3. Sophomore Year

Sophomore Year 

I’ve heard it said that jealousy can be the deepest shade of jade.

When I was fifteen, I was jealous over everything that seemed so unobtainable, but there was nothing I could do about it. It’s a hopeless feeling when you feel like TIME is your worst enemy.

I wanted to be sixteen so badly. I wanted freedom. I wanted my license. I wanted Megan Alba Biel.  Mostly though, at that time, all I REALLY wanted was a car!

It was so close, yet seemed so far away.  It’s amazing how much of your youth is wasted on not wanting to be young any longer. Slowing down isn’t an option for a teenage boy, even while they are sitting still.

A New White Isuzu Trooper.
That’s what HE drove.
Megan Alba Biel’s boyfriend was two years older than me.  He was better looking than me. He was WAY cooler than me. Also from where I was sitting, he had a far better life than I had at the time.
I rode a red Huffy and felt like I had nothing else.
When you’re a teenage boy, you are constantly looking for ways to prove your manhood.  That is why teenager boys are some of the dumbest people on the planet. They will go to great means to prove they are Men, even though most at that age don’t have a clue what it means. 
There are really only two reasons behind anything a young man does.

1.      To prove their worth.

2.      To impress a girl.

Being considered a man is something that means a lot at that age. All of that being said, it’s hard to feel like much of a man when your only means of transportation comes with pedals or sitting shotgun with a parent.
It was a happy day when I finally got learners permit. Granted I would have Dad riding shotgun beside me, but that was okay, because it was me that was behind the wheel. I was just one step away from my license, and some sense of independence.
Independence leads to coolness.
Coolness leads to girls.
Maybe even a girl like Megan Alba Biel.
I drove around with my Dad in his 1989 Black GMC Jimmy for those six months as much as possible. I made the trip around the block in our neighborhood about 5000 times during that period.
One time, Dad forgot he had a glass container of Vinegar in the back of the Jimmy.  That didn’t turn out so well.  Multiple carpet cleanings never did completely get the stench out of the vehicle.
Another time we were on the street where my Aunt Janice lived, and I hit a bump, turned the steering wheel to hard and took out her mailbox.  That is still discussed to this day at family gatherings.

Not only did my Aunt Janice live around the corner from us, but Megan Alba Biel’s boyfriend lived around the corner as well. With each trip around the neighborhood with Dad,  I would go down Azalea Dr and pass by his house.  If his car wasn’t in the driveway, I imagined what he and she might be doing in it.
I pictured them cruising up and down Main Street together (that’s all there was to do in my home town). He would have one hand on the steering wheel, with that ultra cool lean that all High School guys use while driving. The other hand would be holding hers. They would be listening to the radio with the window down in the Trooper. Her soft blonde hair blowing in the breeze, her perfect little red lips …
He had all of that, and I had my Father yelling at me “Stop completely!  Don’t tap the brakes! Slow down!!!”  In his defense, I’m pretty sure that Dad’s yelling was coming from more out of fear for our lives, than aggression. 

In addition to learning how to drive my Sophomore year, I also branched out in other areas too.



I got really active in our Theater department in School my Tenth Grade year. I had a lot of fun performing and learning about the arts. Regular classes always bored me, but anything creative energized me.  It helped there were TONS of pretty girls in my Drama class. I must admit, that was the main reason I signed up for the class the previous year.
Because there were so few guys in the class, I got a lot more attention from the ladies than I normally would have gotten in any other class. I felt more comfortable talking to girls in my tenth grade year. I can’t say I was really confident, but it did that the majority of them were older than me and WAY out of my league.
Though she was also out of my league, I can’t really say why I didn’t think the same way about Megan…

All of the older girls in class all thought I “was sweet”, and “such a nice guy”, and all the other things that a guy never wants to hear from girls, but I took it in stride.  At least they were talking to me. 


I became especially close to one girl in class.

A Junior named Kim Stone -Every guys dream girl and High School Cheerleader Extraordinaire was ideal example of the All American Girl Next Door.  She was all of 5 Feet tall, maybe 100 lbs soaking wet.  Her smile lit up a room, as did her laugh.  She spoke with a sugar sweet southern accent, and was as country as she was classy.  She was a bit preppy, but not snobbish. Kim truly was every guys dream girl in High School.  On game days, when she walked the halls of SHS, many hearts skipped as she walked by in her tiny red cheerleading out fit.  I’m sure she wasn’t oblivious to this, however she never seemed as if she was flaunting her charms either.
I would be lying if I said I didn’t have a crush on her.  However, over time we developed kind of a little brother/big sister vibe,(emphasis on “kind of” because on game days, she made my heart skip a beat or two as well).
Kim pointed out the obvious to me one day about my crush on Megan –

 “Her boyfriend is a senior. That means next year, he will be gone off to college and she may be single. That also means that you will be a junior, with a car, and who knows by then... maybe you will have found another girl to be crazy about.”



I didn’t realize it at the time, but she was correct in just about everything she said.
The following year, I did get my license.
MAB and the guy around the corner in the White Isuzu did break up.
I did find a girl to take my mind of Megan Alba Biel, even if it was just for a little while.

It all started when my Mom got me a date for the Prom….

