2002-09-22|12:21 a.m.
Right before the summer vacation going into my junior year of high school, I met a boy.
I was trying out for my school�s newspaper. It was in the interview, the final step, that I met him. I walked in and sat in the chair on the other side of the table where he and another friend of mine, J, who was the Feature Editor, sat. He was the Editor-n-Chief of the next year. As each question came about, I watched his lips, his hands, and his face. I knew in the moments as I grew intimate with his nuances, that I was in love. After the interview, they both wished me a good day and told me that I would find out shortly if I had made the cuts. I walked back to the student concession stand that I worked my lunches for Mock Trial club. I am not sure how I made it there, except that I went there everyday, and that I must have floated on past the crowds of people and into the office and through the door and up to the window where I always stood.
It was all a big surprise to me. In truth, I love writing, but the reason that I joined the Sun Dial was not because I wanted to gain insight in the world of journalism. I wanted to be closer to MZ. MZ and I had stood as friends for a long time, yet my feelings for him were much more. He has always known this, I assume. But, I have never really admitted it maybe. MZ was the Copy Editor of that coming year. This was my chance to be near him, I thought.
So, when I met this boy, I was astounded. And so was my best friend C, when I told her in the concession stand that I met the boy that I simply knew that I could live with for the rest of my life. Or maybe, she wasn�t astounded. Maybe, �annoyed� is the better word. See, she said something like this:
�Oh, geez. Not again. You think you are in love with everyone. Besides, I know him, you wouldn�t be right for each other.�
And she gave me a few reasons why, but I wasn�t listening. You see, I knew that she was right about the first part. I have always had an endless heart. I do more than wear the ol� heart on the sleeve, I wear it on yours and his and hers.
Plus, C did know him more than I. He was also the computer tech for the Yearbook classes, which C was in. But, what the hell, I stopped listening. I was in love.
So, the whole summer passed. I was dating a boy, named David, two years my elder that I had dated several times before in the past. Our relationship was doomed to fail and re-ignite over and over. He was horribly mean to me and I was horribly in need of his passion. So, I occupied my time with David. But, what was different in this last try at our symbiotic chain of emotional abuse and desire was that I knew it was our last. My future, I knew, was in the boy I had met before the summer.
So, when my junior year started, I sat myself right before the spot that the boy would address his staff. Right under his face. A whole month passed. I had not disclosed my love to anyone again, especially him. And of course, he had no idea. And no idea I really existed. You see, my dear friend S (not yet friends at the time) has always been a vixen about the opposite sex. They are drawn by her quite obvious magic. And he was no exception. He did not see my extra effort in my articles to make them noticeable and there by make me more noticeable. And, if I may brag, they all made front page (I wrote for the news section). But, this was all I was going to do to catch his eye; because, I am no S. I am no firey, man-eater.
But, I was growing impatient. And that doesn�t take much, I promise. So, I devised a plan. I found out over that summer that that boy was related to a girl that I had had several classes with in middle school and we even worked on a history fair project together. And she was that year, taking a class with my step-sister. So, knowing this boy�s sister was a bit of a gossip, I planned to tell my sister to tell her that I had a crush on her brother. Got that? Well, my plan was foiled when his sister had to drop out of public school and go into home school. The word never hit the grapevine. So, I went back to that loud mouth friend of mine, J, who I mentioned earlier.
I told J and he told the boy. I whole week passed, while I hid my face from the boy�s, knowing he knew.
The wait made me sink. I knew he rejected me. Finally, I just asked J what happened. J said that the summer before he had just got out of a very serious relationship and after he had a small rejection from S, he had sort of given up. So, J said that he was unsure.
But, that night I got a call from a girl I knew in English. She had yearbook class and heard that A was going to ask me out on a date the next day (see, high school gossip, although almost always lame, can be a blessing). The boy told her that it was worth a try and that he liked girls with short hair. I laughed.
So, the boy did as he said. And the date, that evening of September 12, 1997, went into the next night, and the next month, and the next year. And I imagine it will go on into the rest of our lives.