“Well, that’s still more than I have,” Sierra said. “All I have is my cat,” she sang loudly to no one in particular. “Where are youuuuuu, my little pet? I’m missing you, and we haven’t even met!” Sierra turned to me with a grin. “Hey, that’s pretty good. I’m gonna write that down so I don’t forget. Haha!”

The two customers who were sitting at a table clapped. Sierra took a silly bow. “I’ll be signing autographs before you leave!” she joked, and they smiled and nodded. “See?” she said to me. “I knew it was good!”

I rolled my eyes, but I had to smile, too. Even when she’s just fooling around, Sierra finds a way to connect with people, I marveled. I could barely even speak in a room full of people who shared my interests, never mind break out into song in front of total strangers.

I thought of school this past year and how long it had taken me to speak up, even with great encouragement from, say, my favorite teacher—Ms. Healy. She’d worked so hard to get me to talk in English class, enticing me with little tidbits that she knew about me from conversations we’d had outside of class; bringing up my favorite book, Anne of Green Gables; asking me point-blank questions I couldn’t squirm away from. It had finally worked. By the end of the year I’d been able to speak out loud in her class every day.

I also thought about the school librarian, Mrs. K., and how she’d drawn me out with all of her little kindnesses—taking me to the Book Fest at my old school and giving me great things to read. (Hello, M. J. Connor!)

Colin, too, had made an effort with me, inviting me to sit with him on the school bus, saving me from the girls we called the Mean Team, and asking me to write for the school paper. We were actual friends. He was the first friend I’d really made on my own, since my mom had basically picked Sierra and Tamiko for me when we were toddlers—so Colin being the first friend I had chosen myself was kind of significant.