In the 7th grade my parents removed me from the Catholic private school I’d been attending my whole childhood, to put me into a public middle school. I wasn’t aware of it then, but this would lead me down the path to the woman I am today. In my first 2 years at public school I encountered 3 major, life altering, events I will call The Trilogy. The people I name are major characters in stories to come. Join me as I recall these major life events.
Part 1: My best friend and kissing practice
A few years before I started public school, I had met a girl my age named Logan. We met at a community event and hit it off immediately, we spend all day and night running around and doing whatever young girls do. At the end of the night Logan gave me her phone number and told me to call her so we could hang out again sometime.
My parents were pretty strict when it came to hanging out with friends, so I had resorted to only talking with Logan on the phone. This went on for a while, until I had misplaced her phone number, never to be seen again.
My first day of public school, I was sat next to Logan in one of my classes, we were overjoyed, and rekindled our friendship. We conjoined friend groups eventually and became a tight knit group.
A few months later, my best friend since 2nd grade, Sydney, was having her birthday party. Her parents splurged and got a hotel room for 6 of us. We spent the night playing in the pool, telling stories, and talking about boys. This eventually led into me confessing that I had never kissed a boy and how nervous I was to kiss my boyfriend if he asked me to.
One of the other girls suggested that I practice kissing with one of my girl friends first, so I knew what to expect. This girl and Logan both volunteered to help me practice and since I didn’t know the other girl as well, I picked Logan. We kissed and it sent me into a fluttering of emotions. I was in love.
At one point, Logan had left to talk to her boyfriend, and I sat talking about the kiss with the other girls. I told them I was going to lose my virginity to Logan that night (this was an absurd jump from never kissing anyone a few hours prior).
For the next few hours I thought about what our magical night would be like, even though Logan had no idea what was going on in my mind. This quickly came to an end when Logan asked me if I wanted to join her in the shower, after we had finished swimming. I became overwhelmed with the thought of seeing another girl nude.
We showered together, but I made sure to hold the curtain liner up between us the whole time, to keep her covered while she washed up. We ended the night falling asleep next to each other and from that day on I’d never be able to think of her as just a friend.
Part 2: My first (of many) soulmate
For Valentine’s Day, the school would throw a big party for all the classes, we’d have the afternoon with no classes. The gym was decorated with a variety of game stations, photo booths, and a dance floor.
Kids were running around buying flowers for their crushes and having a good time with friends. I spent most of my time with my younger sister and her friends. We took countless photos together, played all the games, and sat in the dark at the end of the dance floor, gossiping.
A boy named Trystin, who was in my sister grade, approached me at one point to ask if I’d give a rose to my sister from him. I took the rose and told my sister she had an admire, but when I told her who he was, she was not interested.
I had to go back to Trystin, hand him the rose back, and apologize. He was understandably disappointed by the situation, but decided that he would like to give me the rose instead. I gladly accepted it and we began to talk.
He was so very sweet and funny. We spent the remainder of the afternoon talking to one another. By the end of the day, he asked me to be his girlfriend. Before I left for the day he also gave me one of the group photos we had taken, to keep and cherish.
When I got home I tucked the photo away in my treasure box, placed the rose on my shelf, and I was so excited to tell my parents about him, but I knew they would never let me have a boyfriend, so I played it off that we were just friends. Luckily my dad was friendly with his dad, so he allowed us to be friends.
Trystin was the first boy I was able to hang out with outside of school. He invited me to his birthday party a few months later. When I arrived, it was Trystin, his best friend, me, and his family. His parents accepted me as one of their own and I felt so warm and loved.
I’d spend countless hours after that, taking soulmate quizzes on quizzaz, trying to figure out what letter my soulmates’ name started with and when I’d meet him. I’d do them over and over again until I got the answers I wanted.
Our relationship didn’t last through the summer, but we remained close friends and would eventually date again in the future.
Part 3: Summers at the pool and the dreaded talk
My parents disliked letting my sister and I stay home and watch tv all summer, so they’d give us money every week to go to the pool. We’d wake up each day, do our chores, and at noon we’d start walking to the pool.
We’d spend 5-6 hours each day playing and tanning, typically by ourselves. Every once in a while we’d coordinate with friends and have them join us. After a few weeks, we’d start recognizing other kids our age, who would frequent the pool, I eventually became friends with a boy named James.
James and I would innocently flirt with one another, and at the end of each day we’d hug goodbye. This ritual was all fun and games, until one day my parents came inside to pick my sister and I up, instead of waiting in the car.
I was mortified knowing my parents had seen me hug a shirtless boy in public, but they kept their cool until we got home. As soon as they parked the car they made me stay with them so we could have “The Talk.”
As far as I know, they had never had this talk with either of my siblings, I got to be the one and only. It was fairly obvious they had never had this talk before, they were just as uncomfortable as I was and wanted to end it as soon as possible.
The main take aways were:
- My body is a temple
- Boys are bad
- Hugging leads to sex
With this talk over I was free to go about the rest of my day.
Seeing James wasn’t as fun after that, but we tried to make light of the situation, joking about how “hugging leads to sex” like it’s a gateway drug.
The following summer, when Logan would come to the pool with me, we’d spend some of the time hiding in the locker room showers, sharing secret kisses, and when we weren’t doing that we’d spend all our time trying to get the attention of a lifeguard, Kyle. He was 2 years older than me and had the iconic Justin Bieber hair.
My sister, Logan, and I started referring to Kyle as Turtle. A nickname I was so proud to come up with. He got the name, because he was so cute and I wanted to keep him in a box on my bedroom shelf.
Kyle showed almost no interest in us though. He’d talk to us a little, if we pestered him enough, but he would mostly yell at us for bothering him. However, I was determined to get him to like me one day.
Melodrama & Merriment 