David, of course, was dating the head cheerleader, Mona Wingman. I mean, how cliché! I hoped he was some empty-headed jock because I had a bad feeling he could be trouble. Then that bitch, Halle, smiled at him and began to flirt. She brazenly invited him to dinner.
I marched up before she could steal him for herself, having already forgotten he belonged to Mona.
“Are you going to introduce us?” I asked.
Our eyes locked, and I heard Mona mumble, “Oh shit!” She walked up and jabbed him in the ribs to get his attention. Inside I was jumping up and down because I’d seen that look in guys’ eyes before. It wouldn’t be long before he was mine. Little did I know how wrong I would be about that.
Turned out, David was just a big kid. Mona lured him over by the pool and pushed him in, clothes and all. I expected him to get mad, but he just went into the house and changed into his swimsuit. He came out, grabbed Mona, and they both went into the pool. Soon we had a giant water fight going with him in the middle of it all.
◊◊◊
I quickly found out that David had just broken up with an idiot girl from some private school. That meant that David and Mona’s relationship was new. She could be his rebound girl. Meanwhile, I wanted to find someone to date. Back home, I’d found it easy to get into clubs, which meant college guys were my main focus. They were just more confident and a better time. My mom had a long talk with me and encouraged me to give high school boys a chance.
On the first day of school, I wore the tightest jeans I owned and a man’s dress shirt in hopes of attracting the attention of my next boyfriend. I didn’t expect what happened, though. I was getting my books out of my locker when suddenly, I sensed this big guy behind me. He placed his palms on each side of me, leaning against the lockers.
“Did you wear that for me?” he whispered.
I wasn’t sure if I was being molested. I gave a startled cry and spun around to find David just inches from my face. An amused look came over him as our foreheads touched. My face burned as I flushed because he was so close to me. But I wasn’t about to be intimidated by some backwater beau hunk.
“What if I said ‘yes’?”
“I would say I’m jealous because you’re not wearing my shirt.”
“Oh, my,” I said, and bit my lower lip.
I’d always been the one in control. They say that no relationship is ever equal. Well, I was always the one in charge. Something about David told me I would never be on top with him. He made me a little weak in the knees when he looked at me with those smoldering eyes.
I decided right then and there that I needed to find someone else. I checked out the crop of guys, and the only one who came close to meeting my criteria was Mike Herndon. What a jerk he turned out to be. The sad part was the whole time we’d been on our date, I was wishing I was with David.
With that in mind, I decided I would date David. The only problem was he didn’t want anything to do with me, even after he broke up with Mona. I realized if I was ever going to get his attention, I had to find a way to set myself apart. I did some research on David and found out he had an adventurous side. Halle showed me a video of him almost killing himself on a jet water board. That looked like fun. I figured David might be up for a little adventure, so I invited him to go skydiving. I imagined it would be a test to see if he really was daring or if the video had been staged. It turned out that he was even more fun than I’d hoped.
◊◊◊
I settled into my new surroundings and happily realized that I liked my new school and the people in it. One of the people I’d gotten to know was Cassidy Hope. When I first met her, I assumed her to be this shy, naïve little girl. I soon learned that she’d grown up around Marines and was no shrinking violet. She and I hit it off, and slowly we became best friends.
We both had similar tastes in men, specifically David. But her attitude about him amazed me. She was content to be just his friend for now. Apparently, her dad had forbidden her dating him. If it were me, that would make me want to date him even more. My dad would never tell me who I could or could not date.
Through Cassidy, I learned something unexpected about David. She was willing to be just friends with him because she never questioned how he felt about her. She had no doubt that he cared very much. Cassidy also found it amusing to watch him juggle all the girls he dated. She reasoned that at some point, he would figure it out, and they would be together. I had to admit, I would never have the faith she had.
◊◊◊
In the spring, I found out that David and I had something else in common: we both had political ties. His grandfather had been a force in the state government. My family had always been politically active. One of the things my mom found attractive about my dad was that he wanted to teach political science. Growing up, my dad and I had many spirited political discussions.
I’d never told any of my classmates about my ambition to someday go into politics. It was eye-opening to find someone else who shared those aspirations. In David’s case, his grandmother was behind it; she had big plans for him. David talked my dad into helping him with a ‘get out the vote’ campaign, and somehow, I got pulled into it. It gave me an opportunity to see how a campaign worked.
What I found interesting was that David wasn’t a staunch liberal. He’d helped the governor and senator, both Democrats, with their campaigns. David wasn’t a conservative, either. I actually was more conservative than David. My dad was very liberal, as you might expect with him being a college professor. During our discussions, I argued the conservative point of view.
I talked to my dad about David. He told me that David was one of a new breed of people not tied to the beliefs of one party or the other. These people were sick of the ‘either/or’ mentality that pervaded our political environment. So much of politics had become emotional, and you were the enemy if you didn’t believe like the party dictated.
David and I talked about it, and he said his grandma explained what she foresaw coming. She’d said the traditional two-party system was tearing itself apart. There would be a time when both sides alienated enough voters that a third option would become viable. I could see where David might someday be the person to bring people together, instead of the divisiveness that currently ruled the day.
I confess that I thought he’d be good at it, for one reason more than any other. Even though he was perceptive, and a good people-person—as most politicians were—he was also a natural leader. Much of what happened David either started or provided the driving force to make it happen. Many people were presented with opportunities they would never have dreamed of absent David’s presence in their life. People were better off because they knew him. It was like they wanted to be near him because they felt in their bones that by doing so, they could be part of something special.
Those were qualities you didn’t find in someone very often. And the ‘stupid boy’ didn’t even seem to be aware of it—or if he was, he didn’t let it affect him. He just helped others, made the most of any opportunities presented to him, and had fun.
I think the real reason most of the girls called him ‘Stupid Boy’ was simply to keep him real to them.
◊◊◊
David and Cassidy had become important to me. I started to see her point of view about him and found that I wasn’t ready for a serious boyfriend. They were both fun to be around, and our trip to the Caribbean just reinforced that.
I looked forward to the summer and our trip to Japan. Cassidy was excited because she’d spent time there and wanted to go back. She planned to share her love for the country. While I didn’t know what the future held, I hoped the three of us would always be friends. I also hoped Cassidy wouldn’t be too disappointed when I finally won David’s heart. David would make a good partner in whatever came our way.