Kristin: Can't remember her last name, but sure can remember her first. She came right after that Rebecca girl and I really liked her by about fourth grade. Also being the cool fourth grader that I was, I actually thought I had a chance with her. By this time I wasn't too afraid of girls like I had in the past and some of my friends actually had some girlfriends. It's funny to think about it now, but yeah in FOURTH grade, it was possible for it to happen. Again, I don't really know why I liked this girl. There was a rumor that this girl actually liked me too. We shared this table in our class and one day for the entire day she was staring at me. I just didn't know what to say or do. I felt really dumb too. What should I say? Should I try to act COOL? It was impossible to be cool around her. But like Rebecca, I think all she wanted to do was talk, you know? Well, after that it really didn't work because I was way too afraid to be around her. I knew this was a big problem, but I shouldn't have been too hard on myself because I was only in fourth grade anyway you know. So I guess the crush on this girl lasted into fifth grade, but nothing after that. Oh yeah. I remember in fifth grade that my friend Jared Smith told everyone that I liked this girl. After that, he wasn't much of a friend of mine. Plus he always ripped me off when we traded baseball cards. Yeah, what a friend...I think he goes to UNI now. Ah how quickly times change.

Katie: This by far was the most interesting one of the first three. I really didn't like her very much, but I thought that she was cute. You know the type. In fact, we were really good friends and joked around a lot in science class. I had no idea that she had a crush on me and was really flirting with me at that time. One day in my social studies class, we were about to go eat lunch. One of Katie's friends comes up to me and says that Katie liked me and wanted to know if I liked her too. Stunned, and not knowing what decision to make, I said that I did not. I think the quick decision was also being weighed on the fact that I was moving to Wisconsin soon. So, no. It was not meant to be. (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....I'm getting a thrill of laughing at myself!)

Sara: Although most of the girls in my part of Wisconsin were pretty ugly, this girl probably was one of the best looking ugly ones. She had this friend that really really really really liked me. And boy did I really really really really NOT like her. But I liked Sara. In eighth grade math class, we were supposed to have this pretend marriage situation where a boy and girl match up and do taxes and shit. Of course I wanted to work with Sara. One day during lunch Sara walks over to me and tapped me on the back. "Eric, would you please...work with...Jenny?" (THE OTHER ONE). I think everyone knew that I really liked Sara, and wanted Sara to use me to finally make me say yes to Jenny the wretched one. Well, girls are smart. I ended up working with Jenny and it sucked royally. I did end up becoming famous for my mistreatment of this poor Jenny girl, but she was so stupid that she actually thought that I was only kidding. She never caught on. Anyway, that was the end of my affair with this Sara girl. I moved to Lawrence soon after and was quite content of leaving that wretched state of Wisconsin.

Kristie: Not exactly the hottest girl in the world. Not exactly the smartest girl in the world. Not exactly the best at anything, but I guess thats why I liked her then...plus she didn't even know me and I would bet that she still doesn't. I only talked to her once, only told one other person that I liked her, and I liked her for FOUR YEARS. I guess it was pretty easy considering she was a year older than me and went to another high school. I would always look for her at dances and would try to get enough courage to ask her to dance, but I never got that chance. Maybe I tried to hard. I was really getting desperate by this point because I never had a girlfriend and most of my peers did. Not my friends though, and that made me fortunate. It never worked out though. I guess she goes to KU now, but I really don't care. I'm happy that she doesn't know me.

Well, those are the five people between kindergarden and 12th grade. There are more people in between, and OF COURSE there are others AFTER high school, but these people are probably THE MOST IMPORTANT ONES DURING THIS TIME PERIOD. You know, grade school is an important time in one's life. I think I learned a lot more than most people about not having a girlfriend when I probably could have had one. I mean now that I think about it, I probably would have had some chance with the five (especially Katie) if I had acted like myself. Thats all you have to do. Just be yourself and it will eventually work out.

It did for me.