my first date
i transferred into a parochial school in seventh grade. the new kid always has an advantage
freshness. to be fresh is a mighty power if one is aware of it. i think i was. the concept is simple and relevant in all areas of life. for instance, when you are buying produce and the grocer puts out fresh fruit; naturally people go for the fresh over the old. my classmates would be talking about me before I knew them, whispering and judging before ever speaking to me. it felt like a form of celebrity, effortlessly creating intrigue and being watched while walking down the hallway. robert was my first friend. he would fill me in on everyone in the class and at the same time he would fill them in on me. this being the case some of my micro celebrity was passed on to him.
there was a girl that caught my fancy named monica, she was from colombia and was beautiful. as I recall, the news of her crush on me was filtered through robert. he said, "monica likes you". i said, "monica likes me?" then he said, "yep", and that was that.
we shared a slow dance at the halloween mixer. she was dressed as a zombie with white make-up on her face, tight blue jeans and a ripped undershirt. i was wearing a gang of four t-shirt and fake ray bans. at the time they were referred to as riskys, made famous by the movie risky business. i dont remember the song that was playing during our dance but i do remember how tightly i was holding her. she was a head taller then me and i could see her seedling breasts through the holes in her shirt. the feeling this gave me was like no other i had ever felt. the day was uncertain, my pants were tightening around my crotch and nothing mattered except the beautiful girl in my arms. What came next was to be expected, but i had only seen in the movie grease (which my mother banned because of the inappropriate innuendoes that no child would ever pick up on). ms. martinez, our religion teacher, quickly approached our singular form and with god on her side she insisted we stand arms length apart. i am still unaware of the reason for this. i assume, jealousy
? she was a typical parochial religion teacher with an uptight nature and an extreme envy for anyone enjoying themselves. we separated, cogently stared at each other and laughed. the night ended like most 7th grade dances: parents in cars, teachers escorting and delight illuminating off the kids.
after that night monica was in my heart and mind all the time. my feeling of desire was paramount, reminiscent of the intensity i had felt for sam from gimme a break or col. wilma deering from buck rodgers. it was all encompassing, i could feel it in my hair follicles all the way down to my big toe nail. there was a constant pang in my stomach that eating had no effect on. it baffled me. i decided it was time to do something about it.
there was a church group at my school called the good news gang. my parents urged me to join, with the hopes of me making friends. i never had trouble making friends and i never attended their events. they had an ice skating party coming up at the local rink and as long as I can remember i had been ice skating. this was the perfect night to impress not only monica but to magnify my celebrity within the class. i was lucky enough to join forces with robert, he was interested in another girl in our class named stacey. a plan of attack was important! the objective, to get both of them to the skating party with the knowledge of our interest. i advised robert to send a press release to the girls that I was interested in monica, this would get them buzzing. monicas friends would approach me and ask if it was true. I would comfirm, ask if she was attending the skating party and drop a hint that Robert liked Stacey. the news would go back and start a new buzz, the girls would approach robert about stacey and he would confirm then ask if she was attending the skating party. this sounds very simple, but at the time it was brilliant! it worked flawlessly.
the night quickly approached and everything was perfect. all of the good news gang piled into the good news van and headed to the rink. the next thing I remember was walking onto the ice with monica, she was not an experienced skater. this was good news. I held her hand and helped her onto the ice. when her gloved hand joined mine i felt suddenly strong, over powered by an emotion I was unfamiliar with. it seemed as though time stood still and me and her, her and me were the only people in our world. we made are way around the rink and noticed robert and stacey in a similar state of euphoria. occasionally we would stop and talk on the side boards. our words were not forming properly because of the inability to stop smiling long enough to say them. this continued in a consistent cycle through out the evening. as the session was ending I was feeling an inexplicable sense of urgency, it made me nervous for many reasons that I couldnt explain.
the good news gang was gathering its troops and counting kids. this was it! what it was i was not sure, but that feeling of urgency doubled. we approached the girls and pulled them off to the side
within seconds robert looked stacey in the eyes and said, wanna kiss? i was beside myself with fear and anticipation. in monicas eyes was a look of wonderous ambiguity. i was feeling the pressure from robertss absolute question and there was no turning back. i was or i wasnt
and i was never one to be wasnt. my mouth opened as i saw her innocence before me and the words that came out were unexpected and as ambiguous as her expression. I said, likewise. likewise! what does that mean? where does that word come from? fortunately for me it didnt matter what came out of my mouth, at that moment she would have said yes to anything i said. in retrospect i owe robert a thank you for forcing the situation, i am not sure i had the where with all to execute it alone. thank you robert. without any hesitation we grabbed their hands and started sprinting toward the back of the rink, wobbling back and forth on our skate blades. we stopped on the opposite side of the building by a smaller rink used for private lessons. the lights were off and we wasted no time when we stopped. without a word, robert and i lunged forward and pecked the curved cheek of our perspective targets. once contact was made, instinctually we both pulled away and ran like criminals from a crime seen. i am not sure why we ran, but the buzz of uncertainty was flowing through our veins and life was exciting!
I dont think it dawned on us that we left the girls behind. as far as I remember there was no consequence for that and anything for the first time seems normal.