magnetic and pantsless

today i am thinking of the first day of 6th grade. that's the day Mary Alli, with whom i'd been hanging out all summer long, came up to me in Mrs. Green's classroom and said, "I can't be your friend anymore, because if the other kids find out they won't like me."

i cried and cried.

if i could go back and say one thing to my 10-year-old self, it would be this: "didn't she hit you in the head with a baseball bat last month? honestly, kid, friends like this you don't need."