Metamorphosis

**To read this Flashback Series, click the link at the top of the page**

When her freshman year was over, She felt such relief. She had made it! She had survived Her first year at a new school and now it was summer.

During the summer, She would be babysitting and She couldn’t wait. It was 3-4 days a week and they paid almost $3 an hour!! She would be raking in the dough. The kids were 8, 5 and 2 and She loved to babysit. They lived in a really nice house on a cul-de-sac and She was excited to play with them outside and work on Her tan. She could even ride Her bike to their house! She was really excited about it.

She had new friends that She hoped She would see over the summer. None of them really lived close to Her, but hopefully they would still see each other. The girl across the street was super fun to hang out with and She had a pool! It was going to be a good summer.

The babysitting job was awesome. She really loved kids. They would play outside all day, She got to make them lunch and then, before She knew it, their Mom was home! She made like $30 a day!! She was saving up for a Polo shirt. She had gone to the department store and picked one out. It was mint green and white, tiny pinstriped and long-sleeved. It was $80 so it would only take Her 3 weeks to be able to get it! She was definitely going to wear that on the first day back to school.

Nothing terribly exciting happened that summer. She babysat and laid out in the sun and occasionally hung out with friends. She did notice that there were a lot of cute boys in her neighborhood. She didn’t really have time to notice last summer and then everyone was inside for the winter. Her neighbor was a really popular, really funny guy who was two years older and had his own car. He was going to be driving Her to school next year! No more bus riding for Her! She couldn’t wait. She felt so cool.

Before She knew it, back to school time was here. Being a sophomore was so much better than a freshman, and She knew people this time! Swim team had started in early August so She was already back with those friends. She loved being part of a team. It was so nice to go back to school and not have to worry about who She was going to sit with at lunch or if She was going to make any friends. Her biggest worry was if Her best friends would be in Her classes.

When school started, She noticed a couple of boys looking at Her in the hallway and saying “Hey!”. That hadn’t really ever happened to Her before. What was going on? She even heard one of them tell another one that She was “hot” this year.

What???

Never before in Her life had anyone said She was “hot”. What did that even mean? That they wanted to kiss Her? Ask Her to homecoming that was in 4.2 weeks? Go with Her to the football games? What did it mean? She wasn’t sure She wanted to know. Too scary. There was a boy in Her Algebra II class that lived behind Her that was so funny and really cute. But He seemed kind of mean too. Like the teachers liked him, but he also got in trouble. Kind of a bad boy.

Intriguing.

One day after school, She noticed that there were guys playing hockey in Her street. She watched out the front bay window. There was Her cool neighbor that drove Her to school! Maybe She should go say hi? No way. Then She noticed that the cute boy from her Algebra II class was out there too. No way was She going out there. Maybe She could pretend to get the mail or something and see if they said hi? She wasn’t sure how this all worked. Since when was She so interested in boys anyway? She didn’t have much luck in that department. When She would complain about Her lack of a lovelife to her Dad, he would always say, “There are girls that you have sex with and girls that you marry. You’re a girl that you marry.” She’d figured She’d be 25 before anyone would pay attention to Her. Isn’t that when people got married? But She desperately wanted to go talk to that boy from her math class. He was popular and really, really cute. And tall! She loved tall.

She chickened out. Maybe they’d be out playing hockey again tomorrow.