8. Summer .. Moving On

Summer/Beginning of Senior Year


To say that the summer before my senior year started a little rough, would be like saying the Titanic ran into a small patch of ice.

I had broken up with Katie Coleman, and due to the circumstances, I lost another good friend in the process. I was mean spirited and hateful toward Jason after mine and Katie’s break up. I blamed him for everything; simply because he was the easiest one to blame.
So there I was in the summer before what was to be the “best days of my life”, without my girlfriend and without one of my best buddies.

Thankfully I had my best friend since 6^th Grade, David ‘Tater’ Turner – A Great American.
Tater knew how down I was about the situation I was in, and he did his best to keep me busy and my mind off of how bad I felt. We spent many a summer afternoon in my back yard shooting basketball. We would go camping in his Mom and Dad’s HUGE back yard.
The Turner’s have tons of land filled with horses, fireflies (we call them ‘Lightening Bugs’ in the South), and lots of mosquitoes. We spent many a night around a campfire solving the world’s problems, and occasionally discussing our own.
The great thing about being from my hometown of Laurinburg, NC is that you are only two hours from the beach. Over many summers, I had gone with my family to Pirateland Campground in Myrtle Beach SC.  This summer was no different, and like the summers before… Tater went with us.
What had become a tradition of sort was that in the evenings, I would take my guitar down to the gazebo. A crowd anywhere from 10-30 teenagers would normally find their way to where we were, and we would have a big sing a long session on the beach. We sang loudly with sun burned bodies, stolen beer, and raging hormones.
It was at Pirateland Campground that I learned a very interesting fact about myself. Yankee girls really dug me. I can’t really tell you why…
Maybe it was the way I said things like “Y’all and Reckon”.
 Maybe it was the way I opened the doors for them.
Maybe it was because I didn’t call a Coke,  a Pop...
Whatever the reason, I always seemed to capture the attention of a girl from up north every summer.
After playing “Brown Eyed Girl” for the tenth time in the evening, Tater told me that a girl with curly brown hair had been eying me all night. I hadn’t thought much about hooking up with any girls at that time... I was still pretty down about Katie. However, he persisted and eventually I gave in and went to talk to her. Our conversation lead to a walk on the beach, which led to sitting by the dunes under the moonlight, which led to other things… I think I made it to 3 1/2 bases that night.
After joining the crowd later on, Tater asked me about it. I told him the somewhat graphic details (keeping some things to myself). He asked if within the past six or so hours if Katie had crossed my mind..
“No” I replied.
He smiled and then asked me the curly headed girl’s name.
………..
I stood there in silence and in shock, not believing that I didn’t know the girls name. He hit the ground laughing. Tater to this day still refers to her as “Whatshername”
Her name was Erin (I think).
A few months later, we were back at the campground. It was during that trip that I learned how summertime, and the Steve Miller Band can go hand in hand. It was also during that weekend that I answered a dare. Tater dared me to put Sun In in my hair after I joked about trying to change my persona for senior year. I bought it, I put it in my hair, and it turned bright red. I looked like a short, skinny, Ronald McDonald. My Mother was thrilled. My senior yearbook picture features me in a fake tux, with fake hair and a real red sunburn. I prefer to think of it being ahead of my time. I had highlights ten years before they were fashionable.
1991/1992 was a good year to be a Fighting Scot of Scotland High School.
It was announced during our junior year that “The Pride Of Scotland County” The SHS Marching Band would be flying to NY to be in the Macy’s Day Parade. I was excited and proud of my high school that year. I had a few friends that were in the Marching Band, and knew of one girl that would light up the TV brighter than the Tree in Rockefeller Center.
That would be Megan Alba Biel.
Even before school started, I began to rehash my dreams of asking her out. As badly as my heart was broken over the break up with Katie, thoughts of strawberry kisses from MAB still floated through my dreams like a feather lost in the wind. Sometimes fantasy can help you get over reality…
School started with a bang. We were seniors! I had a couple of classes with Jason, and things started off a little rocky between us (mostly because of me), but after a while... things settled down. I got caught up in the excitement of my last year in HS. A lot had changed since I first entered the doors of Scotland High School, and even more changes were coming.