Have you ever been in a position of what’s known as “awkward silence?” Imagine that you are in that awkward silence, except the only difference is it takes years to get out of it. Most teenagers between the ages of 13 and 18 know what this feels like. This feeling and process has a name. It’s called the “awkward phase.” Not one single teenager skips this miserable stage of life. Puberty causes rapid physical and emotional imbalance. It’s the process of transforming an ugly duckling to a swan.

“The worst part about it is that you’re not really accepted by people and then afterwards, people still think that you’re weird,” said sophomore Cassie Wheeles.

Mariah

Junior Mariah Pickett was always the girl that everyone liked. Even in her awkward phase, she still had good friends that stood by her side, but she had to go through the same challenges that every high school teenager has to go through.

Pickett says that her awkward phase started in her first year of middle school sometime around 6^th grade. “I haven’t reached the point of finishing my awkward phase,” said Pickett. It’s true, a lot of people aren’t through with their awkward phase until high school ends and it could possibly still be there even after high school.

“You just got to deal with it,” said Pickett.

One aspect is the worry about choosing a career and future, “I’m still counting on the chance that I wake up one day and know what I’m going to do with my life, because you never know,” said Pickett.

Riley

Junior Riley Bruning started his awkward stage in middle school. In sixth grade he had three people that he was friends with. That year he worked hard to make more and more friends.

In seventh grade “I blossomed into the world and became who I am today,” said Bruning. Bruning had his first relationship in middle school. But, seventh grade was also one of the worst years in his school career.

During his freshman year of high school, Bruning thinks he was known as that “really awkward freshman.” He would cling to his brother’s friends, even though he thought they didn’t want him to. In 10^th grade things started to come together for him. Sophomore year was filled with girls and fun. But it was also followed by poor grades and minimal focus on his priorities. He would come home and it would be awkward with his parents and him because of his grades. Junior year, Bruning is more focused on his priorities and is in a steady relationship with his girlfriend.

Some advice Bruning has for those who are going into their awkward phases is “Keep on keeping on. The glass is half full.”

Cassie

When Cassie Wheeles was in 6th grade, she felt competitive with other girls to have a lot of friends. Wheeles began to be forced out of her social group of “negative girls.”

“It got really awkward, and I wouldn’t really say anything,” Wheeles said. She had to learn to be herself and not depend on others.

Wheeles began to be who she wanted to be and she made a lot more friends who are better to her. It slowly progressed from there.

Matt

Sophomore Matthew Watson realized that he was in the awkward phase when he started middle school. Watson says that he cared a lot about what people thought of him; he always tried to do things that impressed others; and he wasn’t himself.  “I was trying to be who everyone else wanted to be.” Watson was never bullied while in his awkward phase, but he took other people’s criticism and tried to make things better about himself.

“This one time, some kid came up to me and asked why I never combed my hair because I guess I never really cared. But, to this day I’ll always comb my hair to the side,” said Watson.

“I think you guys just need to keep trying to figure out who you are,” Watson said.

Maria

Sophomore Maria Pellicier says that she felt just as awkward as anyone has in their awkward phase. She had no self-confidence and was just all around shy.

In middle school, “I never really talked to anybody,” said Pellicier.

Pellicier thinks what got her out of her awkward phase was probably when she got her top braces off.

“No one should worry about their awkward phase because everyone goes through it, and they can relate,” said Pellicier.