I have only been suspended from school one time in my entire life, and that was in my Senior year right after the Mock Trial trip. The Mock Trial team won the county trials, meaning we got to move on to State. The State Championships were held in Oakland that year, and it was something like a 4-day trip.
While I was on the trip, I did the unthinkable: I walked a block around the hotel we were staying in. We were told we "weren't allowed to leave" the hotel at all, but we went out to get a breath of fresh air and just walked the perimeter of the hotel. On our way back, Crestal (one of the two that was with me), told one of the chaperones about it, and she about freaked out.
Now, mind you, kids have been caught doing worse things on overnight trips, like drugs, getting caught having sex, drinking...all the typical high school teenage rebellion things. But no. We walk a block around the hotel and it was the biggest deal ever because "We were in Oakland." Seriously? Are they saying they took us to such a dangerous spot in Oakland that we couldn't even safely walk out of our hotel? (Granted, someone from our group was wearing red and someone walked by him and said, "Boy, you better rethink wearing that color before you walk out of your door.") But still, it wasn't that big of a deal.
So you'd think.
It turned out to be one of the biggest deals in the history of my life. At first, the Mock Trial coach didn't want to suspend us because it was too much paperwork. But then something happened that made her completely change her mind and made it worth all the paperwork, so she filled it all out to get us suspended. After the paperwork was done, we each had to be called into the principal's office to swear under perjury we'd tell the true story, blah blah.
We walked a block around a hotel. I don't understand how I need to be sworn in for telling that story.
I'm sure you've figured it out by now, but we got suspended. However, we only got an "on campus" suspension, meaning we sat in the office for the entire day. (I really much rather would have had an off-campus suspension because then I wouldn't have had to sit quietly for 8 hours.) Then the Mock Trial coach was outraged because we only got one day of suspension, and it was all on campus.
I was always afraid of what my parents would do if I ever got suspended. This situation, though, didn't really intimidate me. I told them what happened and they just kind of looked at me like I was joking. When they found out I wasn't, they laughed. They also got a bunch of calls from the school talking about me and all this, and it wasn't even that big of a deal.
But oh, the stories that came out of this. Somehow, I had managed to scale out of my 12th story window (like Spiderman, apparently) to get out of the hotel. We failed miserably in State (which is a fact, we came in last place), and the only reason we failed was because "we were too drunk and stoned to participate." (Even though we had all done our witness testimonies the day before this incident.) We hooked up with a bunch of hookers, we went to an all-night rave, shot up on black tar heroine...the stories just got ridiculous. Over a walk around the block. It was unbelievable.
This is probably the best part of this whole story. While we were sitting in the RC (which was cleverly named the "Responsibility Center"), a kid came in because he got caught chewing tobacco (and was under the age of 18.) What happened to him? Nothing. He got a slap on the wrist and got to walk out. Someone else got sent into the RC because they got caught snorting an Altoid in class. It's a stupid mint, and the kid got suspended for a week. Seriously?
We also got all the rules changed for overnight trips. Kids having sex and doing drugs and getting drunk is apparently fine, but oh no! If they go for a brisk walk we must be dealing with juvenile delinquents and therefore all rules must be changed. Now it's all lights out at 10, they get tape on their doors ensuring they stay inside, and boys and girls are not allowed in the same room. And we're the blame for that. And they made sure our names were known.
The week after the Mock Trial trip was the Chamber Singers trip to Disneyland. Well, someone got the bright idea to start another rumor saying Crestal and I were planning on bringing a bunch of drugs and alcohol (which we were going to smuggle in OTHER people's suitcases) and then frame everybody else for it. This was, of course, an absolute lie, but someone decided to tell their parents. And their parents complained.
So my parents got another call about how much of a delinquent I am. When, again, I did nothing. My parents shrugged it off again, but then all of the parents said if Crestal and I were going on the trip then their children couldn't go. Crestal and I then had to make a public apology to the Chamber Singers for our behavior on the Mock Trial trip and assure everyone the drug and alcohol framing was just a rumor and no one had anything to worry about.
However, Crestal and I got put on an intense warning. If we "breathed one wrong breath on this trip" we weren't allowed to walk at graduation. We were such perfect angels on that trip, it was ridiculous. Everyone else was out boning each other and getting smashed and baked, but we sat in our rooms not talking to anyone else because we might not be able to walk at graduation if we did.
The moral of the story is, when your children are in high school and they have an overnight trip, be sure to tell them not to exercise.