2k12 Guest Post: Megan Bostic - Never Eighteen

A long while back I was approached by Caroline Starr Rose to help promote the fantastic group of authors in the Class of 2k12.  These are a group of authors being published in 2012.  I jumped at the chance to help out.  

What we came up with was a series of guest posts.  The topic: 

MIDDLE SCHOOL!

 Since I teach 7th grade I live and breath middle school (ok some of you can stop shuddering now). 

So over the course of 2012 you will get to hear from some the the 2k12 authors and their memories/thoughts about that time in their life.  I thank each of them for jumping in a tackling the subject!

To learn about all the 2k12 authors check out their site: Class of 2k12: Fiction that Rocks

Today our 2k12-er is:

Megan Bostic

Title: Never Eighteen

Release Date: January 17th (today!)

Austin Parker is on a journey to bring truth, beauty, and meaning to his life. 

Austin Parker is never going to see his eighteenth birthday. At the rate he’s going, he probably won’t even see the end of the year. The doctors say his chances of surviving are slim to none even with treatment, so he’s decided it’s time to let go. 

But before he goes, Austin wants to mend the broken fences in his life. So with the help of his best friend, Kaylee, Austin visits every person in his life who touched him in a special way. He journeys to places he’s loved and those he’s never seen. And what starts as a way to say goodbye turns into a personal journey that brings love, acceptance, and meaning to Austin’s life.

Her Thoughts/Memories about Middle School

Megan in Middle School
First off, I’m old enough to where we called middle school, “junior high”, which was seventh through ninth grade. Seventh grade was a little awkward for me. I had just started wearing glasses the year before, started paying attention to body image and realized I could no longer eat anything I wanted without payment in either my butt or thighs, and was terrified of bullies, bad grades, and boys, not necessarily in that order.

Like any other red-blooded American middle schooler, I craved popularity, but sadly, that was not my calling. I mean, I wasn’t invisible or weird or anything, I just wasn’t in “that” group of girls. In fact, I played softball, and “that” group of girls was our biggest nemesis on the diamond. They were nice kids though, so that rivalry stayed on the baseball field.

I did have a good circle of friends of my own. We all lived near each other and liked going out for pizza, listening to rock music (groups you’ve never heard of like Van Halen, Loverboy, and AC/DC). We also liked just laughing and being goofy.

In eighth grade I became a quitter. I quit piano, I quit softball. Boys were first and foremost on my mind. I had a boyfriend for the much of that year. His name was Jeff and I really liked him, but I was still utterly and completely terrified of boys, so I tried to avoid him as much as humanly possible. This was also the year I heard my butt was fat for the first time. I don’t remember much more about eighth grade probably for good reason.

I became more like a real person in ninth grade. I finally became bad at math (I knew it was just a matter of time), but in return made the concert choir (did I mention I loved to sing?), and the drill team. My musical tastes shifted from rock to something slightly more, as we called it back then, New Wave. My circle of friends became larger, including more boys, one of which I had a giant crush on (his name was Sean). I became so confident in myself that year I actually talked to him. Unfortunately, though he liked me too, he was so shy he ran away and threw up in the hallway garbage can. Alas, we were never to be.

I think I made a pretty big leap from seventh grade uber geek to ninth grade confident flirt. One thing I didn’t accomplish in middle school: My first kiss. But that’s a story for another day.

Thank you Megan for sharing! I'm from the "junior high" era also! :) And I believe that boys took over my thoughts about that time as well!