You know those days when everything seems to be going wrong, but nothing specific that you can really put your finger on? Yeah. It was one of those days.

The rubber soles of my sneakers scraped the sidewalk, my backpack bouncing uncomfortably against my spine. I just needed to get home, have a good cry, curl up under the covers for a while.

Mel, my best friend, was walking with me. Or rather, ahead of me. Every few steps, she’d turn, look back. “Come on!” But my eyes were on the ground.

My foot kicked what should have been the strip of grass between the sidewalk and street, but was really the strip of dirt. Rocks, a brave plant or two…and a headless Barbie doll. “Eew, what’s that?” Mel asked.

I picked it up, cradled it in my palm.

“That’s so dirty! It could have been in tons of little kids’ mouthes! It’s been lying in dirt! It belongs in the trash.”

But, being me, I didn’t put it down. “No,” I whispered. “It just needs love.”

Because that Barbie doll, I think it looked just like me.