I was chosen as the leader of my team; COMMON APP - Challenging moment

Expect the unexpected

It was the first day of spring of my junior year. I woke up earlier than usual that day because I was too excited; I could not wait to get to school. Every year my school throws a huge beneficent competition where they divide the school in three teams, and they were going to choose the teams that day. The car ride to school seemed to take forever, and I only stopped jumping up and down in my seat when my mom was almost losing her patience.

When I sat on my desk, all I could hear was people talking about the team selection that was about to happen. As the school principal walked inside of the classroom, everybody went silent. It did not take long until they started to choose the teams. "Priscila: green team". I could not be happier. By the end of the selection, all of my friends were on my team. But the tension was not over yet. Each team is assigned a counselor, and each counselor chooses a team leader. Seniors were always the ones chosen as leaders, since it is their last year competing. However, that year the unexpected happened. I was chosen as the leader of my team. I was so confused. As I walked down the hallways after class, I could feel everyone's eyes on me. When I stopped to talk with my best friend, Lucas, who happened to be a senior, he turned his back and walked away. My excitement was starting to fade away.

On the following day, I looked for Lucas everywhere. Since he was also on my team, I was hoping he could help me manage all the tasks I had to take care of. He was nowhere to be found. Our first team meeting was set to happen that day after school and I was beyond nervous. When I entered the auditorium that afternoon, my eyes were everywhere looking for Lucas. I was so relieved when I saw him seated in the last row. I waved to him, but he just pretended he did not see it. Although I could see people were not happy that I was chosen as the leader, they eventually gave in and got involved in the meeting. Things were starting to finally get better.

After the meeting was over I ran into Lucas on our way out of the auditorium. Again, he pretended he did not see me. I got really mad because I could not understand why he was avoiding me. I grabbed his arm and shouted:

I'd start with the most powerful part of your story, then explain the rest:

"What is wrong with you?" I had shouted at Lucas, frustrated. He had been ignoring me all day, ever since I was announced as the captain of one of the three teams for my school's annual benefit competition.[This is the part where you explain, something like: "I guess he was jealous, and he had always had a pretty bad temper.]But I had never expected my best friend since _________ to react the way he did. All I remember was the pain I felt when his fist hit my face . I was knocked off my feet onto the tiles of the hallway . As I lay on the ground , I could feel blood coming out of my nose. I was speechless and paralyzed with fear.Other studentsgathered around to see what had happened; they stared at me, but did nothing . Since we had just come from our first team meeting, it was a few hours after school, and few teachers were around.(Is that what happened?)Feeling weak and humiliated , I picked myself off the ground and started to walk towards the bathroom, covered in blood. "You don't deserve to be a leader.You're a weak loser! " he called after me . I did not know what to think, what to do. I had never felt so alone in my entire life.

"What happened to your face?" my mom asked me when she picked me up from school later that day. I was so scared that I could not tell her; instead, I told her I fell down the stairs running to class. I spent the entire night crying and trying to figure out what I should do about what hadhappened. After hours of thinking it through, I decided not to tell my parents or the school. My plan was to pretend nothing happened;I convinced myself that by the next day, everyone would forget about it . No such luck.Everybody was talking about it the next day . I went to the team meeting that afternoon holding my head high, because I could not let my teammates think that I was weak. When I thought things could not get worse, Lucas showed up right in front of me. "Did you like the taste of my fist?" That was enough. I was disgusted by what he was doing to me. I started crying. I crashed. (What do you mean by crashed? Did this happen before or after the meeting? Did he walk away after he said this, or did you run away? I get that it's a hard thing to talk about, but try to at least give enough details so we know what happened to you.)

Finally, I decided to act (How long was it in between that last paragraph and the time you decided to act?) . It was not right for me to feel threatened in school grounds, so I went to the principal's office and told (him/her) everything that was going on. Unfortunately, the school did not punish him, only gave him a warning. Although I knew I would still see him around school, I finally felt better. However, I still had one more challenge to face: telling my parents. I rehearsed the whole thing in my head over and over during school. When I sat down and talked to them, they were shocked. My father was furious.

Even though I felt like a failure at first, I ultimately felt like I was doing the right thing. I truly regret not telling my parents before and reporting the incident to the police. Maybe if I had dealt with the situation differently I would have avoided part of what happened. After everything was over, I finished the benefit competition with my team in first place. I had proved to myself and my peers that I was strong enough to put everything behind me and move on . Later that year, I started to give advice to girls that suffered from the same situation as I did (Like, abuse victims? Was this in your school? Or with a hotline/organization?) . Today, when I look back, I see that I have learnt valuable lessons. I am sure going to deal more seriously with the problems I encounter with people and think what would be a healthy choice for me.