Member-only story

FEBRUARY 28-DAY CHALLENGE

Day Four: Your first crush

She Was Everything I Wasn’t

Karen Schwartz
3 min readFeb 7, 2023

--

efes on Pixabay

He was older. Only by one year, but when you’re in the fifth grade, one level up symbolizes maturity. The fact he paid me any notice made me feel older, too.

I was popular in grade school. Internal butterflies fluttered regularly anytime a boy looked my way. And many boys did. Three, to be exact. But isn’t it human nature to want what we can’t have? I’m talking about that fourth boy I melted over — his name was Shawn.

He must have felt my adoration. I swooned when he spoke to me and held my hand in class, but there was a glitch. Her name was Shea. She was pretty and fashionable, and her name stood for fortunate. Unfortunately, Shawn hadn’t missed her charm. He held hands with her often, too. I wanted to feel special. But he gave me little choice. I could love him or leave him. Sharing him with her was my only option.

During my younger years, I loved dogs and hockey. I watched the latter, and I played it. The sport was in my blood. My uncles, brother, and I played ball hockey behind our duplex every weekend. I loved being included. But where I shone was on the all-girls floor hockey team at school. That’s where my team spirit was high, my passing was on point, and my goal-scoring was among the highest in the…

--

--

Karen Schwartz
Karen Schwartz

Written by Karen Schwartz

Children's picture book author, fiction writer, personal essayist, kindness specialist, and lover of chocolate.

Responses (4)