thirteen

When I was thirteen, my dad’s job moved our family from Manassas, VA to little Amherst, VA. The change I thought would ruin my life. Instead moving here brought change I didn’t realize were needed from violence, ” friends who were headed to jail”, schools.
We came to a sweet town where my small quiet school let me actually learn. The classes were small and serene. In Manassas the classes are huge and earsplitting. The teacher’s would have to yell so they could teach the student’s who wanted to learn. I didn’t learn that much at all. Switching to Amherst public schools helped me a lot.
When I started I was really far behind. I was in the seventh grade and reading at a third grade reading level. In Manassas I actually was reading ahead of most of the class. It was a tremendous change in schools for me. It was so difficult at the beginning. I was the new girl and so far behind everyone else. I actually would fight my parents to go to school at first. I had to have a ...