Prompt 26

The other day, I stopped in to my old high school to drop something off for my little sister. I haven't been there in almost three years, and it certainly felt different then I remembered. The wide sloped walkway up to the school was the same as I remembered, as were the double two sets of glass double doors at the entrance of the school. I went to open the doors and found the were locked, which seemed a little strange. I noticed a little black speaker box next to the doors with a button on it. I pressed the button and a voice crackled over the speaker telling me to come on in, and the doors clicked as they came unlocked. I stepped inside the school to see that the old statue in the in the center of the big entrance hall was gone, leaving the place looking much more open and roomy. The shiny linoleum floors looked just the same as they used to, and the rows of flags from all the countries of foreign exchange students still hung from the high ceilings just like they did years ago. The wide stairwell leading up to the second floor didn't look quite as big as it used to, and neither did the big hallway leading towards the auditorium where I used to eat lunch. I went from the entrance of the school to the main office, where I spent a little too much of my high school career. The office has a long wooden desk at your left when you walk in, accompanied by a long row of wooden chairs to your right, all looking just as uncomfortable as I remembered, featuring the minimal amount of padding. Behind the front desk sat two cluttered work areas where the two school secretaries worked, with their desks covered in mountains of paper and an iMac sitting on each. Beyond this cluster laid the formerly intimidating offices of various school faculty members. The atmosphere the room was significantly different from whenever I spent time there in high school, which was usually when I had to check in after arriving late and had to face the glares of the staff. Now it was much friendlier, with everyone in the room smiling, giving the room a friendly feeling.