If there was ever a girl like Francine Frensky out there, I'd yet to meet her before third grade. Francine was one of a kind: smart, talented, and—well, let's face it, a bit bossy. She was a white hot flame of a girl, and I, Arthur Read, was a pathetic moth.

That's not to say we never had our disagreements. I remember the time I made an underhanded remark about Francine's new sweater, (it did sort of make her look like a marshmallow) and she had confronted me about it before the end of the day. We ended up settling things after being locked in the library overnight, but I'll save that for another time.

My point is that we are older now. My friends from Lakewood Elementary are now entering ElwoodCityHigh School as freshman. I haven't seen most of them since eighth grade. I've been on vacation all summer. I'm a little nervous to see how things have changed.

Or in my case, maybe how things haven't.