"Crunch." A passage about autumn

Instructions

Fall was creeping into the air slowly, the atmosphere still hot and sicky from the morning summer dew, but the faint smell of crispy autumn leaves were attempting to shine underneath the thick green brush that crowded ditches. Brown, wet, limp leaves clung to the rain soaked road, and frogs squealed in the nearby ponds, darting underneath bushes in the mud. The sun was slowly starting to set earlier, as if the earth itself was counting down the days until September 26th, America's first official day of fall. The giggles of teenage girls fluttered in the air as they spoke of a downtown dream and pumpkin flavored treats, their vanilla perfume flooding into the noses of boys with bleached hair who clawed at the remaining traces of summer, as they dreaded saying goodbye to the days on the lake with their buddies, throwing footballs, riding skateboards, and not worrying of the dark school mornings that were soon to arrive. I was no different. I sat among these girls, discussing cinnamon candles, chai tea, and faux orange leaves to drape on my walls, teachers barking for us to settle down and focus on the task at hand, gesturing at the untouched algebra papers on those sad gray high school desks. What happened to be different for me, however, was that I was exited for fall for a much different reason than the girls in my classes; Halloween. Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. The spooky decorations, the people who dressed up as clowns, scaring children and volunteering for hay ride actors for extra cash, walking the dark roads of my neighborhood with my dear held friends, in our matching costumes from childhood shows, searching for anything creative to do this year to feel different, although we never were. But Halloween to me, was fitting in. All my life I'd been the quiet girl who sat by myself in the back of the classroom, drawing cartoons on my assignments, coming to school in bizarre outfits that made people call me "weird," such as arm warmers, funky shoes and obscenely colorful hair extensions, because my mother would never let me dye my hair. However, I still craved the feeling of color and bright eyesores, and outfits that people would only accept to call them "Halloween costumes." So that's what I made them. But as I aged into my high school years, I came to be blessed by the fact that I wasn't so alone as I thought, as I looked around and saw other kids just my age, so many of them scattered around me in intricate, fun, unique outfits that finally radiated a personality I was familiar with in myself, people who no longer cared about what others would think, wearing whatever they desired and showing who they are in the art of fashion, decorating their backpacks for school in all sorts of pins and keychains that showed the things they were into, the shows, movies, books, and games all presented right on their wardrobe, and what had you known it? None of them were dressed just for Halloween.