Confessions Of A Boy-Crazed Fourteeen Year Old

Wednesday, September 4th1

Have you ever had a bad day before? You know, when absolutely NOTHING goes your way? Well, times that by 100, then add about 14 years to it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is my life. 2

Allow me to introduce myself: My name’s Ariel, I’m fourteen years old and I have the worst luck ever. Well, I can’t really say my whole life has been terrible. I mean, being in the womb was okay. Warm, comfy, free food, it was heaven. Then birth happened, and it’s been downhill ever since. 3

I shouldn’t bore you with my entire life story, I’ll just fast forward to right now. Ninth grade, just starting high school and not knowing anybody there except my best friend, Emma Daniels. On the first day we got lost about four times and made no friends, but did manage to make ourselves look like complete idiots. We’ve got a magic touch that way. 4

Well, it’s been about a week into the school year now, and so far it’s not good. Emma has managed to make a few acquaintances, but I’m resting at zero. On the plus side, I have found the love of my life. He has spiky, dark blue hair and dresses totally punk. It was love at first sight. Well, for me, anyway. For him it was probably more like some-random-kid-on-my-bus-I-won’t-acknowledge at first sight. 5

So, how did I make this god amongst men notice my existence? Well, turning bright red and giggling like a fool hasn’t really worked. Neither has staring at him and drooling. So I decided to dress all punk to impress him. He didn’t even look at me once! Wait, that’s not entirely true. He did look at me outside during lunch. He passed Emma and I by while I was jumping around, screaming and trying to attack a bee with my lunch bag. Not exactly the kind of first impression I was hoping for, though. 6

So the next day I continued on my quest to make this amazingly gorgeous creature that is known as Andy to realize that the short girl with red hair that sits at the front of his bus is absolutely perfect for him, and he’ll fall madly in love with me. (Hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?) Emma and I decided to follow him into the school to see where his locker was. Okay, so I decided and dragged her along with me. We follow him off the school bus and into the fiery pits of hell (a.k.a. our school). He heads in the side doors and walks straight down some hall we’ve never been in before, filled with seniors giving us looks like we were some pitiful beings contaminating their area. Andy (I thought overheard some guy calling him that, I’m pretty sure it’s his name. What, do you really think I was brave enough to ask him? Who are you kidding?)  was merely feet away, so I did the brave thing to do. 7

I followed him to his locker, Emma trailing behind. I stopped beside him and my heart started pounding in my chest. He turned and looked at me, a deep piercing gaze with his dark, dreamy eyes. My heart is now going double time. His perfect, luscious lips part and form the words “Can I help you?” with totally sarcastic undertones. My heart is now at triple time, but I don’t let that show. I coolly reply “No, I just wanted to do this,” and I kissed him. He kissed back immediately, and before I knew it we were totally making out up against his locker. . . Okay, you got me. I’m lying. We got about halfway to his locker, then I chickened out and dragged Emma back to our homeroom. I’m just a big fraidy cat, okay? Leave me alone. 8

Now I’m moping all through my first period drama class, complaining to Emma about how much of a dork I am and how I’ll never get to talk to Andy. The bell rings and I start to leave for second, all caught up in my woe, until Emma grabs my arm and pulls me back into class. I'd totally forgotten about the assembly we had in the auditorium for all the arts students. We walked to the auditorium, sat down, and Emma immediately started grinning at me like some kind of freak.9

“What’s up with you?”10

“That was great Air!”11

“What was?”12

“Come on! You didn’t even turn red or anything!”13

Now I’m pretty convinced that Emma got high and didn’t invite me. Or she went insane and didn’t invite me there, either.14

