School Daze

March break seems so long ago now, but that was the week everything changed. My friends and I had gone to Mexico. We were really excited; it was our last big trip together before we graduated. But when we returned to Halifax, it felt like we had travelled to an alternative universe. We went straight into lockdown: our school was closed, the streets were empty, and we weren’t even supposed to leave our houses. Everything was so quiet.

You’d think it would be good not to have to go to school anymore. I definitely did, at least at first. I go to Halifax Grammar School — or, I should say, I used to go there. It’s small: there are only about 500 of us, although our ages range from junior primary through to grade 12. I started at the school in grade 7, so the place has been a big part of my life. I didn’t expect my final year to be cut short like this. It was sad not to be able to say a...