She was not the prettiest flower in the bouquet
but she had a perfumed heart

 which shone through in a radiant smile and a gentle nature;

she loved me dearly.

I, I awakened to puberty blinded by blond curls

cheerleader bodies

to the "fast" girls
who ignited my hormones
shaking me into the boy-way and into impure thoughts;

sometimes at the wrong time
as the girls filed by us boys
we both on our .
way to the gym and to my embarrassment.

Where sometimes I had to skip gym and make excuses.

Audrey watched from afar;

I was not so much oblivious of how she felt

and I felt she was nice but, too nice

to be despoiled by what I wanted from girls.

I wanted the fast girls because fast knows fast

and I was definitely fast in my sloppy jeans.

So like attracted like.

Like bears and honey

And like bears and honey

I didn’t care if I got stung
I wanted honey.

Every boy in my school wanted the same three girls

Every girl in my school wanted the same three boys;

 the rest of us were bystanders, spectators and critics

of scenes we were not part of

not even able to offer solace to others like ourselves because

to be in the not-popular group was to be a social failure;

and who wants to associate with social failures-
no one that’s who.

Being seen together

only drew attention to your failed status in life.

No one wants that right?

Audrey stood by watching me hunger for the popular girls

particularly Carly
my female succubus,

who could arouse in me
such that at times I dared not stand up.

Carly was the one who knew how to flirt

how to move my hormones with just a glance;

how to flip her hair

how to bend over to pick up that mythical pencil

how to always look available

whether she had a boyfriend or not

how to perform in lunch-room theatre;

scenes of a princess eating

several kinds of food stuffs from soup to hotdogs,

to ice cream cones

which drove the boys crazy

where Life would stand still for the boys and the girls
and also for some male faculty members
who, too, would
become frozen in time
whenever Carly, took up her comestibles.

The girls watched too, angry-eager to learn how to imitate-
  envious  critical, condemning, castigating
totally in awe of what Carly could do to boys.

She had the gift of innocent sexuality,
no better, the gift of a innocent, playful sexuality
naughty but not seedy,
a young girl in a woman’s body,
  senuous, natural movements which gave promise
of her inner woman to be.  

She was of course learning of her ability
to attract boys and men
but her learning was so public
and she accommodated the mini-hatreds and the lustful stares
of others
on the stage she had been placed upon
which made her internal development public
out of necessity.

She was used to all eyes upon her.

And even then I realized that Carly was also a symbol of how everything and anything could be given a sexual interpretation
not only by us boys, but the girls as well
and as well by the adults,
some of whom hated Carly’s natural sexuality
and other adults there
who hated her
for that very same sexuality
as a sign of the devils work
or worse,
made them feel that sexuality
against their will-same as the young boys.

No one it seem was immune
from the powerful pull of Carly’s natural sexuality.
 

Carly lived in the middle of this maelstrom;
a girl-woman

I found Audrey one Friday
(Carly and her popular group came to the cafeteria
only on Fridays,
hence her appearances were extra special
to all concerned
since they were not frequent.)
 
One day, as I was saying,
I saw Audrey outside the cafeteria
and the moment her eyes met mine

she started to cry.

Not understanding  
I asked her what was the matter.

“Nothing."  she said turning away
but that was the first day I started to see her

as a real person,
mind you
not a girlfriend
rather, I started to see her as a comrade in suffering.

 I vowed to ask her who she was in love with
assuming she shared my predicament.

And I thought we could help each other.

 I thought I would call her.

Without further words Audrey walked away
humiliated but happy, so happy that I had noticed her

vowing then she would fight for me;

she would walk up to me in the school corridor
and kiss me on the cheek;
that is what she would do
to make me understand how she felt about me.

To  make me see  she that she was the one
who loved me

that really understood me.

That is what  she decided to do.

That night she planned it out out:

Lip gloss, short skirt, tight top,
she would be a new Audrey and get my attention

and make me forget the nasty girls.

To be continued