Welcome to the Sixth Grade

This story will seem embellished. I assure you it is true and my cheeks still turn red hot every time I retell it.

It was a hot summer day in the year 2002. I was a bright eyed sixth grader that wanted so desperately to fit in. It was probably my fourth week into my middle school career and this place was so vastly different than my elementary school. Not only was the school different; so were my friends! It was like they grew up five years over the summer.

My friends and I gossiped at the lockers about recently plucked eyebrows, pregnant eighth graders, and Nelly's "It's getting hot in here" song. Meanwhile I had bushy brows, never had boy like me and was afraid to sing the lyrics to that scandalous song. I faked it, though. I was always good at pretending to be cooler than I was....or so I thought. I knew the other kids in school viewed me as that "not so trendy" girl that hung out with some pretty trendy kids. I didn't care. I was overly confident that people would eventually see me as a funny, awesome, cool, hip middle schooler. I just needed time.

My best friend JoJo was in the seventh grade. I had known her my entire life. She would meet me and my other friends at our lockers. Having an older kid cross the quad and meet me at my locker was the epitome of cool girl status. All the other sixth grade girls were surely envious! Things were going great and I was feeling reborn. I was quite the nerd in grade school. This felt different. My lip gloss was shining, my hair was done up and I had a solid group of friends. Things were looking up.

One morning, JoJo pointed out a boy. We hadn't gossiped about crushes yet so honestly, I had no idea how to flirt. I was a tomboy for a good majority of my eleven years of life. Prior to middle school, I would talk Pokémon cards with the boys and beat them on the kickball field. Times had changed and I was nearly a woman. I flipped my hair as I listened contently to JoJo gush about her crush. "Sabrina, he's so cute!", she exclaimed. I would glance over at him and she'd stop me with a harsh whisper, "Don't look at him! He'll see you". This went on for a solid two minutes when my immature brain was fed up. "JoJo! He won't know you like him unless you tell him. I'm going to tell him if you won't". Would that make me a bad friend? Yes. Would I receive a heavy dose of instant karma? Also, yes.

"Now this is the story all about how, my life got flipped, turned upside down...."

I see Anthony by the lockers at the top of the quad. He's your average early millennium seventh grade boy. Spiky hair? Check. Shin length shorts? Check. Remember, other than Nick and Aaron Carter, I wasn't really interested in boys. Not in a romantic way at least. I definitely had no idea how one would behave if they had a crush on one. I would always envision myself simply batting my eyes and then getting a spontaneous proposal from a much-older-than-me backstreet boy. You would think Disney would have taught me some graceful flirting techniques in their various love story based movies. Anthony begins to walk down the ramp towards JoJo and I. I looked at JoJo with a smirk. She looks at me in fear for what she knows I am about to do. She's known me my entire life so she is well aware of my maturity level at this point.

I book it. I run towards my friends crush. I felt like such a bad ass. "Hey Anthony!", I yell as he looks directly at me. "My friend...."

In that moment, my perfect introductory to middle school ended. I tripped and landed directly on my face. The entire quad let out a collectively painful, "oooo!". I look back at my friends and they're nowhere to be found. I have no idea how I got from the ground to a sitting fetal position at the top of the stairs, however, I did. I had my head buried in my legs. I wasn't in physical pain....I was humiliated. The entire school of over three-hundred kids, had gone silent. I hear somebody ask, "is she okay?". Fight or flight mode kicks in. I jump up and begin running, only EVERYTHING is in slow motion. I hear, "she's fine, she's just embarrassed", followed by a roar of laughter from the entire school. I had never known things could appear slow motion in real life until that moment.

I ran to the nurses office and begged them to let me hide. I was hyperventilating as the nurse reassured me that I would be okay. She guided me to a bed behind a curtain and told me to stay there as long as I needed. I was staring at the curtain contemplating life. Could a kid like me make in the big city? Is Costa Rica nice? Is there a witness protection program put in place for children that have suffered embarrassment on the highest level? I was really deep in thought about how I would move on from this. Suddenly, the door to the office opens and I hear a boys voice talking with the nurse. "She's okay. She's going to hang out in here for a moment....yes, I will see if she would like that". The nurse walks over to me with a smile, "There is somebody here who would like to check on you, would you like to speak to him?". I peak around the curtain at the same time as the mysterious good citizen does. It's Anthony. He had tan skin and the bluest eyes I've ever seen. A serious look of concern is written all over his face as we make eye contact. I had just realized how cute this boy is. How sweet of him to check on me! He smiles as he asks, "Hey! Sabrina, Are you okay?".

What did I do? What do YOU think little Sabrina did? This is the beginning of a beautiful middle school love story, right? WRONG! I hid behind the curtain. I broke eye contact and jumped to the ground like a soldier throwing himself into a bunker. He leaves and I die inside.

THE END.

Just kidding, there's more.

I begged my mom to pick me up. She was working and couldn't (thanks mom) so the nurse tells me to go back to class as soon as the first hour bell rings. I couldn't possibly! My mind raised so fast about how I would handle the backlash I was sure to face. I mope my way to my English class. I was already late which meant there was no hope at sliding into my seat unnoticed. I open the door and all eyes are on me. "Hey! That's the girl that biffed it! Are you okay?", one kid asks. I didn't respond and sat in my seat with a tear streaked face. We had a school resource officer in class teaching us how to remember important information. You know, in case you're ever in a situation that would require you to report minor details. Time is blurred, I don't know how the lights turned off. I don't remember how I got the handout we were writing on and I only came to once the lights flipped back on and the exercise was over. I was too busy worrying what others were thinking about me to pay attention to anything at all. As luck would have it, the officer looks at me. "Can you tell us what the license plate number on the car was?", he asks. WHAT?! I don't remember the lights being off. I don't remember anything on the projector. I don't remember anything! My paper is blank. Everyone begins to whisper amongst themselves the longer I stay silent. "Ya, it was SSR-5743", I said confidently. I made up a license plate number. Everyone laughs. The officer laughs. The teacher snorts. "I don't know what plate you saw. That definitely wasn't the number I was referring to. Class, can you help her out?", replies the officer. The class collectively shouts out the right number, then they laugh, then I die again.

That was the day my bright eyes dimmed. The following year I embraced the darkness that was now my new soul. I was gothic and was getting in trouble for wearing spiked chokers. The boys all hated me and the girls didn't understand me. I moved schools and traveled through more trials and tribulations. I never saw Anthony again. 18 years later, JoJo is now in a coven and asked me to burn the clothes she gave me when she moved to Colorado because I have evil spirits attached to me. So, ya! That's my story and it's as real as a tumbleweed in the Arizona desert.