Dear Diary: Installment #6.

April 10, 1987
10:30 pm

"Dear Diary -

Well, the dance is over. the last 10 min.'s were the worst of my life.

O.K. I'll start from the beginning:

I got there and every one was outside. They looked great, but after looking around, I realized that I looked pretty good too! I went in with Danielle and Jen. I put my coat & stuff down and started to talk to people. Then Kris (Whitmore) walked in & then all my friends started piling in. Well ... we started dancing and I felt awkward (cause I hadn't danced in a while). So ... I saw Craig & the guys on the bleachers (acting crazy).

Well, after a while I was really starting to dance good. After missing the first slow song, I asked Craig to dance w/me (on the next).

Well, after a couple dances with him I went to get a drink. Well, as I was drinking, a slow song came on and when I went back in Craig was mad 'cause I was gone. So of course I turned to Chris Riendeau for advice. He said, "Jodi, I really think you should dump him now." And I said, "No Chris, I love him!"

Well Chadd (Edman) came along, sat next to me and started talking to me about Craig. He told me to break up with him too. He even asked me if I would let him punch Craig (cause he hates him). of course, I said Noooo!

Why do I love him?

Anyways, I went and talked to him at the top of the bleachers and as the guys were screaming "Ya, go for it!" (ands lots of other things), I talked to him and asked him why he was mad at me cause someone told me he was. Well, of course he asked me who told me. He gave me that look that said, "If you don't tell me it's over." So, I had to tell him Chris & Chadd said that. So Chris came to the top of the bleachers to see what was going on and Craig pulled him by the shirt and started yelling at him. I felt terrible even though I knew he was 1/2 kidding.

Well, (I'm skipping a lot of things) later on " I Miss You" came on & Jen started crying so I went and hugged her. Well, that really chipped Craig off!!! He wouldn't talk to me, so I stormed off. Well, I don't know exactly what happened after but I went up to Craig and Danny and started asking them what was wrong. Well he told me he hates all my friends. Well, I explained that I love my friends! (That didn't help). Kris and Craig were giving eachother the finger all night.

At the end of the dance (almost) Craig & them walked off and I went after them (expecting a good night kiss). Well after asking him if he could just stay for the last dance (No) he walked off without even saying goodbye. I started to ball my eyes out and Kris W. saw me so she started crying. Walking and crying we went to get our jackets. When I was all set to leave, all the girls came up to me and kept telling me he was a loser and I'm too good for him. Well, if he's so bad, why do I love him?Well Kris cried harder than ever while telling me that Chris told her before the dance that he was gonna break up with me at the dance. She cried and told me she was sorry.

Maybe he likes me now, now that he had time to get to know me. But then,  why did he leave without saying goodbye? I love Chris, Chadd and Kris. They are so  good to me!

Well, here are some other things that happened:

Jen and Tim are going out, cause Tim asked her. 

Darlene was nice to me! (and later she started crying).

Christian finally got to know me.

My hair stayed half way decent.

Well, I'll talk to you more about the dance tomorrow!

Love ya,
Me"

Wisdom of this entry: Oh where do I begin? Here we see the typical drama of a preteen school dance. Girl loves boy. Boy plays hard to get. Girl's friends beg her to stop chasing boy. Girl doesn't listen. Classic. But one thing I didn't know then, that I would later learn in a very hard way ... is that the boys that are your "friends" who tell you to break up with another boy ... well, they aren't really interested in your well-being ... but rather, they want to become the next boyfriend. Every. Time. Without fail. Unless they are gay. Listen to the gays. They actually do have your back (I'm looking at you, Danny).

Oh - and crying. These dances were clearly put together by adult staff in an effort to create an atmosphere of emotional torture that would thus elicit sloppy tears. Teachers and chaperones must have considered this payback for all the crap we put them through (I'm looking at you Mr. Grady).

Of further note, Craig is not a loser. He's one of the kindest men I know. And I miss his face. And his candor. And clearly, he still owes me a goodnight kiss. ;)