A Love Story: Piece by Piece Part 2

My family moved to Mandeville, Louisiana the summer after 5th grade. Talk about a completely different brew of people from Chalkville Elementary. After starting 6th grade, I realized my innocence. I walked into my first day of school wearing lacey socks with white Keds and a flowery Levi's shirt on. You were nobody if you didn't have Dr. Marten's. You were nobody if you didn't have an LL Bean book bag (with your initials on it, of course). You were nobody if you didn't cuss and you were nobody if you didn't have a perverted sense of humor.

Well. I was nobody.

All the girls in my class liked Jeff. Jeff carried an LL Bean bag. Jeff wore Dr. Marten's. Jeff cussed. Jeff managed to use the word "titties" every five minutes and Jeff was a rebel. Not only did he get in trouble on an ungodly basis, but he stole everyone's pens (remember when having 'cool' pens was the thing in school??). I hated Jeff.

There was a kid in my class named DJ. DJ was extremely overweight, extremely shy and extremely uncool. I will never forget the crushed look on his face when he realized that the gold pen his dad gave him had been stolen.

Did I mention all the girls liked Jeff? And did I mention I hated Jeff? Just checking.

So one day, I made it my mission to get DJ's pen back. My class was lining up to go to the library and I constructed a plan with my best friend to line up at the very end of the class and sneak back into the classroom. I was going to go where no man dared to go. I was going into Jeff's stupid little LL Bean bag to get DJ's pen.

I was TERRIFIED. The class marched away and I dashed back into our room. Shaking, I unzipped Jeff's bag and, with wide eyes, pulled out the largest ziplock bag you can imagine.......... just full of pens. I dug around for the gold pen, found it, placed it back in DJ's desk and me and the BFF ran to catch up with our class. With my heart beating completely out of my chest, I looked at her and said "You will never tell anyone of this......"

All that to say, Jeff left quite the bitter taste in my mouth. Now, not only did I refuse to show feelings for a boy, but I had decided boys were, yet again, stupid.

Seventh and eighth grade rolled by with me being the biggest dork and admiring boys from a distance, but refusing to talk to them. Things felt safer not being friends with boys. Yeah, I had my crushes... I liked Brian. My friend bought me a necklace that said "Brian" and I remember opening it, feeling mortified, convincing everyone that I would never wear it, and definitely wore it under my shirts. Every day. Brian asked me to dance with him at the end of the school year dance in 8th grade, and even though I liked him so much, I would have rather died than dance with him.

Then we moved to Franklin, Tennessee and I was safe from the Brian saga and of worrying that he would ever find out I liked him.