CHAPTER 7 - DOORBELL DITCH DISASTER

That next week Thomas was able to come back to school. Friday was the Christmas assembly. We were all very impressed to see how many toys we had purchased for kids in the community!

It was also one of my most memorable assemblies of all times. At BHS, we had "friendly" competitions between classes. This time they had four ladders from really tall to pretty short. Of course, the freshman had the tallest and the seniors, the shortest. One boy from each grade climbed to the top, was handed all the ingredients for an ice cream sundae and was then blindfolded. Johnny Peterson and I were the representatives for our class. I laid under the ladder with a bowl. When the whistle blew he had to blindly drop the ingredients into my bowl as fast as he could. The first to make a complete sundae in the bowl, won...and I didn't disappoint. I easily caught everything in my bowl, then, covered in plastic sheets, goggles, and ice cream we were declared the winners. boo yeah!

After the ice cream competition I went to the locker room to clean up. Not thinking, I had worn a long sleeved white shirt that day and quite a bit of chocolate sauce had found its way through the plastic sheet to my sleeves. I didn't care since we won...they were like...victory stains! haha. After the assembly, I was standing at the stairs that led out from the gym by the boys locker room entrance when Thomas approached me. He kindly extended his congratulations and then proceded to say "you look good covered in ice cream."Ah! I did not see that coming (I don't think he did either since he quickly looked away). I paused, blushed, and said thanks. hehe.

>>>>>

By this time we had known each other for over a year. We started emailing more often and would even pause and talk at school once in a while. If I saw his car in a certain far-away parking lot, I would park there too, just in case. I think we even went to lunch once! Things were definitely looking up!

The Valentine's Day dance was coming up in a few weeks and I thought that it might be a chance to make up for last year's MORP disaster. My mom randomly had a huge stuffed gorilla so that Sunday night we figured a cheesy, rhyming, phrase that asked him to go with me to the dance.

We attached the note to the huge animal and set out for Thomas' house. The dark night made it easy for us to sneak to his front porch, ring the doorbell, and run. We had to cover our mouths to keep from laughing out loud as we awkwardly ran/hobbled through the deep snow back to the car. We were soaked to the knees, but it was worth it.

I was kind of nervous to see him the next day knowing that he would've figured out that I might be showing interest in him again. Either way I was excited for it. By mid-day I had gotten word through the grape-vine that I had been beat. Just a few hours before the gorilla drop-off, another girl had asked him to the dance. Honestly, I was so sad. It had taken quite a bit of courage and convincing for me to ask him out again.

The next day I was sitting in my human anatomy and physiology class when Thomas knocked and asked to talk to me (he could do stuff like that because of his student-body-president-powers). I instantly got nervous and as everyone watched me, I made my way to the door and then shut it behind me. There we stood..just me and Thomas Park. THE Thomas Park. My heart was racing and my head was spinning. Why did he have such a power over me?

I don't remember what he said exactly...but I know he said sorry. He felt really bad about the whole ordeal, but had to be a gentleman and tell the other girl yes. He said that he had thought about asking me to other dances previous to Valentine's, but was unsure about where we stood. Then he asked if he could take me out some other time. I told him it was all okay and that he was welcome to ask me out anytime...