-Summer


I was done with the eighth grade. Finally finished with the tortures of popularity, lack of any signs of puberty, homework and everything else. All I had to worry about was who I was going to hang out with that day.

I left middle school for the last time and met up with Noel, Wally, and Zach to celebrate the first day of summer. At my house, on a bright, humid day, I grabbed a basketball and tossed it at the ancient hoop. Wally soared above us and snatched the ball out of the air. My mom interrupted our game by pulling in the driveway. She squeezed the car into the garage, stepped down from her seat and reminded me that I had an appointment today to get my braces put back on. Great, as if I wasn’t nervous enough for high school.

My friends left to have more fun as my mom took me to get those wretched pieces of metal back on my teeth. I entered the orthodontists office without the slightest grin of excitement. My summer is ruined before it even started.


-Fall

A few weeks into my freshman year of high school and I am still alive. I’m strutting through the hallway with my brand new neon shoes and favorite jeans as if I owned the place. On our way to choir, Kevin, Zach and I are ready for another day of pretending like we know how to sing and fooling everyone with our newly inherited “deep voices”. We walk into the classroom just as the bell rings and slip into our seats. Instead of our usual routine of warming up and stretching, Mrs. Tobison stands in front of the class to announce that each and every one of us boys will be trying out for a solo in front of the class. Was she mad at us? Did she want to humiliate me? Regardless of what she intended, I didn’t have a choice.

I anxiously waited for her to call my name. I had a tomato for a face, and beads of sweat running down the side of my face as if I just got out of a steamy shower. I stood with my back to the class, adrenaline pumping through my entire body, and prepared my throat. I let out a forced, low note that made my voice crack, and Mrs. Tobison immediately saw right through me. She made it clear to the entire class that I would be joining the tenor section because I obviously didn’t belong with the other basses and baritones.


-Winter

“Nick... Nick, turn off your alarm, school is cancelled.” Without even opening my eyes, I stretched a smile and hit the alarm clock. Twenty minutes passed, and I still couldn’t fall back asleep. I decided to send some texts to see what everyone is doing. After showering, eating breakfast, and completely getting ready for the day, nobody answered. I started to call them up and only Wally answered his phone. The low moans and sleep in his speech made me tell him to call me when he gets up. I guess I’ll go waste some time on the computer until everyone wakes up. The last thing I remember was starting up the laptop and waiting for everything to load. I had fallen asleep, it was now one o’clock in the afternoon, and nobody was home. I looked at my phone to find six missed calls from all my friends and two texts saying that Joe’s mom was driving them to go snowboarding. I had no ride, couldn’t get a hold of my friends, and worst of all, just slept away my one and only snow day.


-Spring

On the Sunday afternoon before the last week of freshman year, I rode home from Wally’s house and as I passed St. Michael’s Church, I slowed down and decided to go for a walk in the field. I parked my bike in the parking lot, rolled up my jeans, slipped off my shoes and socks and started running. I had nowhere to go and nothing to do. All I knew was that the wind whistling through the leaves was my calling to follow it. The grass was still wet from that mornings rain, even though there wasn’t a cloud cluttering the sky. I stopped running to shake the blades of grass off my feet and sit to enjoy an exaggerated breath of air. After a full year of disappointments and humiliations, all I could do was laugh it all away, and listen to the whispers of the wind.