Kara Hutchinson

A Lesson in Love

I experienced my first real crush at 12 years old. A neighbor who lived a street over; we shared the same backyard fence. He was a year older than me, which in middle school meant a lot. At the age of 13, he was already handsome and charming, the star of the basketball team, and I, on the other hand, was an awkward, shy preteen. No amount of Abercrombie and Fitch jeans, black eyeliner, and drugstore lipgloss could turn me into someone he'd ever be interested in.