full of tension and a lack of trust. Seniors linked arms with fellow trusted seniors, or forced siblings and underclassmen to be escorts for a safe trek to class.

Then lunch came around. Some seniors went off to lunch in groups of seniors, others tagged along with underclassmen to ensure their safety. Personally, I went off with a few friends I was sure to be safe with. As I was getting money out of the ATM at 7/11 to pay for my food at Keilani’s, I was informed that my target was walking ALONE across the street from me. I quickly wrapped up what I was doing, bolted across the street to Moonlight Yogurt and Ice, and found him walking, all alone. I acted casual until we were about two feet from one another. Then I made a sudden movement, and he caught on. He took off through the drive-through at Filiberto’s, so I ran after him, until he came within five feet of a random man in front of Raul’s.

I begged the man to quickly run away so I could tag my target out. He did; however, quickly, my target quickly sat with a group of boys eating some tacos. I failed. He wouldn’t budge, so I called my friends to walk me across the street because I was paranoid someone was there and out to get me.

As we pulled into school, we all made another paranoid journey to third period, and continued to hear everyone talk about who has who, who got out today, and future plans to sneak up and tag their targets.

I am now in fourth period, safe, until the next bell rings. Then I am back in the game until 4 p.m. Tomorrow it will all start again at 7 a.m. The games have begun.