“Girl, what are you talking about?”15

“God, just look behind you!”16

You can probably guess who was sitting behind me. I wish I had known, then I wouldn’t have turned around like I did. My hair was a mess, my face looked so confused and my eye shadow was worn off on only one eye. Hot look, huh? (And this was only after first! You should see me after third period phys. ed) Andy looked at me with an equally as strange look on his face. He was probably wondering why wondering why I turned around to stare at him for seventeen minutes. Or why I was always staring at him. Or if I was stalking him because I always seemed to be wherever he was. Or even who I was. Anyway, my face turned bright red usual and lit up into an enormous smile as I whipped my head back around. Wow, and I bet you thought my first impression was bad. Emma was very sympathetic to my humiliation. She laughed so hard she couldn’t breathe and told me I was a loser. Now that’s what I call a best friend.  17

I don’t even remembering what was said throughout the whole assembly. I just listened to my precious Andy calling all the teachers idiots and saying he wished they would shut up, and if it wasn’t for the fact he was getting out of class he would never be there. Isn’t he such a sweetheart? I snuck another glance at him out of the corner of my eye, and noticed a blonde, preppy girl sitting next to him. 18

He had his arm around her. 19

I swear, my itty bitty little heart broke in three at this sight. I mean, him? With her? He was so good looking! Anti-flag T-shirt, ripped up army cut-off jeans with chains hanging from them and hair dyed different colours each week. She was had on an Tommy Hilfiger shirt (cheerleader style, no less!), a denim skirt, and her golden blonde hair in a ponytail! I couldn’t understand stand it. I mean, it goes against the laws of physics! (Well, the laws of dating, anyway. I don’t know about the laws of physics, I usually sleep through science.) 20

I thought maybe I should just give up. You know, quit while I’m behind. He has a girlfriend and doesn’t even know I exist! Except for the few times that I’ve looked like an idiot. Of course he’d notice me then, isn’t that how it always works? Try so hard to impress a guy, and he doesn’t pay attention until you’re at your worst. But I digress... 21

Could I really let the man of my dreams walk away from me? With another woman, too! All my dreams and fantasies would go unfulfilled! There would be no photos of us together at prom, me in a gorgeous black  dress and him in a handsome suit. No picture perfect wedding, with a long flowing gown and daisies everywhere. No three children, named Scott, Lana and Melodie. No perfect house in the middle of suburbia with a white picket fence, no golden retriever named Skippy, no growing old together, no nothing! Not like I think about that stuff a lot, or anything. I mean, once or twice when people ask me about my future. Oh, and occasionally in history and math, two of the most boring classes ever. Yeah, and once in a while I’d picture all this while I’m drifting off to sleep. . . but this is all besides the point! The point is, I was about to give up hope. 22

Then, that day after school, I’m sitting on the bus next to Emma, as usual. I’m being all sad about Andy having a girlfriend, as usual. She rolls her eyes at me and asks if I could ever talk about anything else, as usual. We started petty arguing, and then he walked on. I looked up right away, as usual. Emma tried not to laugh at me for obviously staring at him, as usual. Then, something unusual happened. He looked at me, and I don’t just mean a casual sideways glance. As he walked up the front steps of the bus, his eyes caught mine. He held my gaze as he walked down the aisle, and only stopped once he was past me. I didn’t turn bright red, deep purple, hot pink or any other embarrassingly unnatural colour. Right before he passed me, I flashed him a dazzling smile. Well, I hope it was dazzling. Oh, I knew I should have brushed my teeth a third time that morning! I didn’t have anything weird on my face, I didn’t have anything caught in my teeth, my hair looked fine, what other reason was there for him to look at me but true love? 23

At this exact moment, I knew that if I worked hard enough, I could have him as mine. We were perfect for each other! I mean, we had so much in common! He’s a hot guy, and I like hot guys. He wears music shirts, and I like music! Um, I can’t think of anything else. Well, if I knew more about him we’d probably have more stuff in common. So far, I’ll I know about him is:24

~His name’s Andy Johnson25

~He’s in grade 1226

~He’s really hot27

~He has a girlfriend! God, doesn’t that word just make you cringe?28

Now, here’s what he knows about me:29

~What? Ariel who? Nope, never heard of her.30

Oh, well. There’s always tomorrow. Maybe my third impression will go better.31