Pieces of Perfect

Pieces of Perfect

While swimming double workouts—AAU and high school—and plowing through the Orangebelt Conference swim season, Paul Grabiak’s perfect pecs popped into my peripheral vision. Senior prom had come and gone without my attending, despite the promises of the weight-lifting...
Keg Party Virgins

Keg Party Virgins

I jostled on the seat of the big brown Impala as we bounced over a rut. Excitement fluttered in my stomach. Our first keg party. Jackie Herold gripped the steering wheel tighter and peered down the beam of her headlights. We’d lurched off the smooth, sand road onto a...
Homecoming 1975

Homecoming 1975

I tapped my foot and stared at the triangle of skin between James Knox’s brows and the top of his sunglasses—red-framed today. “What’s your answer?” I clenched my arms across my waist. “You’ve kept me hanging for a week.” He dropped his head, sighed, faced me. “Yeah,...
Best Freak Accident of My Life

Best Freak Accident of My Life

David Lossing peered at me through his glasses, mad professor hair springing from his scalp. “The same kids have been running the class since middle school. Pick an office. I don’t care which. Just throw your name into the race.” I’d only attended New Smyrna Beach...