The Secret Garden and Locker Woes
What's more awkward than having to play Mary to your crush's Colin in a 6th grade classroom adaptation of The Secret Garden screenplay? How about if that scene is the one when Colin proposes to Mary? After class we headed to our lockers at the end of the hall. We were both new in town, so our lockers were next to each other. Mine was right above his. How many times did I drop something onto that poor boy's head? Books, lunch, even my lock once, but those hazel eyes (or were they brown?) looking up from under that middle-part bowl cut were forever kind.
"Glad that's over with," he said with an embarrassed smile.
I looked away, blushing. "Yeah, me too." Maybe it was the puppy love goggles, but I thought maybe neither of us minded all that much. In hindsight, it's straight out of a YA novel. Who gets stuck in front of her class with her crush proposing to her?
No matter how many awkward interactions I had with Spenser, he was always sweet to me. And we had some non-awkward ones too. At the new student ice cream social we played rock-paper-scissors, and then he shared candy from the prize he won. He carried my backpack one time after school. There are so many other moments.
But our time together was short.
His name was on the roster at the beginning of 7th grade. Every time they called role, I held out hope that he'd come back. Whether he moved again or something else, I never knew. I learned quickly that the term crush is also literal.
I think about him occasionally, and wonder if he is still as kind as he was ages ago to a hopelessly awkward and clumsy, lovesick girl.