She was bleeding. In all her wide awake musings about what this moment would be like, she never once pictured herself bleeding. THere on the sidewalk, inhaling exhaust fumes and being stared down by dozens of pairs of eyes peering out school bus windows, she realized her first kiss resulted in a flesh wound. He was a good eight inches shorter than her and completely misfired, plunging his braces into her unsuspecting gums. It would've been so easy to blame him. It was infact his fault. But blaming herself was her talent. She would never in all her life thereafter feel a sense of confidence with the opposite sex. Time after time she awaited the debacle. And it always came.