Girls Are Scary
Vince was a cool "popper" at my middle school, meaning he danced or "popped" publicly in an impressive way, usually on cardboard or in the gym on rainy days. And for that he was cool for that the way good athletes are in high school. He was also good looking in a way we didn't notice until we heard that Marnie, one of the popular cute girls that was actually nice and fun to talk to, had a crush on him.
When my friend Adolpho told me about the crush I didn't want to believe it, so we watched her watch him for a few weeks. We saw her half-turned away but always with her eyes on him, smiling. We smirked at her knowing something about her so private and vulnerable, hoping that nothing real would ever happen between them. Then at a sleepover at her friend Amy's house, Marnie and Vince kissed, Adolpho told me one Monday. Suddenly they were boyfriendgirlfriend and everyone knew.
I remember thinking that they would never break-up. Why would they? They would graduate in June and be the perfect high school couple while we all just tried to find our classes. Marnie was his forever and this was all confirmed in my head as February, March and April came with constant visuals of them kissing, holding hands, always passing some book that the other was holding for them back and forth. In the yearbook section where we said what we wanted to be, Marnie just wrote "Vince's". The Yearbook teacher changed it to "housewife".
And when May was almost over and we found out that Vince didn't have the grades to graduate on stage and Marnie would be speaking for our class at graduation, it was perfect. Together they represented everything that every one of us wanted to be in one awkward, erect French kiss.
Junior high was whimpering to a conclusion and we all looked around a little more, wondering what we'd miss. Adolpho and I tried not to talk about last dance of junior high, our 'Goodbye Dance' that was coming up with a week left in school. Of course, Vince and Marnie didn't need to worry about a date or knowing how to slow dance. Them rocking slowly as a mirror ball freckled the gym with light was as inevitable as Adolpho and I going to the dance alone, together.
And when the last dance of the evening began with Adolpho and I in our spots, folding chairs far against the wall, watching everyone dance, I noticed that Vince and Marnie were missing. Phil Collins' "Against All Odds" was in full pomp (he was singing about 'a chance he'd have to take') when they finally appeared and Marnie was crying. It was unbelievable. This should be her perfect moment. They had to be tears of joy. I stared and watched Adolpho stare praying for some insight into the situation. I noticed two of the popular girls Marnie was friends with talking a few feet away from us. I wanted to ask them but couldn't at first. Maybe the confidence came because I was done with junior high but I think it was because I had to know. But the fear and social prohibition I'd always felt towards approaching those girls waned. I walked up and asked, "Why is Marnie crying?" They looked down at me; at the time I was probably two inches taller than the clinical definition of a midget.
Their facial expression said that it was none of my business. Like life was none of my business. But Marnie was nice and her and Vince's relationship was kinda everyone's business. And for that all they were jealous, so they told me, "She's going to San Mateo and Vince is going to Hillsdale, so they are breaking up."
"Who broke up with who?"
They wouldn't answer. They were done talking to me.
I sat down next Adolpho and told him the news. We watched Vince and Marnie dance for the last time and we laughed, secretly wishing that someone would cry for us.
