A short story from a fortune cookie: I fiddled with the laces of my black converse as I sat in the passenger’s seat of my mom’s Volkswagen. I tried to tune into the sounds around me – the car doors slamming as kids got out of cars (something I had yet to do), the laughter as people met up with their friends (something I did not have). “I know you’re nervous, but it’s just a matter of putting yourself out there!” She said, her voice straining to sound enthusiastic. I looked up from my shoe-fiddling; the fancy new rock seemed too big for her left finger; the rock that made us move half way across the country. My palms began to sweat as I thought about getting out of the car. “Senior year though, really?” I asked with a sigh. My mom smiled half-heartedly, a sign that she had nothing left to say to me, after all we’d had this conversation many times and I’m not sure why I even bothered bringing it up anymore. “3 o’clock.” I reminded her as I stepped out of the car. I hadn’t even made it half-way up the stairs of my foreign looking school as I tripped over the shoelaces I’d been fiddling with earlier. My Walkman skidded across the cement towards an array of feet, […]
