The Safety Pin Affair

t h i r t y-t h r e e - don't make it a big deal

i know my actions,
they may get confusing,
but my unstable ways is
my solution to even s p a c e . . .

▪️▫️▪️

He was the talk of the school for awhile.

His win headlined our local town and school newspapers. Everyone congratulated him day after day. His name came on the morning announcements for a week, reminding us all that we had a real athlete at our school, in the flesh. First in his weight class against six other schools.

Josh Hunt – the reigning state champ for three years in a row at Ridgeway High. All I could do was be happy for him from a distance.

Things didn't get fixed between us and I knew they wouldn't. It doesn't matter how drunk he was or how tired I was when we ended things. It just wasn't meant to be.

That weekend, he proved to me that he didn't need me. I felt a little bad, but then again I felt like I did him a favor. He still did good without me and it seems like he's better off like that.

A little over a month later and we still haven't exchanged any words. I barely got a chance to congratulate him and when I did, it was awkward. I passed him in the hallway at school the Monday after states, said "congrats" with a tight-lipped smile, and he nodded his head with a mumbling of "thanks". That's it.

Since then, we've sort of been avoiding each other and it might be childish, but it's working. Blair thinks otherwise, Rick and Michael constantly pester me, and my parents are heartbroken. I seem to be the only one that's not affected by it all.

I'm fine, but no one believes me.

"Alright kids, listen up," Mrs. Griffith caroled from the front of the classroom in her warm accent. A plump woman from Houston who's been at this school for years and years that teaches English better than anyone. Her motherly smile and bubbly attitude causes everyone to love her from the moment they meet her. "I've got something important to say, so listen up. I don't want to have to repeat myself a hundred times either – that means you, Mr. Pratt." She eyed Theo Pratt sitting in the back corner, making the rest of us laugh. He sent her a charming smile in return and she rolled her eyes with a chuckle. "I know you're all just waitin' to graduate. You only got two months left!"

Blair sitting next to me flashed me a look of worry and mouthed, "Two months!" I frowned and shrugged my shoulders. I'm just glad we made it out alive after another long, grueling Vermont winter.

Mrs. Griffith quickly composed herself with a serious look on her face as she stared at us all. "But to get through these last two months and to actually graduate, you gotta pass my class. For some of you, that might be easy. For others, it might not be. By now, I'm sure you know about the final project that every senior has to complete for English class – whether it's with me or another teacher, it's required for you to do it and there's no way out of it. Don't be scared, just listen," she laughed at a few students who looked like they were going to pass out in their chairs. I propped my chin in my hand and waited patiently for her next words.

"It's changed a lot over the past few years, but it's basically a speech," she said, which emitted a bunch of groans around the room. She waved her hand around to quiet everyone down and continued. "It's called 'My Last Words'." She strolled over to her desk and picked up a stack of papers, then started distributing them down the rows of students.

"These are the directions; read them carefully. Start thinkin' about ideas for what you might like to write it on. This is what we're gonna be working on for the next few weeks. You have 'till May twentieth and from that day on, you'll each be assigned a date and time slot for when you'll present it to a board of judges. It'll be myself along with the other English teachers, and a few alumni from school or around town.