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plays love songs on Sunday – Friday nights on Q99. I got an autographed picture of her for Christmas one year. I hung out with the boy who lived across the street from me. He moved in the house across the street from my house nine months before I moved to Pu- laski. He went to Dublin Middle School just as I did. He used to invite me to do a lot of stuff. That was the only person that I hung out with at the time. We still keep in touch. I used a program called Virginia Grade Level Alterna- tive to complete the state testing. I passed the math and English tests. I did not pass social studies or sci- ence because my teachers accidentally turned in mul- tiple choice questions and not my essays and fill in the blank tests. They got some training after that and learned how to complete the V.G.L.A. notebooks. I performed in piano recitals every year at First Unit- ed Methodist Church in Pulaski, Virginia. All of my family and many of my friends and neighbors attend- ed my recitals. One day before I had a recital in the evening, I performed in a talent show at my middle school. Many of the office staff and cafeteria staff came to watch. They cheered and cried. The big end of middle school events were the 8 th grade dance, awards ceremony, and graduation. I did not decide to go to the dance until the last minute when one of the faculty members called my parents at home. He told them that he was very disappointed that I was not coming to the dance and that he wanted me to come. I went to the 8 th grade dance that Friday

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