The ants were crawling all over her. She was squirming so much, I thought she was going to fall out of the tree. That's when it happened. I didn't know if I should laugh or cry, as she nonchalantly said,"Oh, I feel so much better." Had it rained, just near my head? Yvette just peed on me.
We were in fourth grade, it was midnight and we had snuck out to teepee a boy named Jim's house.
Not a good start. Okay, so she didn't fully pee on me, but it was close enough to my body.
No warning, no ....."Hey Clare, look out below," She just laughed.
So in form with everything she did. I probably just took some of the toilet paper we were using for his house, in all my nine year old wisdom, dried off, and that was that. Even then I accepted that kind of stuff.
Okay, I failed to mention why we were in a tree at midnight. We were at La Rosa, the school we went to kindergarten at, we must have been in a nostalgic mood, being 4th graders and all.
This little gal just loved climbing trees, it must have been the freedom of sneaking out.
How renegade of us. She thought of the craziest stuff. She was very athletically inclined.
She was a gymnast, perfect teeny tiny gymnast body. Maybe part of their training was going to schools at midnight and climbing trees.
On we marched to our intended victim, Jim's house, this kid we went to St. Lukes with.
I can't remember why he was the lucky one. Maybe one of us was sweet on him.
Or, Yvette decided he would be the target. I was a definite follower back in the day,
so off I trudged, my pudgy little body next to her lithe form. Keeping up with her was always a challenge. She had boundless energy. Must have been all the junk food she snuck, while her mom
wasn't looking. I think I secretly hoped she would get at least a little chub. Not to be.
Not even with the endless bowls of Spaghettio's. Never endless enough for me. Felt like I was starving.
What was really there to eat? I wanna go home. I am hungry. Sad to say was the story of this Italian girls life.
So we are ever so quietly and gracefully tp...ing{toilet papering} his house with the greatest of glee.
Real life, we were probably roaring with laughter, and making a lot of noise. The front porch light goes on, and out comes his mom. We freeze in our smirky tracks. She tells us we had to clean up this mess.
What a mess we had made. Guess who wasn't smiling now? So, we cleaned it up, I am sure with plenty of 4th grade bitching and blaming. Finally we trudged back to Yvette's house in the wee hours of the night. No parents the wiser.
Yvette was quite the little smart pants. She loved playing tricks on yours truly. I was not quick on the draw. She was very, very spry. She had cat like movements ~ and knew how to use them.
Again, why did I get anywhere near a tree with this demon child. We were in her back yard, and she
ever so innocently stated,"Let's go sit up in that tree, that will be fun." It didn't look very high,
it was a Saturday, we were bored, what the heck. She was up in two seconds flat, so I trudged up,
very slowly. {You would think I weighed 4oo pounds, the way I am painting this picture of myself. I was chubby, about 10 pounds overweight, but next to her, I looked like I was her mother or a gorilla}
I didn't like to exercise, so I am sure I was not digging this one bit. But being with Yvette, you do what you must. I never wanted to truly let on how exhausting she was.
I must have been a masochist, really...... now I get me!! So we are up in this fine tree, okay, cool.
She says she is going to get us snacks, now we are talking my language. I am salivating.
A little time is passing, more time ~ no Yvette, no snacks, just pealing laughter and one hot, sweaty girl in a tree. Aha, I see, I am the joke once again. Finally Yvette's mom catches on, and makes Yvette fetch a ladder to get me out of the tree. Hmmmmmm, what was up with that chick?
I had a lot of friends when I was younger, who lead me around in similar ways. I seriously thought it was normal. Nothing out of the ordinary. All through grammar school on and off, Yvette and I remained friends. When it came time for High School I went to Mission, an all girls school and Yvette went to Temple City. I transferred over a few months later. It was painful to see that Yvette acted as though she never knew me. There were clicks at my new school. I was not, and never have been a
"Click gal." Ever. Just been a "Me Gal." I always weaved in and out of life, people. What has felt right.
I remember this one girl I had gone to grammar school with. I had known her my whole life at St. Lukes. She said,"If I didn't get in the "Good Group" I wouldn't have any friends, she would help me out".
I think you can guess what I did. Yep. Guess I didn't get in the "Good Group." I have never, ever,
not for one day, liked restrictions like that on me. I would much rather eat alone. Did, have, and still do.
I love my solitude. I love my own company. That taught me a lot. I made many friends that were social outcasts at my school. Not cool. I never really have been cool. I just have been me.
I met up with Yvette again when I was pregnant with my first child. She was getting married and wanted me to be in her wedding. I guess she decided I was cool enough by now. I realized I would have had a month to get back into human shape after giving birth, to be in her wedding. Way too much pressure.
She did not like my answer. She did not come to my baby shower and we have never spoken again. That was twenty five years ago. Funny how some things never change. We had our thirty year school
reunion this year. I thought about going. I have never even been to one. The ten year one, I was in labor with my daughter. I saw the pictures from this year. Yvette was there. Something changed for me. A little compassion, as I saw even all these years later her still trying to fit in ~ with the "Cool Ones." They all still hang out together. Some things never change.
The thing is, I went along with a lost girl. A girl who was so tightly controlled by rules, who needed to rule and control. Isn't that how the story always goes? I laugh now, thinking how tiny she was,
yet she wielded a mighty sword, her words and power. I never realized until writing this, how
truly powerless I felt. Yvette learned great power skills through her body, being able to control it
through gymnastics. She learned the game. How to play it. I never did. I just went along blindly.
She was just a kid like me trying to survive, but used manipulation and anything she could
to make her feel good, from her drowning world. That is the adult, the parent in me speaking.
Now to the kid in me. She was a shit. I never deserved to be humiliated and treated badly.
I am glad I am not friends with her anymore. I do wish her well, but I wish my heart to heal from her cruelty, now that I have really opened this wound, it can properly heal. I am loving me enough not to be politically correct and rise above it. I am loving me first, than I can really love the world.
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