The next day, I woke up at 8:30 AM, which was the first time I had woken up that early in the morning for a very long time. When my alarm went off, I really wanted to chuck my phone across my room and go back to sleep, but instead, I sat up, stretched, and then got ready for the day. My mom had already left by the time I was up, and all she told me was to order an Uber to the library and back for the first week, so I could get used to school without having to worry about walking back home. However, I was more than welcome to walk home if I felt comfortable, and my mom encouraged that more than taking an Uber both ways. Eventually, I would have to walk both ways unless the weather was bad or it was hotter than 75 degrees.

My Uber arrived at 9:30 AM, and drove me a mile down the road to the library. It was a bright, sunny morning, and the library was actually pretty busy despite it being a Monday morning in April. I still had about 20 minutes to kill, so I used that time to get familiar with my surroundings. I visited that park plenty of times before, but I never stepped foot into the library. 

There was a lake nearby, so I wandered in that direction. There were plenty of geese and ducks wandering around, which were well fed thanks to the bread little kids and their parents threw at them. The lake was also stocked with large game fish that floated just below the water's surface near the shore. It was much nicer than I expected, and I almost forgot about school. But it quickly clicked that I had five minutes to find my teacher, and I honestly had no idea how to navigate the library. 

For a few minutes, I wandered aimlessly around the library, getting more and more stressed out when I couldn't find my teacher. I eventually turned to one of the librarians for help, and thankfully he knew exactly where my teacher was. I thanked the librarian, and sat down across from Eric. He was very kind and explained to me that we wouldn't just jump into the lessons. I had to figure out how to log into the system and navigate it, and which classes I had to take. I ended up taking up English, Geometry, and Economics. None of those classes were as hard as I expected them to be. In fact, they were fairly easy. 

I walked home on the first day, just to enjoy the weather and explore on my way home. I ended up taking the longest way possible on accident. I walked halfway around the lake, through a shopping center, waited at several lights, squeezed through a barbed-wire fence and had to untangle myself, trudged through a grassy field, jumped the creek, and finally walked up my street to my house. It took me over an hour, and I thought that was ridiculously long for the distance my house was from the library. Turns out, I was right, but Google Maps pointed me in the right direction next time I walked home. 

From that day on, I walked to and from the library everyday for school. Google Maps showed me a path that followed the creek and led me into a neighborhood across the main road from my neighborhood. Then, I'd take a left on a street that would spit me out into the park. I'd make my way to the library on the other side of the park. If I was short on time, I'd sprint from one end of the park to the other, but if I still had lots of time to kill, I'd hang out by the lake, watching the geese and ducks drift around the surface of the water.

I loved it. I loved being in the outdoors during my walks and being encouraged to learn the way that I knew how to learn. Not only that, but I really enjoyed my writer's group. With the help from my writer's group, I decided to take on the challenge of writing a book. I still had almost no idea what I was doing, other than writing down anecdotes from my life, but I learned as I went. 

For a time, things were really stable for me. My anxiety was almost completely gone. When spring turned into summer, I still had a month of school left to complete. But as long as I had an internet connection and my laptop with me, I could still attend school from wherever I was. It was awesome, especially since school only lasted an hour a day, and except for homework, the rest of the day was mine for me to do whatever I wanted. Instead of wasting my time playing video games after school, I spent my extra time learning new skills and getting outside. Most of the time, I only played video games late at night before I went to bed.

Surprisingly, while I didn't have much contact with my peers anymore, I wasn't lonely. Actually, I felt much more connected with people than before. I got to know my teacher very well, as well as several of the members in my writer's group. When I was on my walks, most of the people I interacted with were friendly, and mostly wanted to know where I got my American flag cowboy boots from. I didn't dread going to school or interacting with people. In fact, I looked forward to it.