“Summer: The Documentary”

    Knowing this summer was going to prove to be an eventful one, I came up with an idea to video tape it with the title “Summer: The Documentary,” and although it was eventful, the camera always missed the good stuff.

 While over at Laurie and Allie’s house with Denver one afternoon, a friend of theirs named Matt came over. He was loud and crude and obnoxious. Everything that I was not. He had just had a hernia operation and had no reservations about regaling us with details.

  Although I was unsure about him, Denver took a real liking to him. Enough so that they arranged to be dorm mates when the two of them went to college up in Albany the following September.

  At this point we were getting hit with high school drama on both sides. Laurie had introduced Jean as “her best friend,” but apparently her best friend was really supposed to be a girl named Michelle. Apparently, Laurie claimed to be best friend with Jean to make Michelle mad. I was told I wasn’t supposed to like Michelle because she was dating Tony. Now, Tony had dated Carrie briefly and it didn’t work out. I didn’t even know who Tony and Michelle were.

 When I inquired where Jean was, the term I remember Laurie used was “annoying.” Recalling how happy Jean told me she was when Laurie called her “her best friend,” I was just pissed. So I did the only logical thing. Every time Denver dragged me to hang out with them, I dragged Jean. The ironic thing about it all was the only time this 15 year old was allowed to go out and past curfew was if I, this nineteen year old, picked her up. Her mother loved me and to me, Jean was now my new "little sister".  By this time, Stacey didn’t really need me too much by now. She had pretty much gotten a foothold into the group on her own right.

  Paul and Carrie were dating up until the Prom that she needed the date for. Before then, it was becoming apparent that she wasn’t really interested in him. It seemed she was interested in another person. Multiple people to be precise and while confiding in Jay, Jay had eluded to the fact that she could get some of these people. Whether Jay told her that because he believed it or he said it to avoid hurting her feelings is unknown, but he was wrong. At least Jay had the courtesy to warn George and I that we were on her radar as potential suitors.

   She did not lean on the attractive side and I can not go into great detail about her appearance without sounding cruel, but her personality was not very becoming either. Paul had a lot of similar qualities, which made them perfect together. I was not very close with Paul, but in the month and a half the two of them dated, I had seen more of him than I ever did in school.

   Shortly after the prom and her graduation, we knew their breakup was coming and although she told Laurie there was a competition between George and I for her, George and I had our own contest as to who could offend her more. By the end of it all, even Paul knew he was getting dumped.

  The night Carrie dumped Paul, Mark was throwing a party. When I showed up, Carrie handed me a note and told me not to read it until I got home. Naturally, I went straight to the bathroom and read it.

  It basically said that she broke up with Paul to go out with me or George and that “if something were to happen between us, we should wate 2 weeks because of Paul” (Ed. Note: Spelling was intentional). I closed the letter and spent the night acting as if I didn’t read it. Even when she later trapped me behind the back of Denver’s Station Wagon telling me her friends told her she was supposed to do something and asked if I could guess what it was. I feigned ignorance and pulled out my flip comb which I always pulled out when I was nervous. She took it from me and put it in her pocket. I asked for it back and she told me to come get it. I was literally forced to climb up the back of Denver’s car when Mark came out the door and called out to me.

   “I yelled out “I gotta go! Mark needs me!” I never ran so fast to find out what Mark wanted in my life. Mark and my relationship was always a bit volatile. He had a temper and I liked stirring it up for my own amusement. A few times he tried to kill me. Anyway, he needed someone to drive his girlfriend Dana home and he didn’t trust anyone else. She was very pretty and flirty, but she adored Mark so he didn’t need to worry about her. However, there were rumors that he was cheating on her and he was afraid someone may use that to their advantage to get her. I didn’t care why Mark needed me to drive her home, so I thanked Mark profusely and left. Once again the video camera missed everything…