YA Outside the Lines

  This month, we’re looking back on first crushes, how they affected us, how we see them now, and how they affected us as writers. Dang, that was a long time ago, but I still remember a lot from back then...Sometimes too much. When I was a junior in high school, I remember locking eyes with a short, brunette basketball player from the neighboring town of Appleton. There was an instant return of interest and I could have easily offered her a ride home after the game, but chickened out. Sadly, that was how I dealt with most opportunities back then. The next I knew, she (a senior in high school that year) was going steady with a guy from yet another high school. They married shortly after graduation and a few months later, I opened the local newspaper to see an account of an auto fatality on Route One, south of the town where I lived. That was back when seat belts were seen as more of an annoyance than a life saver and the girl I let get away wasn’t wearing one and was killed insta...