As you may or may not know, my life has always been full of dating blunders...well, ever since I discovered that I liked boys and they liked me. I remember clearly the day I realized that it was all a game.
It was a hot summer day, as most were growing up in Arizona, and I was out playing at recess with all my friends. The boys and girls in my class were performing our daily ritual of playing chase. We were all running around and around the same four buildings we did every day trying not to get caught for fear of being the chaser and not the chase-ee (because that was just not cool). I suddenly realized that Justin David (the cutest boy in the second grade) was not only chasing me...he was chasing only me (out of six other girls)! And this was the second day in a row that he was running after me. We were running and running and then all of a sudden I no longer heard his footsteps just steps behind me. I backtracked and as I turned a corner, I saw him hiding behind one of the big trees that not only had the prettiest pink flowers coming out of it, but was now my favorite tree because he was touching it. A high-pitched scream escaped me as he jumped out from behind it and sprinted at me as fast as he could. Everything must have been in slow motion because he tackled me before I could react. And…I was “It.” You know, “It,” the one who has to chase the other. But I was in such a daze that he got up and ran away before I could tell him that he was the cutest boy ever and I was, in fact, in love with him. Shortly after, recess ended with a sharp bell that stunned me out of the cloud of hearts containing “Mrs. Amy David” that were floating above my head.
That night, I was watching a soap opera with my mom. I always followed the stories because this was one of the only things my mom and I did together on a regular basis. One of the main characters, a pretty blond girl, Sammie, was in love with the same guy her sister was in love with. But, she couldn’t tell anyone because that would just be wrong. So she decided to act like she didn’t care, thinking that it would make everything go away. Then, when the guy realized she wasn’t interested anymore, he started flirting with her more intensely.
The next day, Justin was chasing me again. But, this time when he caught me, I said matter-of-factly, “I don’t want to chase you, you chase me more.” And then, he kissed me!!
Normally, any little girl would be happy that the cutest boy in the second grade just kissed her, but instead of telling him everything I wanted to, I flashed back to the soap opera and asked myself, "What would Sammie do?" I concluded that she wouldn't let him know what she was thinking. So, I wiped my face off and ran away, thinking he was going to keep running. But, he didn’t chase after me. The bell rang, so I just ran back into class and acted like nothing happened for the rest of the day.
The next day, he didn’t chase me, again. I didn’t see him hiding behind my favorite tree. He wasn’t chasing anyone else. Actually, I couldn’t even find him at recess. So, instead of playing with my friends, like I did every other day, I sat below the pink flowers and cried.
