When I first picked up this book, I never thought it would connect so much to my life. The exclusion, academics, and beauty all takes place in high school. The feeling of being excluded begins on the first day of school. Like one of the famous sayings: “the usual days are over, days where [I] played and ran and rode [my] bike up and down the street.” The second I landed that foot into North Toronto, I realized it is time to say farewell to those fun, amazing and joyful times. Since I was the only one who came from Winona Drive Senior Public School, I knew no one, absolutely no one in NT. I sat alone at the cafe table on my very first day, waiting for someone to approach me. In fact, here were other students who had no friends either. We all sat at the table where I was sitting at and started chatting. One of the interesting topics we talked about was how NT is a scary school. The competition at NT is just as extreme as the one in my book. The teachers in this book will push her by saying “you have to do it” and “you’ve got to start practicing.” Majority of these situations happened in Music classes. For example, Mrs. Pady said to us “okay, quiz in two classes, and if you don’t practice, you can’t perform in the concert.” The main purpose why we chose music is to perform in concerts and make our parents proud, It is almost said in a threatening tone. Compared with other Ontario high schools, NTis a fairly academic-focused school. We are one of the few non-semestered school that have exams in December. This puts us under a lot of stress, but after reading this book, I have learned how to live with it. This book indicates that before you sleep, “tighten up your left arm, then let go” and do the same to your right arm, this is known as yoga. The academic competition between students is outrageous, the “smarter” students are known to be in the enriched classes. They think everyone else is stupid regardless of marks The enriched students always brag about how they can easily get 100s in normal classes. By attending the enriched classes, they wanted to challenge themselves. Being in enriched classes in grade 11 are beneficial when they reach grade 12 because many lessons they have learned are grade 12 criteria. NT, a fairly “white” school, influences many girls to dress “white.” Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle, Roots, Brandy Melville, Canada Goose, UGG, etc, are all shops that gains a lot of profit from our students. As written in our graffiti, “pretty sure about 80% of NT girls are wearing uggs” and “Not sure if nt is a school or a Canada goose store.” This shows how wealthy the students are in NT. The fashion is our school is a no brainer, as long as you wear black tights everyday and pair it with any t-shirt, you are for sure going to fit in. In addition, you have to pair yourself with some makeup. Even if it’s just some mascara. The ultimate look for NT girls is having your hair down, mascara, random t-shirt, black tights paired with uggs for the winter and converse for the summer. I really enjoyed reading “You Be Me” because it has taught me how to socialize within groups, relax during exhausted times and dress to fit in.