The Rise of Matilda

I am that person. I am the one whose favorite moments always appear as the most awkward ones. My favorite stories to tell always seem like the ones that at the time, felt incredibly embarrassing or devastating. Like all the rest, my favorite moment from AP English, at the time, felt like the worst moment of my life. Lets start though at the beginning. I rush to English….again. The mantra, Get there on time get there on time runs through my head over and over. Footstep after footstep matches the ticking down of the clock. The clock, though, wins like every single day. Ding ding it rings and I am still in the hallway. Great just great I’m late again. I rush through the door and hurry to an open seat. My backpack drops from my shoulder, floating like a ton of bricks towards the floor. I almost do not hear the sound. Blink, a tin water bottle hits the floor. As I look down horror fills my eyes. My completely full water bottle, which at one time sat closed in the side of my backpack, now spills its contents on the floor. Water flows out like Niagara Falls. That moment horrified me at the time. As I rushed trying to clean it up I feared for my life. I mean, I feared Ms. Serensky more then someone with a gun to my head. I stood a mere five foot four and although Ms. Serensky stands a few inches shorter, her use of words and incredible intelligence scared me more then anything ever before. Until that day my knees shook every single time I walked in that room. The discussion after class that day changed it all. Instead of some angry, scary response Ms. Serensky meet me with compassion and understanding. I never thought she would meet me with complete disdain, I just thought the upset of balance in Ms Serensky’s world would ultimately cause fire to rain down on mine. Like most other times though I saw my mind over exaggerating the truth of what came next. That day started me thinking of Ms Serensky as a human. That day I stopped looking at her like some scary person who held a Nerf gun behind her desk (used to shoot me if I said something stupid). Instead I now just see Ms. Serensky. Oh and I received my nickname that day, Matilda.