Chapter 4
A MIDDLE SCHOOL DREAM
As the saying goes, "Time waits for no man." In this case, no child either. Could it be possible that I was thirteen years old and entering the seventh grade? I will never in a million years forget my first day of junior high school or what we now refer to as middle school. I still had not acquired a taste for breakfast, so I gulped down my cup of cream and sugar with a little coffee. I said my goodbyes to my grandma and grandpa and emerged from the house that morning wearing one of my new dresses.
The dress I chose to wear for my first day at school had short sleeves that were gathered together with elastic, and the waistband had an attached nylon petticoat that was gathered together with elastic too. I guess the elastic bands were sewn into my dress so that they could accommodate my forever-growing waistline. That morning when I boarded the school bus, it didn't take me very long to realize that I definitely did not look like the other girls on the bus. Some of the girls stared at me and rolled their eyes around in their heads, like I was from some planet in outer space. A few of the girls turned their heads toward the bus windows, probably thinking that I wouldn't notice them giggling at me.
My face felt hot, and I knew that it must have been turning bright red. I felt sick to my stomach, like I might vomit up my cup of coffee. Oh, how at that very moment I wished my grandma had said it was okay to ride to school with my cousin Freddie in his brother's new car. But she didn't, and now I was stuck on this yellow submarine being submerged deeper and deeper with no way out. As I frantically looked up and down the aisle for an empty seat, I...
