Would

That summer, I spent two happy months with Natalie Lepore from English class, who lived a short walk away. In her basement, we watched Audrey Hepburn’s movies and fooled around on a sofa bed. Back at school, I had a salacious update for my friends: I ‘did the deed’ for the first time. They celebrated too loudly, and spread the news farther than expected. Natalie was hurt by my indiscretion, and our comfortable liaison came to a close. (Many years later, she became an English teacher at our high school.) I write the above to explain that Tara Robles was crowded out of mind by Natalie and Audrey. I saw the strawberry blonde not once that year, unaware she was gone. Out of sight, out of mind; for me, that girl from my ninth grade math class stopped existing.