Story #2: Love Notes & Leather Pants
This is the short story of a first love. JUST KIDDING. But it is the story of my first highschool boyfriend. We will refer to this first boyfriend as "Ghetto." As this was the nickname given to him by my friend Kendra and I in gym class. Can you believe that this was BEFORE I dated him? Yes. I made some awful choices in my young age. Anyway--the story goes like this: Kendra and I are sitting together in gym class. We are freshman girls and as ALL freshman girls do, we are talking about boys at our school. ALWAYS. We are talking about a very-blonde boy in particular that seems to be kinda ghetto. You know, he wears urban-inspired clothing and seems to have this "who cares, its just highschool" attitude. The rebel who smokes outside in the courtyard during lunch and is always sleeping in detention. Just the kind of guy my stupid little 15 year old self is attracted to. Kendra and I seem to have the same kind of low standards as she is also interested in "Ghetto." As we are discussing this, low and behold, Ghetto strolls right into OUR gym class! Fate?!
Ghetto sits down a few rows back from us and immediately stretches out on his back and pulls his sweatshirt hood over his face. Kendra and I exchange glances of excitement and begin plotting how we can get to know this mysterious stranger. We know that he is a sophmore and that he smokes. That is it. Not enough to make conversation with. So, we decide to try and get on his team during sports played in class or get near him when doing anything else. We jog slower to stay closer to him; we run after rebounds faster to catch his eye; we pretend to be confused about football calls so that he might run to our aide and explain. Our coy freshman girl plans work and we begin to talk to Ghetto. He has a thug-like way of talking and we are even more enthralled. AND he is witty. We are obsessed now.
So, we are gym class aquaintances and Kendra and I could not be happier. We pass notes about him outside of gym class and eagerly search for him in the halls between classes. Our gym class friendship goes even further as Ghetto calls me over to his lunch table one day. I am nervous but excited and wish Kendra had the same lunch period. He introduces me to his friends and says, "this is the girl I was telling you about." I am FREAKING out inside but play it cool, much to my own surprise. We chat for a few minutes and then I calmly walk back over to my table. I notice him looking at me the rest of lunch. If text messaging was invented at this point, I would have been blowing up Kendra's inbox! Instead I get out my milky gel pens and paper and write her a note.
As I am writing a note of my own, I am handed a note by a random boy as the bell rings for classes. It's from HIM. My heart leaps up and down. In the note he tells me in his own ghetto shakespearian way that he wants to get to know me better and that he thinks I'm cute. He can't spell and his handwriting is an illegible cursive. And he draws a crude heart at the bottom. But despite his lack of smarts or artistic ability, he wants to get to know me better and thats all my 15 year old self cares about.
On my way out the school doors and out to my friends' car, I hear my name. I turn to see him, all suave with his cigarette and bright blonde hair. I go over to him and we chat for a little while and then he gives me a hug goodbye. I guess this initiates our "relationship" because the next day I get a note from him in the hallway that says he is now going to refer to me as "sweetness" and that he is so excited that I am his girlfriend. I now realize that this entire setup was elementary and weird...what's with all of the note passing???
Anyway--we don't really hang out much outside of school. I am terrified of what my conservative family will think of him and my extracurricular activities keep me way occupied. But, at school we continue with our love notes and hold hands for everyone to see. He kissed me once at school in the hallway and we got in trouble by a teacher. After a few days of being "sweetness," my other guy friends begin to notice who I am spending my time with. They are NOT happy and tell me that they don't think he's a good guy.
Of course I am a stupid little girl and tell them that they don't know what they're talking about. Of course they really do and know much more about him than I do. They tell me to break up with him or they will do it for me.
The next day, after my uncomfortable meeting with my guy friends, Ghetto finds me in the morning at school. Instead of his usual grunge attire, he is dressed in black LEATHER PANTS. I of course feel that I have inspired this change in his appearance and feel that he is trying to look better and in turn, be a better person. Don't leather pants inspire this kind of change in everyone???
I forget what my friends told me about him and gladly hold his hand for all to see. My friends see this and approach me again. This time they lock me up in the band instrument storage room! Then they go in search of Ghetto. They find him and tell him that he needs to leave me alone and that a good girl like me doesn't need to be around him. Some profanities and threats are exchanged on both ends and then I am let out of the storage room and told about the conversation. I see that my friends are probably right and decide to break up with him.
I am sad about the breakup but at the same time it feels right. Unfortunately, it is still the same semester, so I have to deal with seeing him in gym class each day. I remember one day in particular, we were watching the birthing video and everyone was watching in horror. I noticed that he had his head down with his hood on and wasn't watching. I felt that pang of teenage dramatic sadness and for a moment wanted to run to him and be like, "I was kidding! It was a joke! Let me be your sweetness again!" But, for once, I am a smart 15 year old girl. And I sit back and watch the horrible scene of a live birth.
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