24 Words - 63/365: Bradley

He used to duck his head down and shake dandruff flakes out of his greasy brown hair onto kids who made fun of him.

24 Words - 62/365: Ben

He fell off the monkey bars in front of me and snapped his femur. The sight and sound of it haunted me for a year.

24 Words - 61/365: Katie

We sat in the office after school trying to jam our fists into our mouths while waiting for our mothers to get off work.

24 Words - 60/365: Mr. Ruesser, 7th Grade History Teacher

He was arrogant and rodent-like and wore his pants much too tight. No one was surprised when he got fired for sleeping with students.

24 Words - 59/365: Brennan

The band director called him Squirrel Bait and the percussionists locked him in the tuba locker during jazz band practice because he liked it.

24 Words – 58/365: Nicky

We spent afternoons behind the shed practicing what we thought were karate and judo, and nearly breaking our small hands on Grandpa’s cinder blocks.

24 Words – 57/365: Tiffany

She lived in my town for one summer. Her sarcasm and blunt honesty made us fast friends and I hated to see autumn come.

24 Words – 56/365: Melissa

She had a silent father, an emotionally erratic mother, two wild-eyed sisters, Henry the dachshund, and a cat. I loved being at her house.

24 Words – 55/365: Jeff

I never understood why a senior like him would take a freshman like me under his wing during band camp, but I liked it.

24 Words – 54/365: Jacob

I had no idea he was gay until we went out for his birthday and his boyfriend came along. I reluctantly gave up my crush.

24 Words – 53/365: Bobby

I was horrified when he busted my nose with a volleyball during seventh grade gym class, and also when the instructor called me a trooper.

24 Words - 52/365: Amy

The last time we went trick-or-treating, I was struck by a sudden, awkward awareness that we were growing up beyond candy-hoarding and fake blood.

24 Words - 51/465: Gene

I was drawn to his open mind and big, generous spirit. He was fully alive. It was my loss when I wrote him off.

24 Words - 50/365: Leslie

She was more like a dictator than an RA. One night, we decided we’d had enough, and ignited a glorious revolt for our freedom.

24 Words - 49/365: Sheree

Her fascination with my dating experiences and her determination to find me a husband was disturbing. She wasn’t interested in talking about anything else.

24 Words - 48/365: Rosemary

Some kid told me lap seatbelts could cut a person in half during a wreck, so I felt anxious riding in her blue Oldsmobile.

24 Words - 47/365: Melissa

She seemed hard and intimidating the first time she trimmed my hair. Now I can see that she is refreshingly unpretentious, sincere, and beautiful.

24 Words - 46/365: Aaron

He asked me to have sex with him, which, at six years old, meant showing him the waistband of my underwear in the garage.

24 Words - 45/365: Judy

All I can remember of her was her bearded face, snaggletooth, and the way she helped my aunt in and out of her wheelchair.

24 Words - 44/365: Mrs. DeLaGarza

Rumor had it she had a fierce temper and threw erasers at her students, and I prayed to be placed in another teacher’s class.