The summer before my Sophmore year was a fun one. I had discovered tennis a few years prior, and really got into it that summer. My Best friend David ‘Tater’ Turner-A Great American and I spent nearly every night chasing a little yellow ball. I wish I could say I was a great tennis player, but I would be lying. I actually pretty much sucked. I was not then, nor ever have been very athletic. But I had fun. Plus I lost a lot of the gut and butt that I was so self conscious about. The only thing I didn’t do over the summer… was grow taller. I kept hearing about late bloomers in the height department, maybe that was going to be me (that’s what I kept telling myself until I was about 25).
You know, the thing that stinks the most about being being a guy that is 15 and looking 10 is that all of your classmates and friends are so much bigger than you. Because of that, you tend to get hand me down clothes from friends and family that are the same age as you. The only problem with that is you are getting clothes that they wore two or so years ago when they were 13 (Does that make sense?). In other words, Tater’s Mom would give my Mom some clothes that he wore when we were in 8th grade together for me to wear my Sophmore year of HS. It’s hard to feel cool about your style when that is the case. Don’t get me wrong, my parents bought me new stuff too, but I did wear my share of hand me downs. I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but if you want to know the truth, all I wanted was to look like one of the “cool kids”… and my folks didn’t have the budget to really make that happen.
Deep down, I always wanted to dress like the preppy cool kids that always dated the popular girls. I wanted to dress and look like the kind of guy that would catch the eye of a girl like Megan Alba Biel. During the summer before my sophomore year, I had a talk with my Dad. I explained to him what I was going through. I told him about the cute blonde in the 9th row 14 seats back. I told him about how I wanted to look like one of the “popular guys”. He understood. We went to Belk and bought clothes for my upcoming sophomore year. He didn’t say a word about the price of the clothes we were buying. That’s one of the many reasons why to this day my Father is my hero. I hope to be half the man he is one day.
I made an effort to improve my fashion and try to look like a preppy popular boy… I had the clothes, I lost the weight, I even changed my hair, but I don’t think I really pulled off the “look”. Not the look of the kind of guy that would attract Megan Alba Biel. I was missing one VERY important accessory. One I had not thought about until school started.
I went through my first day as a sophomore feeling much better about myself than I had my first day of school the year before. I had made a lot more friends the previous year. I had had a great summer playing tennis and hanging out with Tater. I even had a great vacation with my family at Pirateland Campground at Surfside Beach S.C. While on vacation, I met a cute brunette named Misty from Ohio that let me go to second base. That does WONDERS for a teenage boy’s confidence.
I went through all of my classes hoping I would be in a class with Megan Alba Biel, but it wasn’t meant to be. We shared no classes my Sophomore year. I was really bummed about that. I wanted to show her my new look, my new attitude, I wanted to see if I could muster up more than one sentence to say to her this year.
I went to all my classes for a couple of days looking around the halls hoping to see her. Then, about four days into the first week of school, I did see her, in the parking lot sitting on top of the hood of a Senior’s car. She was hanging out with a guy who lived in my neighborhood pretty much all my life. To be candid,(and this may be just sheer envy and jealousy talking) I thought he was a jerk. He was obnoxious, loud, a ball hog in basketball, and generally unlikeable if you asked me. However, he did have a few things I didn’t have. For starters he had the looks. He had a bad boy attitude, and he also had the one accessory (that I mentioned earlier) that I did NOT have.
He had a C-A-R.
And, he was Megan Alba Biel’s new boyfriend.
Love Y’all
d
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