It was 1987 and my friend Jodi and I had walked to my house after school. We were in sixth grade and loved the Sweet Valley High books with our whole entire beings. Who even knows which of the almost 200 books we had just finished, but we were talking about it excitedly as we left my bedroom, which was located right across the hall from my dad's office.

I adjusted my (homemade) UNITS knit separates as I pulled my door closed, chattering about the book. My hand still on the doorknob, I quoted one of the last lines in the book; a line where one of the characters exclaims, "Oh my god."

We both froze. Jodi stared at me as all the color drained from my face. I clamped both hands over my mouth and whispered through my shaking fingers, "Don't... don't tell anyone I said that."