MACotton

She appears suddenly beside me, looking uncertainly at this stranger on the sidewalk outside her school. She's a mildly chubby, pale teen, her eyes vanishing behind owlish tortoise-shell glasses she only got in October. Her hair is long and a little ratty, she's wearing baggy clothes to hide her shape, and her skin...well, what can I say? It's painfully obvious she needs something stronger than over-the-counter washes. There's also a tiny but nasty bruise forming on the side of her head. One of her classmates chucked a nickel at her to "pay for the Clearasil." The internal bruise from that will take a lot longer to heal. "Hey." I try not to

She's my age now, maybe a little older. She was never exact about her birthdate when we were in school together, and after everything I don't imagine she'd be forthcoming about it now. Twenty-one, maybe twenty-two now. I don't know if she looks the same as she did at sixteen - round as a barrel, four inches shorter than me, long brown hair curled like clocksprings, buck front teeth pushing her upper lip back. I haven't heard from her since my junior year, but I take that as a good sign. What I remember of her is mostly insignificant details - a mental snapshot of her leaning over her desk, textbook open to the right page next to her test, a

It’s weird how my body reacts to certain stimuli. If I take nighttime cold medicine, I’ll be staring at the ceiling until four in the morning. Non-drowsy medicine means I can’t stay awake, even with the help of a pot of strong coffee. Something that was supposed to keep my anxiety to a minimum almost turned me into a nervous wreck. When I was warned that birth control pills could lead to some wild mood swings, my emotions turned flat and monochrome eighty percent of the time. And while someone who’s been “switched on” all the time shouldn’t have much energy to do anything, according to my parents, and while

That Friday started out like most days at high school. Wake up, hike through late autumn-early winter cold, wait outside at oh-dark-thirty because the doors won't be unlocked until 7:45, wait in a crammed entry hall until 8:15, and get your butt chewed off for being in the school before then if you didn't have the right pass…the usual. I know the above description might sound harsh, or bitter, but that was really how it was. Our school had already had some serious disciplinary problems, so most of the rules and regulations against students were nothing new. I was just glad I was a senior, and wouldn't have to deal with this after much longer

I'll be the first one to admit that some days I can be the dumbest person on the planet. I've walked into doors, plugged my fingers into light sockets, fallen down stairs and then run back up to do it again, and run headfirst into brick walls. Even now that I'm an adult, I still have my fair share of "Jackass" moments. But I have one consolation - if I win a Darwin Award, someone I know will have long beat me to it. "Daniel", as I'll call him, was not terribly bright even when most of us look notoriously short on brains. He had already been held back a year, mostly for refusing to do his homework so he had free time to be the class idiot. He

 A pair of dark brown eyes gleams in the shadows behind the branches, following every move made by the group in the clearing below. They are fierce, intelligent eyes that catch the firelight very slightly, but can see every movement in the forest beyond. They might belong to a banished monarch, or to a hermit who was once a warrior. Their owner sits on a log just beyond the shelter of the treeline. She is ten years old and small for her age. With her breasts hidden by her folded arms and the knees drawn up to her chest, she could pass for eight or even a large seven. Her face is marked with a thin, quick white line on each cheekbone like du