cc<\/a><\/p><\/div>\nI gimped into the office and retrieved my newly minted schedule. The receptionist ran around her desk and opened the door for me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks.\u201d I smiled a wobbly smile I should have given Mom.<\/p>\n
I glanced down at my neon orange jeans and one Kelly green Converse. Maybe I could have chosen something less conspicuous. I blew out a puff of air. It didn\u2019t matter. I\u2019d been here five minutes and everybody had already seen me.<\/p>\n
I settled into a seat behind an IBM Selectric for my first period typing class.<\/p>\n
Dust motes floated in the sunshine coming through the windows and I breathed in the scent of Wite-Out and oil.<\/p>\n
A caffeinated, blonde version of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz swished into the seat across from me in a flowered dress. \u201cHi I\u2019m Jackie Herold.\u201d She introduced seven other girls and invited me to the beach on Saturday before the bell rang to start class.<\/p>\n
Forty-one years later, we still dive into BFF whenever we can.<\/p>\n
After Typing, I stood at the foot of the stairs, eying the students streaming up the right side and down the left. I clenched my books between my elbow and a crutch. Grass grew faster than I could climb stairs. My mind thumbed through my classes\u2014second and fifth periods would be on the second floor. That meant four trips a day up and down the steps on crutches for the remaining month I\u2019d be wearing a cast. Figured.<\/p>\n
A guy stopped. Pale curls sprung from where he\u2019d tried to comb them flat. Warm blue eyes smiled at me. \u201cCarry your books?\u201d<\/p>\n
I shoved my Spanish text and notebook into his arms before he got the words completely out. \u201cThanks!\u201d<\/p>\n
He laughed and told me his name was David Lossing, a lowly sophomore.<\/p>\n
The sea of students parted around us while I hoisted myself up one step. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to wait for me. Just leave the books at the top of the stairs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you kidding, and miss a legit reason to be late for class?\u201d<\/p>\n
The rest of the day, in fact the rest of the month, boys carried my books and even a few girls.<\/p>\n
Linda Reader, a teacher barely ten years my senior, James Knox, John Scrivano, Kyle Avery, and the rest of the creative writing class took me in\u2014just another right-brained book nerd\u2014like I\u2019d been born in New Smyrna Beach. My people.<\/p>\n
At three p.m. I clomped to Mom\u2019s Duster\u2014parked in the exact spot where I\u2019d left her.<\/p>\n
I shot the smile I should have given her this morning over the back seat as I tossed in my crutches.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow did it go?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cGreat!\u201d Sweaty and exhausted, I rubbed my sore biceps.<\/p>\n
Mom putted the mile home while I spilled every detail of the best first day of school. Ever.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t have to make friends. They found me.<\/p>\n
My junior and senior years unspooled while this leafy, water-fingered town nestled down in me\u2014not as a new normal\u2014but as the place I\u2019d always call home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mom pulled our green Plymouth Duster in front of New Smyrna Beach High School smack at the front walkway teeming with football players and cheerleaders. I could tell by the \u201ccool\u201d wafting off them in waves. \u201cNo! Not here! Drive up further.\u201d The crutches tossed across the backseat\u2014remains from a broken ankle\u2014killed any modicum of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[2,66,322],"tags":[167,136,169,168,166],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Friendless on the First Day of School - Ann Lee Miller<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n