It was the first day of spring, you know what that means? Track season! It had just started , and I was nervous because I was going to be meeting new people and get out of the house more. Since Covid hit, anxiety was bad. Here's the thing, I had officially moved from New York to Delaware, in January, and everything was still new to me. I was doing school online, so I hardly knew anybody. 

My mom encouraged me to join the track team because I ran  for  my old school. She knew I’d make some new friends. I was so confident that I wouldn’t. She even made me sign up to take the school bus. That was the most terrifying part! My anxiety rises when it comes to trying new things and meeting new people. My mom and I argued about her dropping me off on the first day. 

 She was working from home. The school was only twenty minutes away from our house. Don't you think she should have cut me some slack? NOPE. I was definitely getting on that bus. We came to an agreement that she’d walk me to the stop every day until I made some friends, so she could also get some exercise. It was just me and her in the house all day, but now that I was  starting this sport, I left her in the afternoons.

        At the bus stop, the bus arrives, and at this moment,  I met the best bus driver in the world. His name is Jason, and he wore sunglasses that were black with reflective blue lenses like the truck drivers wear. He was playing “No Guidance” by Chris Brown as I got on the bus. Jason always had the good jams playing. His bus smelled like black cherry car freshener. I was the only girl on the bus when I got on,  there were four other  boys. 

We did end up picking up another girl. She was on the phone when she got on. She was  tall, skinny, and had box braids that were styled into a bun.  I was new so I followed her around because we were the first people to get there and we were locked out. Because of COVID the school was empty with no students and just teachers. The first day of practice was light. The girls I met were all friends before, so they already knew each other. But they welcomed me and we became friends on the spot. 

As the season progressed, I couldn't run until the end of the quarter. We only had 8 meets the whole season, and I missed 4. I tore my quad at our prior practice before the first meet I ran,  the second meet I fell, and the rest were counties and states.  Boy, did we do well in counties! We all got personal records. The rush of excitement we had was everything. It felt like we had just won the Olympics. We celebrated with food and smoothies from Wawa, and we had a water fight on the bus with Jason. And if you were wondering, yes Jason started it.

Up to the very last meet, the track team was a big family. Everyone was so close, we hold great memories together till this day. These were my first friends in Delaware. In the matter of months, I found people that I now call family.