Two weeks of elementary fame
I’m gasping for air as I reach the last step, “I wish I could use those dang elevators like the teachers” I mutter under my breath. I’m late to school even though I live three blocks away, but I don’t care, I still walk as slow as possible with my short ass legs. “I don’t hate school, no. It’s just- different here. Every day. It’s exciting, Jocey. I think I might actually like school this year!” As I grab the doorknob to enter my classroom I knew exactly why I didn’t feel discouraged or neutral about coming to school anymore. It was year 2012 and suddenly lil Jocey wasn’t so invisible as she was before.
Now I wasn’t one of the girls who “grew a little quicker” than the other girls if you know what I mean, yet rumor had it that one of the fairly popular boys, Freddy, was interested in me. I genuinely liked him too. We were the same abnormally short height and he was really good company, his squad- not so much. Squads were everything in fourth grade, without one, you didn’t have power, popularity, or the girls. Which is where I come in.
It was a week before Valentine’s day so everyone was cutting up pink paper, trying to get the heart stickers off their fingers, and signing the cards one by one. But this isn’t in any British private school orderly fashion, no form of order pin was found in this haystack of chaos. People were on the floor, some running around with their shoes off, and others were fighting over markers like it was the last chocolate chip cookie in a box full of raisin cookies. I was chilling on the floor taping some hearts down on paper by the huge closet where our Barbie and John Cena backpacks were hung. I’m focusing real hard on whether I want my stick figure to be a blonde or brunette when suddenly a big group of rowdy kids abra cadabra in my face. Everyone’s voices are overlapping with their eyes almost popping out like Homer Simpson. I’m trying to figure out who to listen to, I’ve never gotten this much attention at once before! Finally a familiar face, Angie pops out and pulls my arm. “Jocey, they’re bringing over Freddy to kiss you!”
Sis. What? I didn’t want it but I liked the adrenaline and attention I was getting by being Freddy’s crush. Suddenly people wanted to see me. Now they wanted to know what I thought. Now they saw Jocey as a little more than just the quiet short girl in the back. I wasn’t queen bee like Isabella with her really skinny minion friend, Jadelynn, but now the eyes were on me. They fetched Freddy and sat him down in front of me. He shrugged and smirked at me. I didn’t know whether to feel good or bad about that, all I knew was this was ooo scandalous! They knew a kiss on the lips would be rated R so being the wholesome very intelligent children they are, they grabbed some clear classroom tape and smacked it right on Freddy’s lips and Angie gently put my tape on for me. We would still be kissing, just without feeling the flesh of the lips. Why did they think tape would make this PG? I rolled with it and we both leaned in with what seemed hundreds of kids hovering over us chanting, “Ayeee go Freddy!” and “Ooooo they gon do it forreal!”
Ms.Wolff rushed in and the crowd hovering over us dispersed like flies from a rotten pie you stomp on. She wasn’t mad or ashamed, just confused and annoyed. Thank the Lord that wasn’t my first kiss- or uh tape kiss. I hate how I was really about to risk wasting a special moment like that with someone who was going to do it solely based off musty fourth grade boy peer pressure. I was so blinded by the exciting but disappointing dopamine from being noticed by the popular kids and the semi cute kinda crusty popular boy I thought I liked. So blinded that I didn’t notice the sweet Roy Baez silently watching nearby. He had just finished paying the office three bucks to get me a valentine candy gram with a special note I would read two weeks later on Valentines day, still involved with Freddy who didn’t like me, but liked the hype he got from his squad when I was the flavor of the week.
