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Jerry couldn’t sleep. He stared up at the ceiling, dreaming. His thoughts mainly consisted of
Ashley.
Ashley.
Ashley.
Like he would forget if a steady memorization didn’t take place. It would be hard to forget anyway.
Ashley.
Ashley.
The universe rotated around her. She had the magnetism of the Sun. In a good way. She was everything now. The first priority. Numero uno.
Ashley.
Ashley.
He had to remember that name. The name of his first kiss. Holy shit.
Insomnia usually comes from relationships. But in a good way. There’s a good feeling involved after you kiss someone. You want to be with them right NOW. You think about them and you wonder if they’re doing the same. You imagine them looking up at their ceiling and saying your name in their head.
Ashley.
Holy shit.
The biggest life changing experience so far in his entire fourteen years of existence.
Damn.
What was even better for Jerry was that he knew it wasn’t a sympathy kiss or a pity thing. She wanted to kiss him. Shocker, right? To Jerry it was. He had faced the most imposing and eminent fear that every guy has at one point in life; not getting some till you’re damn old. He didn’t have to worry about it any longer. He wouldn’t have to endure biting insults about his romantic status with his lunchmates any longer. Jerry was glad to abandon the dread of a virgin future. This confirming kiss served as a telltale sign toward prosperity when he got to college. But he still wondered how it would be like to be alone when, after not ever being in a serious relationship with someone for all your life, you were fifty or something. That would suck. But Jerry didn’t need to think about that for a second. Because he had gotten the grand prize.
Ashley.
Ashley.
Ashley likes me.
Ashley likes me.
He couldn’t wait for the next day. He couldn’t sleep. YEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!
Mornings are usually the most beautiful part of the day. You can feel the warmth of the sun as you rise out of bed, playfully poking at you, helping you arise and fly with clenched fists toward the new day. Even on cold, cloudy winter days, the sun makes itself known to all; and on the summer days, you can wake up at five and see the brightness creeping through your blinds. Mornings are also a time of deep thought; you might go through quick movements to get yourself ready for whatever you’re doing or wherever you’re going. Getting out of bed, making yourself a bowl of Coco Puffs, putting on your clothes, deodorant, etc., is all second nature after so many years of the same. Routinely, you drag yourself to the bus stop; if you’re lucky, you stay to watch a few minutes of cartoons, and then you get your parents to drive you to school. Of course, there has to be a few stragglers who arrive five or ten minutes late after the attendance bell.
Jerry joined that club when he awoke from a pleasant coma to discover, with horror, that the clock plainly stated ‘7:53’, a full four minutes before his bus would arrive, with Frank, Clarice, and Hank impatiently waiting for him to run there without half of his needed school belongings. After holding back an angry yell, he leaped out of bed, flipped on some clothes from the floor, ran downstairs, quickly devoured a chocolate chip granola bar, heaped his stray books inside his backpack, and sprinted out the door, knowing full well that he had forgotten to bring his lunch or emergency money; what lunch would it be today, anyway…
It’s Saturday, Sherlock Jr. Jerry smacked himself in the face, silently cursing his lack of ingenuity. How could he be so dumb? He must’ve seen how it totally didn’t look like a school day; there weren’t any high school commuters on the roads and sidewalks like usual. And the sun was extra bright like it is every Saturday. Wait a minute…
In the last part of the story, it was Monday, but now we’ve skipped ahead to Saturday morning? This doesn’t make any sense. You’d think that the author would a least make an effort to keep the continuity of the story in order, for crying out loud. C’mon, try to be professional here. (Of course, I immediately upstage Jerry’s rant with a school bus rumbling in his direction) Really, I could go on about the grammatical mistakes you make all over the place, but this error definitely takes the… Wait, there’s the bus. Whoops.
He stumbled through the rubber floor entrance of his parading school bus, and shot a playful grimace toward his posse in the back. Of course, no one took the trouble of grimacing back; they just continued looking out their respective windows with a uniquely dull, sleepy face. Jerry rattled off a few comments;
“Rise n’ shine, Private Profanity.” to Frank,
“Oh, I see you’ve switched from slight purplish black to totally dark clothing.” to Clarice,
“Turn that durn music down, youngster. Cripes, I could hear it before I got on the bus.” to Hank,
and wiped off his seat before falling into it, limbs wildly shaking.