2. Summer/Beginning of Sophomore Year

Summer/Beginning of Sophomore Year


The summer before my Sophomore year was a great one.
My family had a wonderful vacation over the 4^th of July at Pirateland Family Campground in Myrtle Beach S.C.
While we were enjoying quality time along the Grand Strand, I met a cute little brunette named Misty from Ohio. She had long brown hair, big brown eyes and was “more adventurous” than any other girl I had met before. For some strange reason, she took a liking to me.  After hanging out for a little less than a week, she let me go to 2nd base behind the poorly lit “Family Arcade”.
** A little known fact –   Touching boobies can do WONDERS for a young teenage boy’s confidence.

Also that summer, my best friend David ‘Tater’ Turner-A Great American, and I discovered a love for tennis. We spent nearly every night chasing a little yellow ball.
I wish I could say we became great tennis players, but I would be lying. I actually pretty much sucked. I was not then, nor ever have been very athletic. But we had fun. I lost a lot of the gut and butt that I was so self conscious about.  My Mom called it “baby fat”. I refused to acknowledge I lost “baby fat’ at 15 yrs old.

David ‘Tater’ Turner – A Great American had been my best friend since we were in 6th grade band together. We always were somewhat of an odd duo just to look at us.
When I was 15 I looked every bit of twelve years old.
When Tater was 15, he looked to be around 32.
Tater has been over six foot and 180 lbs since he was Nine years old (I may be stretching the truth with that one a little).
Tater was buying Skoal Smokeless Tobacco at 13.
Tater had a full on, Burt Reynolds- like mustache at 14.
I’m in my thirties now, and I still can’t rock a full on Burt Reynolds-like mustache…



Summer came and went way too quickly, and it was time to get ready for the up coming school year.  I always hated school shopping, especially when it came time to buy school clothes.  My Mom and Dad were always great when it came to providing for me, however I did wear my share of hand-me downs.
One of the draw backs of being a guy that is 15, (but is the size of a 12 year old) is that all of your classmates and friends are so much bigger than you. Especially when your best friend is a big ol’ boy like Tater. I was destined to get his hand-me downs from three years prior.
In other words, Tater’s Mom gave my Mom some clothes that he wore when we were in 8th grade together for me to wear my Sophmore year of High School.

It’s hard to feel cool about your style when that is the case.

I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but if you want to know the truth, all I wanted was to look like one of the “cool kids”; and my folks didn’t have the budget to really make that happen. 
I wanted to dress like the cool guys, because they dated the popular girls. I wanted to dress and look like the kind of guy that would catch the eye of a girl like the girl in 9th seat back of the 14th row in my Physical Science class.
During the summer before my sophomore year, I had a talk with my Dad. I explained to him what I was going through. I told him about the cute blonde in the 9th row 14 seats back. I told him about how I wanted to look like one of the “popular guys”.
He understood.
We went to Belk Department Store (A southern staple in world quality high-fashion), and bought clothes for my upcoming sophomore year. He didn’t say a word about the price of the clothes we were buying.


I guess now is the point of the story to where I need to come up with a name for the girl in the 9th seat back of the 14th row… I really don’t want to use her real name.  She did not ask to be written about, so I want to protect her identity, (plus I hope to avoid any legal complications if she were not to like what I write).
Let’s go with Megan.
Megan
Alba, (That can be a middle name, right?)
Megan Alba Biel.

 I went through my first day as a sophomore feeling much better about myself than I had my first day of school the year before.  The halls seemed far less crowded, and the school itself didn’t seem as large and intimidating in stature. I felt far more comfortable in my surroundings, and felt sympathetic for the new Freshmen who were feeling what I felt the same time a year ago.
I went through all of my classes hoping I would be in a class with Megan Alba Biel, but it wasn’t meant to be. We shared no classes my sophomore year.
The entire time we shared Physical Science class the previous school year, I imagined what a conversation with her would be like –
Me-“Hello Megan Alba Biel, you sure do look pretty today.”
MAB- “Thanks! Wow, I really like your smoking hot blue jean jacket. Is that a Guns and Roses patch on the back?”(It was the late eighties)
Me- “Why yes it is, would you like to wear it?”
MAB- “Totally!  Hey, do you want to make out?”

But sadly, that conversation never happened. 
The only time I did talk to her that year it went more like this-
Me- “Um, hey Megan Alba Biel. Can I borrow a pencil?”
MAB – “Sure.” (Not really making eye contact)
Me- “Thanks.” (Not really making eye contact either)

I wanted to see if I could muster up more than one sentence to say to her this year.
I had the clothes, I lost some weight, and I even changed my hair (I started feathering it back “preppy-boy style”).
However, I was missing one VERY important accessory.
One I had not thought of until school started.

About four days into the first week of school, I finally saw Megan in the parking lot. She was hanging out with a Senior who lived in my neighborhood. To be candid, (and this may be just sheer envy and jealousy talking), I thought he was a jerk.

He was obnoxious and loud.  He was a ball hog in basketball (his house was right behind the neighborhood basketball goal, around the corner from my house).  Overall, he was generally unlikeable if you asked me, (again… it could be a bit of jealousy talking).

However, he did have a few things I didn’t have.

For starters he was quite a bit taller than me and more athletically built than me, (All of those nights playing tennis with Tater hadn’t paid off for me that much). He was a baseball player with thick reddish hair, big arms, a thick neck, and an abnormally large, goofy looking head.   

He smoked Marlboro Reds with a type of cool that I would never have, (mostly because I didn’t smoke).

He also had the one accessory (that I mentioned earlier) that I did not have.

He had a C-A-R.

And, rumor was that he was Megan Alba Biel’s new boyfriend.