The summer between the seventh and eighth grades mirrored the summer before with baseball games and tennis matches. We were now old enough, however, to be dropped off at places by ourselves, such as the city’s swimming pool. While many of our parents belonged to the country club, which had a pool, kids under sixteen could not be there without parental supervision. So, the city pool is where we went on the days when the weather was hot and sunny, and when the boys didn’t have sports practices or games. It was a huge, “L” shaped pool with three diving boards of varying heights. Once when I was in the fourth grade, I had jumped off the tallest board and did a belly flop onto the water. I never went near those diving boards again.
On one particular day, Matty and I found ourselves bobbing in the water of the main pool area, just the two of us, as our friends were all over at the diving boards. The diving boards were in their own section of the “L” shape where the water was the deepest, so Matty and I were pretty far away from our friends. It was a hot but overcast day, so there weren’t too many other people around, which was nice as it was typically crowded. We had drifted into the area of the pool where the water was five feet deep. I had to work to keep my mouth above the water line, but Matty was tall enough by then that he could stand.
I was continually bouncing off the bottom of the pool in order to breathe, and Matty could tell I was getting tired. Without saying anything, he came closer and pulled me to him so that he could hold me above the water. He put his arms around my waist, and I instinctively wrapped my legs around him and put my arms around his neck. Our faces were so close together that we instinctively kissed. It was just a quick peck on the lips, but then Matty pulled me in for another kiss, and this time the kiss lasted longer.
We were startled by the sound of a loud whistle followed by a lifeguard yelling, “Hey, you two! Break it up!” Embarrassed and giggling, we both separated and swam towards the shallow end of the pool. I remember glancing over at the diving boards to see if any of our friends were watching, and I caught Krista staring at me with a big smile on her face. It was the only time anyone witnessed Matty and I kissing. However, it was not the first time we had ever kissed; nor would it be the last.
I could definitely feel myself changing that summer. I no longer cared about cartoons or playing childish games; I was more interested in clothes and pop culture and boys. I had a new crush every other week, it seemed, as my hormones raged. My girlfriends and I were out of control boy crazy that summer, even though the boys didn’t quite reciprocate. However, all of my crushes died out fast. In the end, the only boy I really cared about was Matty.
It was exhilarating to be able to do things without needing a parent to stay with us. We were now allowed to be at the shopping mall by ourselves (after being dropped off by an adult, of course), to eat lunch in the food court, and to see a movie at the theatre. Afterwards, someone would use the pay phone to call for a parent or older sibling to come and pick us up. We were all dreaming about the day we could drive; although getting our licenses was still over two years away. That was definitely the summer when I feel like I stopped being a child and became a teenager.
A few weeks before school started, both my parents and Matty’s gave us some money to shop for our back-to-school clothes. The two of us spent a rainy afternoon browsing through a department store, as well as a couple of chain stores that were geared towards teens, looking for jeans and sweaters for the upcoming year. Never mind that it was always hot and humid during the first weeks of school; we still looked for the perfect fall outfit to wear on our first day back.
Matty ended up picking out most of my clothes, and I chose the majority of his. He kept pulling bright blue tops for me to try on, but I insisted he pick out some other colors. So, he chose different shades of blue: navy blue, pale blue, aqua that was in-between blue and green. I was more drawn to darker colors, such as black and red; but I relented and went with a few of the blue pieces Matty picked out. I realized I wanted to please him more than I did myself. He agreed to everything I picked out for him; he looked so good in jeans and graphic tee shirts; and I also grabbed a few striped, long sleeve rugby tops for him, which were all the rage. We had to put back a couple of outfits as they were so similar that we thought our friends would think we
