I couldn't wait for Joey to arrive at my school. It would be three days into the week before I would actually see him. Shilohview Elementary was a modern looking school built in the 1970's that looked like it should have leggo cars out front. It was a big one story structure built entirely out of primarily colored metals. Red, Yellow, Blue and green. In the back would be a playground, and beyond that a huge grassy knoll that kids would play tag on. Inside the rooms were seperated by partitions and walls were acordionlike curtians to be pushed open or closed. Each side of the hall had only a large doorway and no doors. It was the free flowing 70's.
It would be late Wednesday morning when I would finally catch a glimpse of Joey walking down the hall while I was in math class. He's get a hall pass to go to the bathroom and then spend the whole time looking into each doorway till he found me. I'd look up from my addition problem to see his freckled face peering sideways into my room before quickly disappearing. My heart raced, and I couldn't wait to be near him again.
The lunch bell rang, and I lined up the way I always did to march to the lunch room. I looked over all the red heads in the sea of kids eating, laughing and talking and no Joey. There were two lunch periods at school, and I guess he had the other one. The only other time all the kids got together was for recess. I would surely run into him there. When the bell rang after social studies and all the kids ran out the side door to play I walked out to the blacktop and began scanning the crowd. Before I knew it my classmate Regan had me by the arm and was dragging me toward the grassy knoll. "We're playing smear the queer today, you have to run with us." I followed Regan still looking all around for Joey playing, or shimmying across the monkey bars. Before I knew it I was on the grass surrounded by other kids who were breaking up into teams of boys and girls. To this day I couldn't really tell you the rules or object of smear the queer, or why it was called that. There was alot of running around, and tagging people. Sort of like a game of tag but with no main person. I guess you just couldn't let the opposite team (which happened to be boys today) touch you before you got to base, which was usually a jumprope laid across the side of the knoll. While we were seperating, I looked up to see Joey staring at me intently with both hands jammed in his pockets. He was easily a head taller than most of the other boys his age, and twice as big. He looked without speaking, and smiled till he hit dimple.
Jermaine a spindly dark skinned boy with a short tight afro counted down. "1, 2, 3 GO!" Next thing you know girls are scattering, and the boys are running after them. I was known for never being caught durring this particular game, and I didn't want my reputation ruined so I took off like a shot, with the jumprope in my sights. I remember thinking how much I wanted to impress Joey with my speed, and dodge as many boys as possible on my way to the top. I dodged, and jumped, a faked left and right always headding up the knoll. With the jumprope closer and closer I hear kids cheering behind me and have no idea why. I hear Regan scream 'Run Lyn!' So I run harder passing over the jumprope and onto the top of the knoll. I look out of corner of my eye to see Joey so close to me it scared me and I screamed and kept running. There was a quiet and then only the sound of long grass rustling in the wind. I had never been this high up on the knoll before. The teachers always told us not to go this high because they couldn't see us anymore. All at once I feel a hot arm around my waist and my whole body is hooked and falling into the grass. Joey is rolling on my and laughing. 'You are fast, and now I have you.' His sweatty face on mine and his tounge back where it belongs, this time his body is warm and his heart is beating against my chest. My head is swirling like the world is being flung into space in slow motion. The next thing I know kids are screaming 'OOOOOOOOOOhhhhhh!' Some in awe and some are turning and running in digust. Some of the boys are trying to tease Joey for kissing me. Joey jumps up smiling ear to ear. 'It's ok, she's my girlfriend.' The kids stop frozen, the girls giggle, the whistle blows. A teacher is waving for us to come back down off the hill. Regan is grinning at me, like I just told her the best secret ever. She grabs me by my arm and pulls me to her as wel walk down the knoll. 'You didn't tell me you had a boyfriend!' she giggles. 'I just found out myself!' we laugh all the way back to class.
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