Teenage Nightmare

If ya'll have a couple of minutes (well, okay, maybe about 10), I'd like to tell you a little story of how a teenage dream became an instant nightmare while a student at Peralta Junior High School in Orange, CA back in the 70's. I'll do my best to try and keep it short. Sometimes, we all have a tendency to dream bigger than we should. As an anonymous ninth grader, I had a huge secret crush on Cindy McDaniel, a blonde beautiful cheerleader, just like probably all the other boys who knew they didn't have a chance with her. Anyway, I made the horrible mistake one Friday after school of telling a friend about it who then, without my knowledge, promptly told her. My friend immediately called me back and said, "Guess what? She just broke up with her boyfriend (who was the quarterback on the football team, I was the statistician) and she likes you too!" My first thought was, "Oh great! What do I do now?" I started having an anxiety attack thinking about having to call her and discussing my first course of action as her new boyfriend. I finally gathered up enough courage and called her and told her I would see her at school on Monday before classes started. Well, needless to say, Monday arrived way too soon. I'll never forget the looks on the other kids' faces as they saw me, a virtual nobody, walking hand in hand with the most popular girl on campus. My feelings were mixed. I was proud yet terribly embarrassed at the thought of what they all must have been thinking, "How the hell did HE end up with HER?" In conclusion, I guess, much to my relief, she only liked me for the rest of the day and then it was on to another football player who ended up playing in the NFL.