Childhood Love

As I was walking at the park today there were some little girls in front of me riding their scooters and talking about which boys in their class were cute and which ones they hoped to sit by next year. It made me laugh to listen to them and I began to reminisce about my own childhood loves.

In 4th grade a boy sang the chorus of Billy Oceans' "Get Out of My Dreams, and Into My Car" to me and then asked me if I would ride in his moms car on our field trip to Bates Nut Farm. I agreed and we sat next to each other in total silence. We completely ignored each other and avoided eye contact. A few days later at lunch, probably in a desperate attempt to get my attention, he threw a chicken nugget at me. I was infuriated, so I did what I knew I had to do. I squashed his little boy ego by beating him at handball. We ignored each other for the rest of the year. (Actually, now that I think of it I don't think we ever spoke in high school either. I like to think its because every time he looked at me he shuddered at the thought of my incredible handball prowess.)

In 7th grade I LOVED this cute boy named Richard. We would sit by each other on the bus, and one day he asked me if I wanted to "go out" with him. I said yes. Two days later I found out that he was passing notes to a cute girl named Nicole. I told him it was over and wouldn't let him sit by me on the bus. He spent the next week telling everyone that I liked the weird kid Patrick who ran around with nutty bars shoved up his nose. I don't think I've eaten a nutty bar since.