I mentioned in that post that my middle school years were rather awkward. And I've already told the story of the jerky track star who said I look funny when I run. That's just one of the many horror stories from my adolescent attempts at love.
But the one I'm about to tell takes the cake.
When I was in 7th grade, my friend Tara was "going with" a boy named Bill. (Which reminds me, did anyone else call it "going with"? It seems the more people I talk to, the more I find that that term might have been unique to my particular school at that particular time. It also sounds like something my grandmother would say.)
Anyway, one day Tara and Bill came up with a brilliant idea to set me up with their friend Bobby. This is how that "set-up" transpired...
Tara [on the phone with Bill] to me: Hey, do you want to go with Bobby?
Me: Who's Bobby?
Tara: Bill's friend.
Me: Oh. Yeah, sure.
Tara [to Bill]: She said she'll go with him.
Tara then handed me the phone so I could talk to my new boyfriend for the first time in my life.
Later that week, the four of us went to the movies, where Bobby and I finally met in person. About 10 minutes into the movie, Bobby got out of his seat. I assumed that he was going to the bathroom, but nearly a half hour passed and he was still gone. I leaned over and asked Bill to go check on Bobby and make sure he was okay. I was such a good girlfriend.
A few minutes later Bill came back, without Bobby.
"So is he okay?" I asked.
"Huh?," Bill said. "Oh yeah, he's fine."
"Then what's he doing?" I asked.
"Oh, he doesn't wanna go with you no more. He thinks you're butt ugly."
That's right... Butt. Ugly. Not just ugly! No, Bill couldn't spare me the agony of hearing that other word, which is a word I happen to hate with a passion, and which at that moment was a word being used to describe ME!
As you can imagine, the damage from that experience lingered for a long time. I became obsessed with dropping the "butt" and working my way up to just "ugly." And maybe someday even "pretty," but I didn't really think that was possible, considering the horrible insult I'd received.
Man, were those middle school years brutal. Thank goodness I learned how to survive the blows, only to come out stronger in the end. That's why I can now look back and poke fun of those moments. I have plenty more funny/embarrassing stories to tell from that period in my life, so stay tuned.
2 comments:
Wow kids can be cruel! I know of a specific mom who reads this blog that you just gave a weeks worth of sleepless nights worrying that someday somebody is going to say that to one of her children! I'm glad you came out on top and clearly are no longer butt ugly or just ugly or only pretty for that matter. You're beautiful! (in my head I said it like in that James Blunt song) It's True!
I had a similar experience in 7th or 8th grade. Some boys in my youth group said their friend Chris wanted to go out with me. Chris wasn't there at the time. I said yes and thought I had a boyfriend. They even gave me his number. I called and talked to someone, whose name was actually Chris, but I think they had given me a random number. Shortly after, on a youth group trip — on a bus — I asked about him, because I still hadn't seen him, at least not since we'd been "going out." His friend said, "Are you kidding? He wouldn't go out with you! You look like a horse!" And I had to go back and sit in my bus seat for the rest of the ride. It was awful.
I can totally relate to your experience.
— Melissa P.
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