Being back at my
Uncle’s house and around my cousins was great.
My cousin, Jamie was eager to introduce me to her friends and hang out
again. The first night we were there, we
planned a trip to the mall. Jamie called
up her best friend Kim, and my Mom drove the three of us to Alton. The mall wasn’t as big as the malls I
remembered in Florida and Texas, but it was a mall. It had been years since I was in a mall. I wanted to go into every shop. I was in heaven at both music stores
there. There was so much I wanted to
buy, but if I remember right, I only had $10.
$10 didn’t buy as much then, as it had when I was younger, so it was
pretty much play money. Kim was pretty,
and had a great personality. She told
Jamie that she thought I was cute and by the end of the night, I had a
girlfriend. From the ex girl to the next
girl. Who would have thought that was
possible? My self-esteem at that time
was really low. I wanted Kim to be
around and spend every minute with me.
Even when Jamie was around, I wanted Kim all to myself. Jamie was in a beauty pageant and when we
were there, for her, I wanted Kim to pay attention to me. That night, Kim and Jamie stayed over at my
house. Jamie had a boyfriend named Jon
at the time, and he stayed over too. Kim
and I were attempting to have our “first time”.
It was horrible, and didn’t work.
I was very embarrassed. A week
later Kim had her birthday party at her house and her dad left the house to
her. Kim’s cousin was there and so were
Jamie, Jon and I. I still wanted Kim to
spend every minute with me. I was
stupid, what can I say? Kim couldn’t
divide her time very well, so I broke up with her a couple days later over the
phone. The whole thing lasted one month
and one week. Not to be single for long,
I started to like a girl in my Health class named, Erica.
Erica was cute,
short, and funny and seemed really cool.
I played it calm for a while to find out as much as I could about Erica. As it turned out, Erica liked me also. The same night that my cousin Jamie was
trying to help me find Erica’s number, Erica called Jamie and asked her how to
get in touch with me. I was there at the
time, so Jamie handed me the phone.
Erica and I hit it off immediately.
We did spend every waking moment together, on the phone and at
lunch. We would talk and make-out. When teen-agers date, there isn’t much they
do, but talk and make out. We went to my
cousin’s birthday party and spent the whole evening making out. We would go the movies, and sit in the back
row and make out. Erica lived in
Rosewood Heights, which was a mile or 2 from where I lived, but I would walk up
there just to hang out with her when we didn’t have school. My self-esteem would ruin this relationship
too, as Erica got to be in a high school play and instead of being happy for
her, I was jealous of the time it took from me.
Erica also said that she thought one of the lead guys; Evan was
cute. That shook me, I almost immediately
assumed she wanted to be with him and not me.
So I said something stupid and wrote her a retarded letter, and that was
the end of that. Care to guess how long that lasted? You’re right, one month and one week. Erica never got over the fact that I had been
so hurtful, and I never really did either.
I tried to apologize a couple years later, but it didn’t wash. I wanted to mend the fence, no luck. To this day, Erica probably still hates me,
and who could blame her. My next
girlfriend was actually a friend of Erica’s, Michelle. Michelle and I began talking on the phone and
we clicked. Michelle was a thicker girl
but had an awesome personality. Michelle could talk about as much as I could
and we would talk for hours. I found
out, that as the year came to a close, I would be going to a different school
because I lived outside the Roxana district.
Michelle said she would introduce me to her cousin, Jessica, and maybe
Jessica could introduce me to some people to make the new school not seem so
bad. Jessica was stuck up. She thought
she was the prettiest thing ever and didn’t have time for anyone or
anything. Michelle and I didn’t “go out”
for very long, we were much better off as friends because we didn’t see each
other that much. Erica and Michelle
remained friends as well. I took a
summer school computer class after eighth grade graduation. I met a girl there named Dana.
Dana and I would
become friends and hang out a lot, but we never dated. Dana was always taken when I was free, and I
was taken when she was free. That trend
would continue all through high school.
Dana lived close to my Uncle Dave’s house, so when I got out of summer
school, I would go to Dana’s and hang out there until It got dark. Then I would ride my bike home. I would spend almost every day at school and
then Dana’s. When summer school was
over, I still spent time at Dana’s.
There was a dance
club for teens called “the Penalty Box”.
I was a fixture at the club every weekend. I met a lot of cool people there as well. One in particular was Brandi. I was dating a girl who was very overtly
sexual and was mad that I wouldn’t do it with her at a school ground in plain
view of everyone. Back at the club, I
met Brandi. Brandi was a tall blonde and
was quiet but very blunt. We hit it off,
and started going out, I would say that out of all the girls I dated, Brandi
was my second favorite. I would be at
Brandi’s house as much as possible, and her parents liked me too. Brandi and I didn’t date for too long,
because we were better as friends.
Brandi was a good friend all the way through my senior year. I learned how to dance at the Penalty Box as
well. I had no trouble being on the
dance floor through all the songs. The
Dj’s that they had there would always play the best songs, and I was dressed to
impress, so the girls would ask me to dance.
The penalty box closed after just a couple of years.
When summer came to a close, I had to get my
nerves up to go to a different school.
The only comfort was that I had another cousin who went to the new
school. Jason wasn’t as popular as
Jamie, but I had thought that since everyone liked everyone no matter of class
or stature, I thought the new school would be the same. The people I met at East Alton Wood River
High would change my life. One of the
first people I met was Brandon Conrad and Steve Wheeler. Those guys were in the band and played drums
with me. They were really cool and
became great friends. There was one guy
in there that was a real jerk, Kyle Shirley.
Kyle would always try to steal my thunder. One instance was with a girl in the band,
Tammy. I wrote Tammy a note one night,
and made it from a secret admirer and Tammy really liked it. When I was ready to tell her it was me, Kyle
told her it was him, and he ended up getting the girl. L. Brandon and Steve were older than me, but
included me in almost everything.
Brandon and I would walk around after school and hang out with girls
that I knew from Roxana and just talk and listen to music. Steve bowled so; we would go to the bowling
alley to hang out with him while he bowled.
It was through Brandon, that I met Kathy Peuterbaugh. Kathy was just someone that I knew of, but
didn’t know that well. One day in P.E.
we were bowling and I saw a girl walk in, and for some reason I thought to
myself that I would marry her. I told
Brandon about it, and he helped me try to figure out who this girl was. I saw her again a while later with Kathy, and
Brandon asked Kathy who she was. Somehow I got Kathy’s number and talked to her
about this girl, and Kathy called her and gave her my number. The girl called me, and we talked for a long
time on the phone and decided we would go out.
That girl was Brooke.
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