Frozen
- It's the first day of eighth grade at Westhaven Middle School, and Corinna has to endure seeing moms say goodbye to their daughters as they drop them off.
- Corinna's nervous, because not everybody knows her mom died over the summer.
- The first day of school used to be fun, but now she just feels like she's dragging herself through it.
- She also used to dress up, but today she's just wearing an old t-shirt and jean skirt.
- The class "queen bee," Beth, comes up to Corinna in the hallway and invites Corinna to lunch at her family's country club. They've never hung out before. It's nice, but definitely misguided.
- Corinna looks around for her best friend, Jocelyn, or Joci. They used to talk about everything, but Corinna hasn't heard from Joci for several weeks, and they don't have any morning classes together.
- In fourth period English, Corinna's teacher, Miss B.B. Beatty, whom everyone calls Miss Boppity Bop, offers her condolences. She's the first person to acknowledge Corinna's mom's death all day.
- Miss Beatty assigns homework: Write about the highlight of your summer. Smooth move, Boppity Bop.
- Finally, at lunch, Corinna sees Joci—she's sitting with their friends Olivia, Juliette, and Eliana.
- Corinna sits with them, and everybody talks about teachers and pretends everything is normal, but after lunch, Corinna hears other kids talking about her, though they get quiet as she walks by.
- That night, over a dinner of canned chili, Corinna and her dad are both exhausted. Her dad's a high school teacher, and he's also struggled through the first day of school.
- They head to bed early, but before she goes to sleep, Corinna writes her essay. She titles it "The Day That Led to the Longest and Worst Summer of My Life"—it's about April Fools' Day, when she found out her mom had cancer.
- Afterward, she takes a bubble bath and remembers her last birthday party before her mom got sick.