The first time we didn't dance

Hi. I'm Clarissa. I have a short story to tell you.

I remember meeting him in Kindergarten. He was super nice but slightly shy. He had black hair, brown eyes, and was on the short side (just like me). He introduced himself as "Eric."

I remember the fall festival that first year of school. (By that time, Eric and my cousin, Alex, had gotten to be best friends. I new Eric, and was one of his friends, as well.) It was a nice, crisp Autumn day, and I was in jeans and a pink t-shirt. Eric was in jeans and a blue and green striped shirt. My best friend Lily, Eric, Alex, and I all "danced," goofed, and ran around for what seemed like forever. Alex and Lily got bored and ran off to the playground. Eric and I still wanted to "dance, " though. A slow song came on and we were having a good time. We watched the adults for a while, not knowing exactly what to do. We ended up slow dancing... but we didn't do it completely right. Eric had his hands on my shoulders, and I had mine on his shoulders. Although some of the adults looked at us and chuckled, we thought we were dancing right.

(We were 6 years old! Couldn't these old people let us be blissful in peace and just have fun!? We didn't know how to slow dance right or how "romantic" it was suppose to be!)

After that we ended up dancing at every fall festival right up through eighth grade. We also danced at all the school dances.

When we were in 4th grade, the school had a Christmas dance for the 4th and 5th graders (since we didn't get to dance at the junior high dances). I ended up dancing with Eric to the same song we danced to that first fall festival. And, just to bring back memories, we danced just like we did that first time - both hands on the other person's shoulders. At the end of the song, we laughed and danced to another song (this time correctly).

In sixth grade, we got to go to our first, real, junior high dance! It was even at another school in the city! We slow-danced there, too. At the end of the slow-song, we decided to officially make it a tradition to dance together at every dance until high school. We kept that tradition. :)

In eighth grade, my friends decided to take pictures of Eric and I. And the "beautiful" picture that's the cover of this story was taken last year to commemorate that day, when we kept our tradition through our goal time. You can see my shocked face as my friends lined up to take pictures of us, acting like paparazzi. (I can't believe how ugly I look in that photo! But, out if all 20-some photos they took, this was the only one that turned out! I am SO un-photogenic!)

Anyway to the main part of the story (which just happened to take place last night)...

It was the "Freshmen Frolic" and Eric walked in. I waved at him and yelled, "Hey, Eric!" (I had to yell because the music was so dang loud.) A huge smile plastered on his face and he enthusiastically waved back to me, yelling, "Hey, Rissa!" (He knows no one else can call me that, so he likes to do it to "prove some imaginary point" to the rest of the people that hear him yell/say it.) He walked over to the rest of the guys and I turned back to the girls I was hanging out with.

Throughout the dance, we kept glancing at each other. Every time a slow song came on we locked eyes and moved to the music, but for some unknown reason, neither of us could push ourselves to go dance with eachother!

At the last slow song, we both started to try and push through the huge crowd towards eachother. Then, some slutty blonde chick grabbed Eric's arm and pulled him over to her. Eric's eyes said, "Help me!" I tried to push my way through the huge crowd even faster. I was almost to Eric. Then, some creepy, weird-looking guy with a brown afro tried to pull me towards him.

I finally, yanked my arm free from his tight grasp. In pulling so hard, I lost my balance and ended up falling/walking/tripping backwards. *Sure. When I'm about to fall, everyone parts like the Red Sea!* I ended up running into Eric and the slutty blonde chick. Eric caught me, but in doing so, accidentally let the other girl fall. The blonde chick cursed at me as she got up from the floor. I tried to explain what happened, but she told me to, "Just freaking shut up!" I stood there in shock as Eric turned to her and yelled, "Why don't you!?"

Eric grabbed my hand and took me to an empty corner of the room. He asked if I was ok about 10 times. I repeatedly said yes. Then, the song finished. The dance was over... And Eric and I didn't get to dance together. I could tell Eric realized that, too. The lights came on and I looked at him. He had an expression on his face I didn't recognize. I thanked him again for catching me. Then, I walked away.

When I jumped into bed that night, I cried. *Why was I crying? Why was this such a big deal?* I kept telling myself, "Eric and I are close friends, but this is ridiculous." It didn't matter what I said. The tears still fell. I felt so bad for not dancing with him during those earlier slow songs! I cried for about 10-15 minutes, but fell asleep. My exhausted self ended up falling asleep with tear stains all down my cheeks and nose.