Senior voice: Crocs and socks

It’s senior year now. The big “Class of 2014” is now actually living in the year 2014. Cleaning out my closet the other day I came across a pair of red, worn out crocs. I put them on and stared in the mirror. They felt just right.
As I ran downstairs to excitedly to show my parents and sister my old favorite shoes, they gave me similar looks to ones they’d given me every day of sophomore year: disgusted grins.
My fashion sense peaked sophomore year. Crocs and fuzzy socks. Throughout freshman year I dreamt of wearing bright red crocs and sophomore year, I finally bought a pair. Walking around headstrong and happy, I felt like I ruled the school. My family knew my Croc wearing was just a phase but when the trend caught on it took them by surprise. Classmates, upperclassmen, middle schoolers, students of all ages wore, in my eyes, the cutest outfit.
My bold move to wear this hideous pair of shoes to school actually influenced others to do the same. I don’t think it was the style of the shoes that really was a trend—it was a trend of wearing something to school that students wanted to wear. Ironically, when the Crocs rebellion fully took control, it no longer became an act of rebellion. People actually wore Crocs to fit in. Lucky for me, I liked wearing Crocs and I fit in wearing them.
By the middle of junior year my Crocs started collecting dust in the back of my closet, occasionally worn when I washed a car, wore sweats at home, or maybe, if I was feeling daring, in the most public place of Piedmont, Mulberry’s. Crocs became ugly in my eyes. Embarrassed and ashamed of what I used to wear, I tried to hide this part of my life from this new “mature” Daniella. In a years time, the Crocs trend came and left Piedmont.
Recently having found my Crocs, I’ve been wearing them again, less often than sophomore year but still enough to make me a little happier every now and then.
High school has been a time of ups and downs, comings and goings: friends, interests, grades, trends, pets. Three out of the four years of high school I have owned my bright red crocs. They accompanied me throughout difficult classes, movie nights at home, and now they accompany me through the last few days left of high school. The ups and downs are over. Seven days to go. The only ups and downs left of the school year are people’s faces as they look up and down at my outfit the next few days, wondering if they still have their cool shoes in the back of their closets to carry them through the time, too.