Like most teenagers, girls have surpassed his thoughts and captivated his body. His mind was buzzing with ideas and he was beginning to get lost in the smell of their hair or the wonder in their eyes. Their eyelashes brushed her cheeks, no longer red from the wind but from the girls' delicate breath. He enjoyed the curve of their hips and imagined his hands holding her tightly. Their lips, soft and coercive, untangled him, and he experienced the same exciting effect that he had once known in kindergarten. Until one night, his new girlfriend parted her lips and uttered the words, “It’s like I don’t even know you anymore.” As he contemplated his realization, his lips suddenly felt chapped, distant and numb. Jackson wondered if his entire personality was built on the perceptions of others; if the idea he had of himself was a lie. Those words took root in his heart and stuck in his mind until he was no longer the “cool kid.” Jackson left the trail the next morning. High school shattered the persona he had fought to build during his childhood, but he ultimately turned to those memories to find the precious, innocent, and authentic parts of himself.