Sept 1983:
Recap: Friend B and I rekindled our friendship, and had been 'married' the previous May by one of his friends in the hallway. When school began, my schedule included leaving for 3 hours to be an aide at Head Start. So B and I spent every possible minute together during school. This refueled the rumor we were dating, which we weren't.
There's a fine line you have to walk when your BFF is THE Most Popular Senior and you're one of those who cannot be pigeon-holed into any category. 1) He's the target of every underclassmen's dream, so you have to put up with blatant 'notice me' tactics. This includes fawning over and gushing 'you're the greatest!' 2) As part of the BFF role, your job is to NOT feed his ego, which can sometimes lead to friction, should his head get too big. 3) Any show of jealousy can lead to those underclassmen worming their way into 'your' spot, thus driving a wedge in the relationship.
Yeah, I made a couple of mistakes.
During Spirit Week, I showed up in my yellow 'Cute-n-Cuddly' sleep shirt, multi-colored slippers, and of course, carried my stuffed tiger. B was not amused by my choice of cuddly stuffed pets, which resulted in us tossing insults at each other. During this week, I'd also endured a fellow classmate, who previously had never spoken to B or myself (outside of flag corps our sophomore year), cutting in on 'my time' with B. She'd show up with 'Oh, I just have to tell you this....' and at first, I respected her need to talk to him and left. The next day, I moved down a few lockers and spoke to someone else while I waited. Didn't get a chance to be with him. The third day, I stayed by his side and tolerated the gushing she made about his tennis game (which I'd not seen, and couldn't contribute to the conversation). By Thursday, I'd had it with her, and unfortunately, this coincided with PJ day. Neither D nor B participated (I'd asked B why, and he said what he slept in would get him arrested for indecent exposure, lol!), but poked fun at my tiger. I laughed it off, but the next hour, I confronted them.
"What's wrong with my tiger?"
"He's ugly."
I was incensed. "No he's not. You are."
B slammed his locker closed. "Yes he is and so are you."
I spun around and stalked off. I changed my clothes before heading to Head Start, then returned before 5th period and changed back (yes, I'm stubborn like that!). I saw B, who said, "Don't tell me you scared those poor kids with your outfit."
"No, I changed. But you obviously haven't."
At this point, B's friend J cut in with support for the way I was dressed, and pointed out I'd shown up at tennis practice. B sighed, and agreed it had been a sweet gesture on my part.
"Now kiss and make up."
B just shook his head, put his arm around my shoulder, and steered me toward my psychology classroom.
Homecoming was also this month, and my friend Melissa was elected Homecoming Queen. B was one of escorts for the others.
Senioritis
With the fighting B and I were doing, plus the realization this was my final year, I began waking up with an I-don't-care attitude. The day pictures were taken for the various groups, I wore sweatpants and a T-shirt. Likewise, the day Head Start pics were taken, I forgot I'd been reminded to wear something nice, and showed up in my favorite black sweatpants and band shirt. I also faked a headache one day when my mom was out of her office and went shopping instead of going to work. And yes, got caught. But was only given a verbal warning: If I did it again, I would be out of the program. So it 'scared me straight'.
Next Month: Band awards!
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