She Likes Me!

A Tale of Teenage Woe
Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

A long, long time ago when I was in high school I had a crush on a cute girl named Gracie. Gracie was a couple of years younger than I and we both were involved in the same after-school activities. We were friends and lived not too far from each other. Her older brother and I were in the same class.

One day my friend Vinnie and I were teasing Gracie as we were wont to do. Exactly what we were teasing her about I don't recall but somehow we picked up one of her notebooks. Her strenuous pleas to give it back just further egged us on and we saw on the back cover a big heart she had drawn surrounded by many little hearts. In the middle of the big heart were the words "I love Jake." Wow. She liked me. She loved me. The beet-red color of Gracie's face confirmed the news.

Now you have to understand, I was never the most popular kid. I was a dork. But not now. I felt ten feet tall.

I remember walking out of school that day feeling like I couldn't possibly ever feel happier. I felt like dancing. I felt like singing. I was walking on air.

What a day this has been,
What a rare mood I'm in,
Why it's almost like being love . . .

There's a smile on my face,
For the whole human race,
Why it's almost like being love . . .

All the music of life seems to be,
Like a bell that is ringin' for me . . .

And from the way that I feel,
When that bell starts to peal,
I would swear I was fallin'
I could swear I was fallin'
It's almost like being love . .

I lived in my happy little universe for the next few days. Then Vinnie told me that Gracie did indeed love Jake. Another Jake. Jake Doohan.

Goodbye cruel world. As happy as I felt a day or two before, I now felt as if my life had come to an abrupt end.

"Um, yeah, Vinnie. Of course it was Jake Doohan. Of course," I said. I think I had to turn around to hide my face and made some feeble excuse to leave the room.

Smile, though your heart is breaking
Smile, even though it's aching
When there are clouds in the sky you'll get by
If you smile through your pain and sorrow
Smile, and maybe tomorrow
You'll find the sun come shining through for you

***

It's funny how silly it all seems now. But at the time I remember it being very crushing and embarrassing.

They say that time heals all wounds, and that's largely true. Many past troubles can now be remembered with laughter when at the time it all seemed so bleak. Except for the really big things like the death of a loved one or very severe illness, it's hard to remember what my biggest day-to-day worries were five or ten years ago.