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            I plopped down into the seat beside Jenny at the lunch table. She was

pretending to listen to Kara rant on about something, as Kara did every lunch.  I

didn’t really care about the rambling, but I caught snippets as I watched the food

line diminish in size.
             
             “He was so cute too, too bad…” twenty people left in line, still too long,
              
              “dump him…” ten, just a smidge longer,
              
              “Now I’m going with…”  My stomach growled, demanding food, I nudged

back my chair and started towards- “Have you ever had a boyfriend?” Jenny was

staring at me. Kara’s spell over she waited for an answer.
                                                              ~
               In seventh grade I was given a locker for my school supplies, seeing as

we, the middle schoolers were not allowed to carry our bags from class to class.

The locker smack next to mine was a platinum blonde’s, he had two different

colored eyes, one blue one yellow green, he was also lanky and very pale, almost

albino looking.  I recognized him from sixth grade, Reid, the nerd who had a crush

on my friend Karen. She told me to stay away from him in sixth grade, but he was

unavoidable with his locker not even a quarter of an inch away from mine, so I

thought I might get to know him. He was always nice to me even though his best

friend, Michael, hated me (thought I was Emily, my twin sister, she had some

confrontation with him), rooting for me when we were on opposite teams in gym,

helping me read the board in English (bad glasses and the back of the classroom

don’t mix very well) and trying to cheer me up when I was upset. No, he wasn’t

much of a looker, but I didn’t care he was always himself, a good friend.

             Starting in February his friends began to crack jokes about him flirting with

me, I didn’t take the hint. When my entire posse told me he was in to me too, I

didn’t believe them. I should have. At the end if the year, with my heart trying to

escape from behind my ribs, like a bird trying to free itself from a cage, I

approached the albino boy. I was going to get the facts.  Standing nervously in

front of him, I asked.
          
             “Hey Reid… Doyoulikeme?” The question came out as one word.  What

seemed like years later he said,
          
              “Yes, but we’re too young to do anything about it, so, I’m sorry.” Grinning

like a dope, I stood there, elated, my friends were right. I wish I knew before.
                                                       ~
                    Looking at Jenny, I smiled and I replied “It was close.”