I was a girl geek before it was named.
In junior high, I was in the A group. The honors students were separated out from the rest of the school into two classes, the A class and the B class. Quite literally the A class were the smartest. It did not make us popular and we all disliked each other.
I had pretty much failed recess starting in Kindergarten. No television and I wanted to sing. This was not popular. I went silent, played alone, or listened.
In junior high, my voice was my flute.
We were allowed to skip one class a week for a music lesson. One for each instrument. Flute was on Tuesday.
Well. I added violin and oboe and guitar.
Now I could leave four classes a week, on different days. To go for a lesson. Band and orchestra were the only classes where the A and B class overlapped with the rest of the school. Praise God.
I did have three friends. Other girl geeks. We were the four totally awkward smart ones. There were more pretty and popular smart ones. We were not them.
One was Julie. She played flute too. We took our lessons together.
One day towards the end of 8th grade we went to every class. "We have a flute lesson." We left every single class.
The class did not bust us. The teachers did not keep track and probably have cared less. We were Good Girls.
The orchestra teacher noticed. He stuck his head in the practice room. We were playing duets. He eyed us. "Just keep your grades up," he growled and ignored us.
We played duets all day and talked and laughed a lot. It felt very naughty. We were not naughty at all. No boys, booze, drugs. Just flutes and duets soaring.
Music saves me over and over.
#17: Iron Noder