Still no rise out of them.
It was the greatest morning after his greatest day ever, and these muppets couldn’t bring themselves to speech functions. This disturbed Jerry very much, and he did not speak the rest of the ride to school.
Upon arriving at his locker, Jerry realized that he had no idea what classes he was going to today, or which books he should bring with him according to subject. Worse was that his locker had almost consumed most of whatever was in it with a blizzard of papers, so it was impossible to discern if anything was in it at all. Jerry also was wondering why he was so off today; he was usually on time for most classes. (Math was an exception) Some reason eluded him; ah, yes! That kiss! How the hell could he forget something like his first kiss? Making a contortion of his face, Jerry grabbed an armful of books and hustled to his next class, dropping papers everywhere he stepped.
The amount of gossip rapidly increased after word spread of Timmy’s proposal to Gina; almost everyone responded with a face full of shock and envy.
“He did what?”
“Say that again?”
“She actually said yes?”
It was like a stunning revelation and punch to the gut at the same time for many guys. Most of the grade had come to agree on a theory concerning Gina; survival of the fittest. You had to work hard for such a big reward, and now Timmy was just like ‘oh, listen to this poem’ and what do you know?
Of course, the guys also had to give a hand to him, with such a bold move.
“Dude, you’re such a stud.”
“Someone put on some extra Axe, didn’t they?”
“Way to go, man. But I get her next.”
Timmy just smiled, didn’t say a word about the matter. He had just ascended into a higher realm of awesomeness, and was named the King of All Things Frickin’ Awesome. At least all the guys thought so.
It got around lunchtime, and the students made their migration to the cafeteria. Instead of sitting in their usual formations at certain tables, the guys huddled at a far left table and the girls surrounding a few at the far right side. Jerry sat by Brian and Frank, (a rare happening) who were both fully immersed in the spectacle of Timmy and Gina. Well, maybe not Brian as much; he was still pissed about his blown chances with Gina.
“I was this close, Jerry, this close.”
He pinched his fingers to make a miniature enclosure of air between them.
Jerry sympathized.
“Get over it, dude. The NRE will fade soon.”
“Sure, for Gina, maybe. Timmy’s gonna make a big deal about it if she leaves him.”
“So what? Even that will go away with time. Don’t worry about it so much, you’re gonna grow a beard of acne that way.”
At that moment, the cafeteria doors flew open. Everybody directed their gaze toward them; even a few 8th graders took the millisecond to look out of the corner of their eyes.
They were hand in hand, looking at each other, smiling brightly, bodies close. A bazillion flashbulbs went off right then, to forever capture the moment. It was a casual extension of hope for all; if Timmy can get a gorgeous girl like that, why not me? Not all is lost, you know.
They sat down around the middle, chatting away like lost friends. The press crept in closer; the guys moved slowly and surely, taking a precise step across every seat and keeping their gaze on the couple; the girls all shuffled quickly forward, ushering each other on, gossiping whilst running. The table was soon surrounded by the 7th grade. The couple looked around at all the spectators; they maintained their smiles, but were rising to leave. All at once, the grade started talking. The couple swiftly escaped the confines of the eating space, and everybody was left sitting around an empty table. Jerry went to his original table, and the other guys soon assembled similarly. There was a long silence, (in which Jerry thought about Ashley) and then the group remembered to have lunch; normality ensued. Timmy and Gina didn’t show up the rest of the period. Jerry wondered what they could be doing.
“So, Jerry…”
Brian leant in close.
“How’s she doing?”
Jerry took the hint.
“Great. Guess what?”
“I know already. I got a text yesterday at ten something…”
“I’m sure.”
“Dude. Nice job.”
“Thank you.”
“How was it?”
“It was something else. Like a holy shit something else.”
Brian laughed.
“Well, I’m glad it went well. Good for you.”
“Yeah. It was definitely something else, though…”
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funny and warm
Posted Jul 24, 2008
You've put into words an experience most people share and you've done it well. It's funny, charming, self-conscious and charged with a bit of ego - just like a first kiss. The break in the middle for the soliloquy to your reader had me laughing out loud.
Not much except you could u... (
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