My name is Tom Wright.

I grew up in Westlake, Ohio, and graduated from Westlake Highschool last month, the day before my 18th birthday. I’m writing this letter to try and explain what really happened over the weekend, because the news has almost all of it wrong. I don’t expect you to understand or agree with what I did, but I would like you to at least hear an explanation directly from me.

First, I need to tell you a little bit about my history with Sara Maarten. Sara and I were friends since the third grade, when she and her parents moved to Cleveland from The Netherlands. She spoke perfect English, but her Dutch accent made some of the kids, especially other girls, laugh at her. I loved it. She and I were friends almost from the first time we met. We lived just a few blocks apart, so I saw her all the time on weekends and during the summer. Lucky for us, my parents got along very well with hers, and they would hang out and play cards sometimes while Sara and I played in the yard and eventually fell asleep together on the couch watching television. We started spending the night at eachother’s houses in 5th grade.

In 6th grade we had our first kiss. I’ll never forget it, mostly because it was so embarassing. We were watching a movie, and she had her head on a pillow in my lap like she always did. The actors were kissing, and suddenly she just sat up and kissed me right on the lips. She backed off, smiled, then came in for another one. I lurched forward at just the wrong minute, and our top teeth hit, making both of us say “OW!” at exactly the same time. It was weird, and funny, and embarassing. We laughed about it for a few mintues, then finished the movie. Our next few visits were a little awkward, probably because both of us were trying to figure out if anything else was going to happen. But it didn’t, and eventually we settled back in to our old routine like nothing had ever happened. I loved her, and thought she was beautiful. But she was more like my sister than anything else. Our first kiss was our last, if you don’t count that time in the photobooth when she and Becky sat on my lap and kissed me on the cheeks while I grinned like a fool idiot for the camera.

She started dating in 8th grade. I think her first ‘boyfriend’ was Micah Samuels – which was kind of a surprise to me, since I had never seen them talk or hang out together before that summer. They went to a few movies together, made out all the time, and were completely inseperable for about 6 weeks. She gave him a blowjob on the last day of summer, and told me all about it on the phone afterwards, which was awkward to say the least. It must not have been very good for either of them, because I don’t think they spoke to eachother ever again after the first day of 9th grade.