I was in 8th grade at the time. When I got ready for school, we always had the TV on in the morning as we got ready for school. Usually my brother and I had cartoons on, but there was always a point where my mom would turn on the news for a bit. As I was gathering my things and getting ready to leave, the news caught mine and my mom's attention; a plane had flown into the WTC. We were tuned in right when information started coming in, so we didn't know many details. I assumed it was a small plane, and not a commercial plane. I honestly remember thinking "sure technical difficulties happen, but how do you mess up that badly?"
On the short car ride to school, we happened to catch the report on the radio. It was an FM station, so they didn't have as much info as I'd imagine the AM news stations were reporting. At this point, I was still pretty in the dark about what was actually happening.
I got to class, and my class waited outside until one of the teachers came down to let us all in (on a side note, did any other school do it that weird way?!) We were all just chatting normally, no one knew much at that point.
When I walked into my homeroom, the TV was on, showing the coverage of the news. I cannot remember if the second plane had hit yet, but I remember not paying attention to it. I unpacked my bag, put away my coat and my classmates started getting ready for class. My teacher turned off the TV, and stopped by the other 8th grade homerooms to check in/chat with the other teachers before prayers and announcements. Soon it started getting late and we did not have prayers or announcements. Our teacher was still not in our homeroom. Suddenly she came, almost sprinting, through the door and announced, in somewhat of a panic "Two planes have hit the World Trade Center, and the Pentagon is on fire!" I just remember a lot of gasps, and everyone started chattering about what this could mean. Our teacher turned on the TV and we began watching the news.
Prayers finally started, a few minutes late. I don't recall if there was any notice about what was going on.
The rest of the details and order of events are pretty fuzzy. I remember that some teachers let us watch the news the entire time, while others tried to go on with class. I specifically remember, however, sitting in biology and seeing the first tower fall live. We were all shocked. It was the scariest thing to see live.
I know at one point we were basically put in "lock down". We had one morning and one afternoon bathroom break, lead by the teachers, and we all had to eat lunch and have recess in our classrooms.
I also remember hearing the crazy rumors and predictions of what people thought was going to happen next. Since we were in Chicago, everyone was terrified about something happening to the Sears Tower.
Another thing I remember is that I live about 7 miles from O'Hare. It was weird NOT hearing planes all day.
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