I've often looked back and laughed my lungs out as i remember some of the situations we had to deal with as kids especially regarding our school crush.
By virtue of their ages, it's not unusual to see children teasing one another especially in this situation. Revealing such information to our friends those days could either go right or wrong.
This is one of those stories
We were in primary school and it's safe to say i was the best student in our class since i always had the best result.
This made me popular even though i wasn't really interested in being popular. I only wanted to read my books, pass my exams and most importantly impress Amanda.
Amanda was the most beautiful girl in our class. I know it wasn't my opinion alone since she was always surrounded by all the boys and girls in the class always trying to outdo one another to impress her.
It was a fact that only those who she deemed interesting were popular in class, while those whom she didn't like were avoided. Which was surprising since we weren't friends but i was still popular in class and had my own group of friends. I guess there's always an exception.
All the boys were trying to get Amanda's attention in whatever way they could, but i was always happy whenever she embarrassed them in front of everyone and we all had a good laugh. It soon became obvious to everyone that I was the only one who hadn't had my share from the pool of embarrassment.
Of course I told anyone who cared to listen that she wasn't my type even though I was silently praying that Amanda never heard of my claim. Imagine loosing the love of my life without even telling her how I felt.
But with everyone always talking about Amanda, I had to show I was a man and not one of those small boys in class who were constantly disturbing her with their silly antics. Once she saw who the real man was,she would come to me herself.
Day after day, week after week, the other boys kept on disturbing Amanda, she kept on making fun of them, I kept up my boast but Amanda never came to me, it was almost as if i didn't exist and i was dying in silence particularly because all the boys in class were giving me a sort of unspoken respect for being the last man standing.
Or so I thought.
I was about walking home with my best friend John after closing hours when I spotted Amanda looking quite frustrated with a group of her friends.
Obviously I was concerned and worried, what could be wrong with the love of my life.
So i stylishly walked over without seeming to. Amanda was complaining about how she didn't have enough time to do her home work and how her mum was always scolding her for not doing well in school. The other students would chip in their own sad tales from time to time but hearing Amanda talk that way really broke my heart.
They were still contemplating how they would do well in their home work while i was concentrated on Amanda's sad face. There was no way I would leave her this way. It was time to save the day and be her Superman. Who knows I might just win her heart.
I immediately volunteered to do her assignment. The whole class was dumbfounded as they stated at me. I instantly understood how it would look to them and recognized my mistake. But before I could take my words back, Amanda flung herself into my arms and was thanking me.
I have to say, it was very awkward staring at all the jealous faces looking at us. So i laughed and mentioned that I had a lot of time on my hands and could even do the assignment for the whole class.
Immediately the atmosphere changed and everyone was shouting and cheering my name now. I was smiling foolishly thinking about the workload i had just taken on but Amanda was still hugging me and I knew I could've frozen time just to stay in that moment.
I gathered their books and the whole class dispersed. I was still contemplating how i would pack the books home when my best friend Josh came over.
"What just happened a few minutes ago Dave?" he asked
"What do you mean Josh?" I asked in return
"You don't know the consequence" he replied
"What does that mean" I answered
He simply shook his head and left me standing there. So Josh is also jealous of me i thought as I headed home.
The next day was when I understood what he meant. Apparently i was the only one who assumed that it was a one time thing, the whole class had given me a permanent role in doing their homework. Of course I refused, but it only took Amanda batting her eyes at me and I was already gathering their book again.
Amanda was including me in her conversations now and she sometimes joined me in eating the smacks my mum packed for lunch. Sometimes she even requested me to buy sweeks and biscuits for her.
My friend Josh was avoiding me in class, but who cared. I knew he was simply jealous of my relationship so i also ignored him.
Amanda had finally chosen a real man and not the small boys in class. It was a time of pure bliss and satisfaction, what could be more romantic.
This went on for about a week and the extra work meant that i didn't have time to play with my friends at home after school. My parents thought I was spending extra time studying so they left me to it.
But after one week of my continued self-imposed slavery, I was so tired and frustrated that the love wasn't looking interesting to me anymore. So i made my toughest decision yet, this had to stop.
The next day in school i kept staring at her and praying what I had to say wouldn't affect our relationship.
It was closing hours again and the class were about to gather their books once again when I walked up to Amanda.
"Hi Amanda"
"Hi Dave. We're just arranging the books"
"I wanted to say something Amanda. I'm not sure i can continue doing the homework anymore"
"Oh that's fine, you've tried enough"
She seemed to be taking the news well. It seems there was still hope for me so i asked the question that was really bothering me.
"I would like to know if this new situation won't affect us in anyway"
"What do you mean by us?"
"I mean the relationship being your boyfriend and all"
"What are you talking about Dave? What relationship? whose boyfriend?" she asked
I was surprised at this point. What did Amanda mean by asking these silly questions. Of course everyone knew I was her boyfriend.
"I mean your boyfriend me. The one helping you all with your homeworks" I answered
The whole class was laughing at me now. I knew they'd all been jealous of my sudden closeness to Amanda, so they were making extra effort to tease me. It looked like I was last man standing no more.
I was still standing there too emotional to decide whether a strong man was supposed to cry in public or not. I spotted my friend Josh and although he wasn't laughing, he gave.me a knowing look that seemed to say I tried to warn you
I picked up my bag and headed home vowing in my mind never to associate myself with any beautiful girl, particularly the ones with the name Amanda.
I was just getting to the front of our house when my little sister came out with a friend I'd never seen before. This girl was the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen and I immediately knew I was in love.
My sister introduced her to me and guess what her name was.
The only thing I could feel at that moment was that my vow earlier was worthless. It seemed the Amanda's of the world were not done with me yet