The Intro

The time is ninth grade. That wonderful time when you were at the top of the junior high social ladder and you eagerly awaited the joys of high school (o! the ignorant bliss of youth). It was business as usual, I had a crush on the cheerleader of my dreams, Kibby. Yeah, Kibby. It was one of those perfect infatuations. Kibby was gorgeous, popular, and totally out of my league. Thus I didn't have to worry about interacting with her, and I could simply admire her from afar. I had liked Kibby for a few years by then, so I was simply staying the course. One of my friends, however, rocked the boat.

Jeff, one of my closest friends, up until this point had never revealed who he liked, and since revealing who you like is the fundamental makeup of junior high existence, this was a bit odd. Finally, I managed to wring some information out of Jeff. He liked a girl named Jane. This was great! I managed to tease him as much as possible - after all, I had to make up for the three or four years I missed out on - and got a couple glimpses of Jane. She was in student government and she seemed pretty popular (not cheerleader popular, the having-lots-of-friends kind).

Well, fast forward a couple months, and we are approaching the end of ninth grade. It was the final dance before we all go on our merry way to high school. Streamers haphazardly lined the walls and the doorways, I think their was confetti sprinkled on the floor. Coincidentally, I exchanged greetings with Kibby near the beginning of that dance, which would normally have been a colossal event in my life. The brief interchange with my long-time crush, however, was overshadowed by another exchange while I was with my friend Jeff. Jeff and I were cruising the dance like the cool ninth graders we were when Jane approached us. Hi Jeff. Hi Jane. This is my friend Skye. Hi Skye. Hi Jane. Looking back, I marvel that something so simple and innocuous as this brief greeting ultimately set in motion an alarmingly complex relationship that became the focus of my life.

I don't remember exactly why, but for some reason Jane next felt both of our biceps. Now I'm no Terminator, but I do have bigger biceps then Jeff. She then gave me a nod of approval and complimented my manly physique. She left, and I wouldn't see her again for a while. I felt a little funny inside, but I figured that was because I had just been complimented by a girl - even if it was in jest - for perhaps the first time ever. I was positively tickled. And while I still spent that summer talking about how hot Kibby was, I often thought about the last dance of ninth grade and the girl Jeff had a crush on.