“Girls, knock it off,” Amanda said. “That movie only came out a few years ago. Annabelle wasn’t named after it.”
After that rough introduction, I was hesitant to bring up anything else about myself. What if they found it as silly as my name?
Amanda spent some time talking about the importance of being able to express ourselves and not bottle up all our thoughts and emotions inside. We were supposed to share our feelings, speak our truth, whatever the hell that was supposed to mean.
The first time Amanda called on me to speak, my mind went as blank as an Etch A Sketch tablet that had just been shaken. I kind of shook my head until she called on someone else and said I could have more time to think about what I wanted to say. I tried to pay attention to the other girls as they talked.