The start of a new school year means the start of new problems. We say goodbye to our summer leisures and begin the struggles of school. From trying to keep our phones charged to avoiding accidental twinning, school can get pretty stressful.

“I have to bring my charger everyday, but on occasion I bring a portable one just to be safe,” says sophomore Emma Stack. The luxury of spending our day next to an outlet ends at the moment we walk through school doors. Thus, “The Charger Games” begin. Those who think ahead already have a portable charger in their backpack to guarantee their phone makes it through the day. The rest of us pray for a teacher who leaves their outlets up for grabs. Usually they’re already taken though, so we begin the hunt for a kind soul willing to share their portable charger.

New clothes are painful. We sacrifice our heels to the blister gods for a pair of shoes and suffocate our legs for a pair of jeans. “Breaking new shoes in is definitely worth it. I almost didn’t get a pair of Keds because they felt so stiff when I tried them on in store. But once I wore them in, they fit me like a glove,” says sophomore Marisa Searle. Forfeiting comfort has its upsides though. For one, the agony and discomfort will never overshadow the handful of compliments you get from your peers. Also, wearing your new clothes means you won’t have to hear your parents ask, “Why aren’t you wearing that new stuff I spent my money on?”

If it’s trending, we want it. You know the basic essentials that are “in” right now: white Converse, black JanSports, Sperrys, t-shirt dresses, Vera Bradley lunchboxes,  and the list just goes on. As everyone catches on to the next big thing, the hallways start to look a little repetitive. “It lacks originality when everybody has the same things, but if it makes them happy then it’s fine by me,” says sophomore Brooke Anderson. To tone down the monotony, we dedicate group messages to determining who is wearing what, when. We babysit our backpacks so no one accidently mistakens it as theirs. And we monogram everything else so the whole world knows who it belongs to.

We all follow one another just so we fit in with what society calls “normal.” When will someone ever be bold enough to be original? The world may never know.