June 18th 1985, 6 months earlier

I had known Robin for a few months before I really noticed her. We were in third period English and she tapped me on the shoulder, “Hi.”

“Um, hi.” I turned around in my chair to face her. I vaguely recognized her from the group I ate lunch with. This one was, Erin? No. This was the pretty one with the long black hair. Robin.

“You have gum in your hair, ” Robin said, propping herself up and sitting on the desk behind me, making the kid behind her look like he was going to throw something.

“Oh. Do I?” I felt around the back of my head until I felt the gum. “How does that even happen?” I was picking at it now, trying to untangle the mess it left.

“Oh, I mean. I put it there. So that would be how,” she said, chewing her gum and smiling mischievously.

“Why?” I laughed nervously.

“I wanted to talk to you. Come on, let’s go. I know how to get it out with ice”. She hopped off the desk and offered her hand.

I don’t know what kind of magic this girl had that made me listen, but something told me: go with her. In the days after that, the ones leading up to summer we were attached at the hip. We would skip class to go to concerts, laugh about nothing and talk about everything. It was the beginning of a friendship that said “jump, enjoy the fall. I’ll be there to catch you.”