Which is more important?

Now, I've already come to a decision on this, but I was just wondering what some other people thought.

I'm on the Science Olympiad team, and, while in past years it has been my life and I have loved it, I am just not having fun this year and if I would have realized this sooner I never would have even tried out.

So my major problem, or it was until I made up my mind, is that Nationals (which we always go to) are the last few days of school. If we end up going I'll miss my last few days of junior high.

To some people the choice would so easily be to go to Nationals in Washington DC. But I don't think that those people understand what the last three years have meant to me. Junior high was not going to be the best years of my life. In seventh grade I thought it was going to suck as much as elementary school, or at least at the beginning. But then I met my friends, and I joined the Science Olympiad team, and right away I found where I belonged at our school. It was easy, and I had a ton of friends. I had never really had that kind of thing before.

In elementary school I was the kid who didn't have a best friend and, even though I wasn't the bad type of kid, I hung out with the kids who got into trouble. I would spend some time hanging out with them, they would get mad at me, and then I would spend I couple weeks or months hanging out by myself. I spent a lot of my time reading back then. It was ok, I didn't mind, but I did want friends. It wasn't a big deal to me though. I had never had friends, and so I didn't know what the big deal about having a best friend was.

Now I can't see myself sitting in the commons or outside at lunch reading. I've tried every once and a while, but I have found great friends that I spend all of my time with, and I have my best friend. She's the coolest girl in the world, and I don't know what I'll do without her (she is only going to be living here until probably the end of our sophomore year).

This school has meant so much to me and I have no idea how horrible I'd feel if I weren't there on my last day. So I'm going to be there. No matter how much it makes Mrs. Nelson or Mr. Erickson disappointed in me. I will NOT miss my last days with my closest friends in the place where I became who I am.

I know people think that I am just too young to realize that DC will be a better experience, but I only get one shot at junior high, and I won't miss the last of it. I want to be there. I want to see the school's reaction to a yearbook that I put hours and hours of work into.

So what is your opinion? Do you think I should go to Nationals? Or do you agree that I shouldn't miss my last day of junior high?

I'm really curious to see if anyone agrees with me.