First Time, Worst Time, Best Time

Welcome Home

This must be what a panic attack feels like. I never actually had one, of course, but I wasn't sure what else this could be. I could feel the blood rushing to my head as I held my breath waiting for the plane to touch down on the runway. It became clear when I gripped the arms of my seat so tightly my knuckles turned white. The final seconds of the flight brought a tinge of blue to my skin and it was an unexpected reaction to arriving at my destination.

This was a good thing; I am not supposed to feel like this. For the love of God, who parked their truck on my chest? Calm down, Bryonna, this is what you want. Everything will be fine. Sidebar, this is not the maturity of a sophomore. This is the freak out of the seventh grader who left. You are not that girl anymore. You are ready to come back.

In just a few moments, I would be back home to finish high school in the one place I always hoped I would return, Lake Vista. So why the drama, you ask? Let me explain. My name is Bryonna Hampton and I left Alden almost three years ago without ever dreaming I would have stayed away so long. However, my intentions were pushed aside in the face of a new life living in California with my father and his family. You see, being a child of divorce has its advantages. When life became complicated my first year of junior high and I wished for a way to escape the drama, my father extended an invitation I couldn't pass up.

I intended to only be gone a year, but things went well enough to delay my return. I'd done a lot of growing up and experienced much of what every teenager does in the crucial years leading up to high school. Finally, I was back and the events leading up to my exit from Alden seemed very distant until this moment. The plane slowly made its way to the gate and I sat numbly thinking of everyone I left behind.

I kept in touch with a handful during my time away, but I couldn't expect things to be exactly as they were the day I left, nor did I want them to be. Truth be told, I hoped everyone had forgotten enough that my last year here would be a distant memory. I used the events of that year to rebuild my attitude and self-esteem over the time I was away.

I left confused and dejected, but was returning confident and strong. I grew another two inches and was now five feet nine inches tall. My light brown hair was well below my shoulders and the little things about my features I once hated didn't bother me as much. No one would mistake me for a model, but I was comfortable with who I was now.

I was excited to see my mom and sister, Misti. Mom and I were always close and it was torture to be away from her for so long. Misti and I were at each other's throats when I left, but we talked on the phone all the time now. We both seemed to forget the reasons we argued so much in the past. She had been through numerous boyfriends and always seemed to have a crisis going on in her life. I secretly believed she thrived on the drama. She would be a junior this year, which is one of the problems Misti had with me. She hated when I talked to people in her grade, especially the boys. 

I wrote letters to the few friends I stayed in touch with to let them know I was coming home. My first letter had been to Tina Andrews. We became close in seventh grade when I joined the basketball team. She had written more faithfully than anyone else while I was away. My dad even flew her out to California to visit me the previous summer. I also received occasional letters from Shelby Reese. She was best friends with Rebecca Wade. Shelby dated Alex Taylor unless they were broken up. They always got back together and I laughed at the stories she told me in her letters knowing we were all going through the same changes.

Rebecca wrote me only a handful of times, but I still enjoyed hearing from her. Her, Shelby, Tina and Ashley Thomas were best friends and the most popular girls in our grade. At least, they had been when I left. Something told me it had not changed, though. Lake Vista was a small school in a small town ruled by the same people year in and year out.