Why was 6 afraid of 7?
Because 7 8 9.
Okay so kindergarten was pretty great for me. It was my first year of school and I was so excited to go out and learn and get away from my family and make real friends. It was great for me. I behaved well and there was only one time I actually got in trouble.
It was the first day of school. September 2, 2002. I had on this awful blue sundress, that was pretty cute in the time period, and I wore my then blond my hair in little pigtails with little bows in them. I looked adorable and my mom took about 300 pictures of me.
I got to school and there were all these kids crying and begging their parents to let them go home. I told my mom not to come in because I didn't want to be embarassed by her.
I walked in the class and Mrs. Walsh took me to my desk. I sat beside this boy who had glasses and no front teeth. His name was Joshua. Joshua and I instantly became best friends. We spent the entire morning thinking of jokes and laughing at everyone who didn't understand them. I'm pretty sure Mrs. Walsh was totally done with us by lunch time.
Joshua and I sat together at lunch at this small round table. We didn't want anyone else to sit with us so we took all the chairs and put them at different tables. We both had peanut butter sandwiches and juice boxes. His mom packed him carrot sticks. I felt sympathy for the first time and decided to share my animal crackers with him.
After lunch we had recess. A whole 30 minutes running around the playground was the greatest freedom we had ever been given. We played on the swings. We ran around the monkey bars. We interrupted multiple games of house.
It was finally time to line up to go inside and I got in line in front of Joshua. We stood there for what felt like an eternity waiting for Mrs. Walsh get all of us together.
Once it was finally time to go in, Joshua and I started to pretend we would never see eachother again.
"Oh Josh!" I cried. "I'll miss you so much! I can't believe you're moving to North Dakota!"
"Oh ! I'll miss you even more! I'll be sure to write you every day!"
"Good bye, Joshua!"
"Good bye, Scarlett!"
And then, I kissed him right on the lips, like I would to my mom.
Mrs. Walsh didn't exactly like our performance. Neither did Joshua. We had to sit inside for recess for the rest of the week in silence.
Josh got mad at me for this and it made me sad. He said he was never going to talk to me ever again. I was upset by this because I lost my first and only friend. I moved on and made new friends and the rest of the year was fine for me. It didn't go as well for Josh. He's dead now.
On October 4, Joshua died in a car wreck. His family was coming home from dinner and they were hit by a drunk driver. Josh and his mom, dad, older brother, and baby sister were all killed instantly.
Mrs. Walsh told the next day at school and none of us really understood. No one knew anyone who was dead except for Molly Smith. Her grandma died a few years ago and she really did'n't remember it.
We had a big memorial service for them a few weeks later in the gym. The whole town came and I still really didn't understand. Everyone just kept saying "he went to a better place and he can't come back,".
I wish he could.
