Stupid school UGH!

[Twoeta_Bird]

Hi everyone. Lexi here. Hoping you all could help me with a problem I'm having...
So at my school (small expensive rich-person snobby stuck-up private school) every student from 3rd grade and up is on either the Gold team or the Green team (those are the school colors). There is kind of a competition going on all year. You win points for your team by winning things like poetry contests or spelling bees. I was actually in the spelling bee, fun fact, for the Green team, but I couldn't spell onomatopoeia so I lost. Whatever.
Now that I've explained that, I'll move on to the problem.
Our Field Day is in 2 weeks. There is a Green vs. Gold relay on Field Day and the fastest kids from each team from each grade get to compete. So two weeks before Field Day we have something called the run-offs to decide who was the fastest. And a week before Field Day, we do the mile run.
I knew that on one of these days, we were supposed to come wearing our Go Green/Gold shirts and our athetics shorts (because we can't call it gym class) and sneakers. But nobody ever talks about when we are supposed to wear what because it's just common knowledge. To everyone except me, because I just came last year.
So I was like well the run-offs are today, so I should wear my Go Green shirt. Well guess what? I was wrong.
I got to the bus stop, got out of the car, and saw everyone else there in uniform. I had a heart attack, turned around, and got back in the car and made my dad drive me home so I could change.
This is already embarrassing, but you know what's worse? The bus was pulling in as I left, and they all saw me get back in the car, and they were laughing at me. And when I got to school (late) in my uniform and went into math class, everyone on my bus who is in my math class laughed at me. And THEN, they didn't even have the decency to keep it to themselves, and they told the ENGLISH teacher, which means everyone in her homeroom probably knows, which means everyone in the grade knows.
I don't think I'll ever be able to get on the bus again. School is bad enough without this garbage! What should I do to not be completely mortified? My self-confidence has gone lower than my basement.

[craxyguy562]

I know how it feels when everyone else at school knows something you don't. This happened to me often when there were assemblies and no one told me about it.

[Dikont5]

They're being quite rude. Just ignore them. If that doesn't help, think of them having nothing to do whatsoever since they have to pick on you to make them feel better about themselves.

[timf]

What should I do to not be completely mortified?

In the Tom Hanks movie "Volunteers" a depiction is made of Peace Corps volunteers in a South East Asian country. In the movie John Candy plays a super patriotic volunteer who is kidnapped and turned by Communist guerrillas. After he is freed and returns to normal, there is a scene where a truck load of his former captors drive by singing the Washington State school song.

Everyone looks at him and he says, "What can I say, I'm embarrassed."

There are times when all we can do show grace under adversity.

When I was in high school a "friend" thought it would be funny to open the doors to the boys locker room while I was having a shower. When I came out of the shower and was walking to the lockers I heard a lot of laughter and saw about 300 people in the bleachers across from the locker room laughing at me. At a moment like that there is little you can do, so I waved and walked over and shut the doors.

There are things you can say afterwards that can use humor to lighten the mood a little.

1. I thought that was the day I was on the schedule to bring a little humor.
2. I was testing the "Everyone is out of step but me theory", they weren't.
3. The principle asked me to do something embarrassing to gage student reaction (cruel or kind).
4. I knew someone else was going to be picked on that day so I offered myself as a diversion.
5. I was distracted by almost coming up with a solution to global warming using baby seals.
6. I don't know if I mentioned before, but I have an evil twin.
7. I was asked to do it as part of an undercover operation, I can't say anymore.

Collectives often operate using fear of the opinion of others. When you encounter something that subjects you to group disapproval, you get embarrassed, but you also get a little closer to the freedom that comes from not being concerned with the opinions of the group.