PUPULE WITH DESIRE

The first day of eighth grade was the worst day of my life. Debbie Mills, the girl of my dreams, was in the courtyard outside Bishop Hall holding hands with the school bully, Wayne Braswell. Ben told me Wayne had treated Debbie to a summer of matinees, rides on his father’s catamaran, and cheeseburger lunches at the Outrigger Canoe Club. The girl I loved was going steady with the guy I couldn’t stand. I’d hated Wayne ever since seventh grade. He was a big kid with dirty blond hair who thought he could get away with anything because his father was the city prosecutor. He’d thrown pineapple wedges at me during lunch and pushed me in the lily pond one morning after chapel.