My Teenage Years: 17

My final year at secondary school got off to a good start. I managed to get a handle on my obsession with Nicola, and my social circle widened a little further.

There was a very important day in September which is not recorded in the diary, as it did not seem important at the time ((CRUCIAL NOTE: as this event isn’t in the diary, it’s feasible that the exact date was actually a few months earlier, during the previous academic year. For the sake of a coherent story, I’ve gone with my hunch and put it here)). On the school bus one afternoon, I leaned over the back of the seat in front which was currently occupied by Craig. He was holding his copy of Different Class. “You have the version with the interchangeable covers,” I said, “I would kill you for that.” He looked up at my stony face, unaware whether to laugh or wet himself in terror.

By October, Craig and I were close friends. One of the Wednesday afternoon PE options was Squash, so we played together every week. We lived in the same village, just a ten minute walk away from eachother, so we would hang out, write songs about masturbation and Santa Claus, and watch Frasier together. On the 4th October I bought my first bass guitar, and in November Craig bought his first guitar. By the end of the year our band had a name, I had passed my driving test, attended a number of University open days, and I had also learned to accept that Nicola and I would never be an item, so was now pursuing a remarkable young lady called Carly. I was still close friends with Nicola, Nathan and Adam, and barely spoke to Tam, Vijay, and the two Martins. I no longer suffered from self-esteem issues. I had started going into the city again, though now it was not to play arcade machines, but to watch gigs.

In January, Craig started coming to the gym with me. We started recording our songs, which we were writing at the rate of up to 5 per day. I borrowed my dad’s car frequently. Craig and I would drive off in the evening, park up in a layby, and lie on the bonnet watching the stars. On one occasion I reversed it into a field, which I guess is part and parcel of growing up.

Over the next couple of months, my relationship with Carly seems to take many twists and turns. It’s confusing reading it now, I can only imagine how confusing it must have been at the time. But it’s nowhere near as confusing as what happens next.

On Thursday 2nd April, Craig and I play our first gig, in aid of Nicola’s birthday party. Unbeknown to me, changes had been happening over the last few months. A combination of my musical abilities, my newfound self-confidence, and the fact that I had been leaving Nicola alone to pursue Carly ((it has been pointed out to me that there may be some ambiguity here. For clarity, it was I who was pursuing Carly, not Nicola)), had injected Nicola with a great desire for me. Apparently she’d been making moves on me, but I hadn’t noticed. On one occasion, when I physically pinned her against a bank of lockers playfully ((yeah, I know, how can that be playful?)) she’d thought “Yes, this is it! At last, he’s going to kiss me!” only for me to walk away. Well, that night it pushed her over the edge, she got tired of waiting, and made the first move. At the end of the night, she slotted herself into my arms and said “You can kiss me now.”

This seems like a logical place to end our tale. I am aware that there are still another few months left before the end of the year, but to be honest this was the turning point, and the subsequent months tie in better with the next story than with this one. I got the girl, I got the best friends that a guy could ask for, I was a rock star.

Well, for a little while, at least.

*This is part 7 of a 7-part series called “My Teenage Years” which documents my school days between the ages of 11 and 17*