Bygone Days of Jr. High (aka What Was I Thinking???)

This morning, my boss and I were doing our usual chit-chatting about our weekends. All the regular Monday morning stuff. She has two daughters, one is 16 and the other is 12. The 12-year-old's class has so much diva type behavior amongst some of the girls, that it's just ridiculous! She tells story after story of things that a couple of the girls in the class do to make life miserable for their unlucky "victims". Most of the time, it's just the usual, hateful, pre-teen stuff like, "No one likes you. I don't know why you even bother coming to this school every day." You know, the normal stuff. (Kids can be soooo mean to one another!)

Well, after the highlights of what happened over the weekend, our conversation detoured...as it often does and we just started talking about totally unimportant, irrelevant things. lol But, since we were talking about jr. high and kind of that age group of kids, our conversation turned to telling stories about our own jr. high experiences.

One in particular got me to laughing so hard just thinking back to it!

When I was in 5th grade, a new boy came to school and his name was David. I thought he was beautiful!!! I was one of the tallest kids in the class, so the fact that David was taller than me put him high on the list! He also had blonde hair and blue eyes. Big plus number 2! And, finally, he was quiet and was nice to everybody! Well, that pretty much put his rating through the roof! I mean, seriously, a boy who was tall, cute, AND nice??? Too good to be true! lol

Anyway, I had the BIGGEST crush on him for FOUR YEARS!!! lol Funny, huh? (What makes the story even more interesting is the fact that, since his family moved at the end of 8th grade, our paths have crossed twice VERY unexpectedly! Once in college, and again about 5 years ago.)

Well, this particular story goes something like this...

My best friend at the time was a girl who was very insecure about herself and wasn't very popular. (I wasn't either, but I was very shy and could at least get along with everyone.) She knew that I had a crush on David. Best friends just know that stuff about one another, right?

Well, the next Friday was going to be our jr. high Halloween dance. She and I rode the same school bus to and from school...and so did David. Most of the time, I would sit and stare at him while she rambled on endlessly in my ear. lol Wow. That's funny just thinking about it!!! lol

Well, this particular day, Lisa was rambling on and on about the Halloween dance. She asked if I was going...what was I going as...blah blah blah... She never asked if I was going with anyone to ANY of the dances because she just KNEW that I wasn't. (This is where her insecurity shown through.) Out of nowhere, she said, "I think I'm going to ask David to the dance."

WHAT????

I was snapped out of my David-gazing and found myself staring at her with my eyes like saucers.

NOOOOOOO!

She smiled and nodded and said, "Yep. I think I'll call him tonight when I get home and ask him if he'll go with me."

I wanted to cry. How could my best friend be so mean???

I asked her why she wanted to ask him.

She said it was because he was really nice (and VERY cute) and would probably say yes.

I thought I was going to be sick. Seriously. My heart was racing and I know I just went as white as a ghost!!!

I didn't hear another word she said all the way home. When we got to David's stop, I watched in desperation as he got off the bus and walked to his house with his brother. I sat there in anguish as she prattled on and on and on about calling him when she got home.

By the time she got off the bus, I thought I was going to die. I could NOT get home quick enough!

And then, I did something I still to this day can NOT believe that I actually did.

(It might be important to note here how SHY I was. I mean, seriously, I-will-die-if-you-look-me-in-the-eyes SHY! Debilitatingly SHY! It was awful!!!)

I got in the house and went straight to my room. I don't remember my mom talking to me once I came in the house or anything. I was just in agony KNOWING that Lisa was talking to David about going to the dance.

And then, I did it.

From somewhere deep down inside of me, I got up the courage and I CALLED HIM.

I remember his mom answering the phone, "Hello?"

"Hi. Is David there?"

"Yes. Just a second." In the background, "David, you have a telephone call!"

David: "Hello?"

Me: (heart racing, head pounding, gasping for breath) "Hi. It's Jennifer."

David: "Hi. What's up?"

Me: (feeling like my tongue was made out of lead and my legs were made out of jello) "Um. Not much."

David: "Ok..."

Me: "Um. I have something to ask you."

David: "Ok..."

Me: (taking a HUGE breath and then just blurting it all out as fast as I could) "Lisa said she was going to call you and ask you to the Halloween dance, but I don't want you to go with her. Will you promise that you won't go to the dance with her if she asks you?"

David: (after a brief pause...he was probably wondering where all those words came from since he'd probably never heard me utter more than just 2 or 3 at any given time in school) "Ok."

Me: (panicked) "Did she call you yet?"

David: "No..."

Me: (HUGELY relieved...HUGE sigh of relief) "Ok. (pause) So you won't go with her?"

David: "Nope."

Me: "Ok." (then I just burst into this silly grin)

David: "Ok."

Me: "Ok....um...."

David: "Um. Did you need anything else?"

Me: "Oh. No. That's all."

David: "Ok. See you in school tomorrow."

Me: "Ok."

David: "Bye."

Me: "Bye."

I was in HEAVEN!!! I think I must've FLOATED to my room!!!

And then, it hit me. I could've asked him to the dance. I could've!!! I had been so relieved that he wasn't going with Lisa that it just didn't even occur to me to ask him myself!!!

But there wasn't enough money in the world to get me back on the phone...and NOTHING could've given me the courage to ask him to his face at school the next day!

But, oh well, at least he wasn't going with Lisa!!!

The next morning, when he got on the bus, he made eye contact with me and just smiled. I smiled back.

Floating again.... ;o)

And Lisa didn't say a word about calling him!!!

Moving up to present time, David is still one of the nicest men that I know. He has always been very considerate and friendly to everyone. Just five years ago when our paths crossed, I knew who he was immediately, but wasn't sure if he'd recognize me.

He did.

And he smiled from ear to ear and gave me a HUGE hug when he saw me. He was having lunch with his parents and his brother's family, so I didn't intrude on that, but after lunch was over, he and I talked for a few minutes. Later that afternoon, I was in the store and ran into him there...and we had much more time to visit. We hogged an aisle in W*Mart for over 2 hours! (It's a good thing his wife is as friendly and patient as he is!!! lol)

It's nice to know that friends you make when you're young are still friends now. I never told David about the whole crush thing...but I'm 99.9% positive that he knew I had a crush on him all four years we went to school together. lol