"Hey, do you wanna go sit under that tree with me?"

"Sure, le’me go ask my mom."

She came running back and we both walked side-by-side to that wonderful tree where we spent the rest of our brothers’ football game talking.

I look back at this day many times, realizing that this was all very odd for me. I was completely comfortable with this person whom I’d seen only a couple times before when we’d happen to cross paths in the crowded hallway of school during our all-too-short passing times. Not only was I carrying on a conversation with this newfound friend, but I was the one who’d started it. I wasn’t one to keep a conversation going, and I definitely wasn’t the type who could start one.

But something about her made me feel loved and understood. Something about her made me break out of my shell. She continues, to this day, (six) years later, to pick at the lock of the safe that I’ve placed myself in.

On graduation day we, the two clumsiest girls in the entire school, walked in unison, arm-in-arm, without missing a beat.