Your name is John Egbert and you are currently seven years of age. You just moved into your new house: a small two-story home in a quiet neighborhood in a new town.
It is a pleasant summer day. The sun is shining and the skies are clear. After you finished moving in, you jumped around in the cardboard boxes with all of the Styrofoam packing peanuts. You could be amused by just about anything. Packaging was only one of the many things that kept your busy childhood mind entertained. With the nice weather, you are hoping that you could go outside, but there was one problem: your father would not allow it. He tended to be overprotective of you for some reason in which you had not quite figured out. Your father works for most of the day and comes home often to check up on you and to make sure you are doing alright. You appreciate it, but you find him rather interfering sometimes and wish that he would give you some space.
A few hours later, it is seven in the evening. Tomorrow would be your first day going to the elementary school in your new town. You are rather nervous as you are often picked on by the other children. Unlike the other kids your age, you tended to have a closed mind, kept to yourself, and you mind your own business. At the same time, you are quiet, shy, and very protective of yourself. Many kids at your old school had harassed you. The words that they had said are always lingering there in the back of your mind. You are hoping that this would all change…that you could find that one righteous person, a friend that would be there for you and treat you right, no matter what.
You decided to stop worrying about tomorrow and find something to do to ease yourself from all this worrying. Stressing out will not get you anywhere. You walked into your bedroom and pulled all of the sheets and blankets off of your bed and proceeded to make a blanket fort, using the chair from your desk in your room and the chair that you dragged into your room from your dad's office. Once the fort was made, you crawled inside with your flashlight and your huge stack of comic books. Reading in the dark was another one of the things that you enjoyed doing. You lay on your back with your stack of reading material on your stomach with the flashlight pointed at the roof of your fort. You clicked the flashlight's button on and off several times repetitively.
The next morning, you walked to your new school. It was only eight blocks away: a perfect walking distance. Walking to school was like having an extra recess, but outside of school operation hours. Once you arrived on campus, you walked to your new classroom. Several other students were already there. As you are new, you knew none of them. They glanced at you as you walked inside and they made you very nervous. The name of your teacher was Mrs. Jennings. She seemed very nice and she seemed to like children a lot.
For the majority of the morning, you and the other students were supposed to participate in random activities that would help you get to know each other. If there was one thing in the world that you hated, it was being forced to be social. As you were harassed as a child, it was only natural of you to withdraw and not trust very many people. You sat by yourself and doodled some pictures using the crayons that you brought in your backpack. The other students around you chattered loudly and ignored you. You said nothing and allowed your child-like creative juices to flow.
"John?" a voice asked.
You looked up. Mrs. Jennings was speaking to you and you twirled your crayon between your fingers. "Yes?" you asked.
"Are you going to introduce yourself to any of the other children?" she asked you.
Your face fell as you looked down at your desk and shook your head.
"I didn't mean to make you feel bad," Mrs. Jennings said as she patted you on the shoulder. "Talking to others does not come naturally for everyone. I am sure that you are good at tons of other things, right?"
You said nothing for a moment. The last thing that you needed to tell your new teacher was all the terrible situations you have had in school so far that lead up to how you are now. She takes note of your drawings and held one of them up.
"You are really good at art," she said. "Do you want to be an artist someday, John?"
"Maybe," you said as you nodded. She made you feel a bit better as the sinking feeling inside you went away.
"I am okay with you drawing, okay," Mrs. Jennings said. "You have nothing to be ashamed about. Would you mind if I hang up your drawing on the side of my desk? I really like it. What is it, exactly?"
You explained that the drawing was of your old home.
"Oh, are you the new boy that just moved here?" she said. "Do you miss where you came from?"
"No," you said quietly in an almost-whisper.
"Aw," Mrs. Jennings said. "Do you miss your friends back there?"
"I didn't have any friends," you said.
"That is too bad, I am very sorry," Mrs. Jennings said sadly. "Recess is soon and I hope that you will meet tons of other nice children your age."
"Okay," you said.
A few minutes later, you were outside watching all of the other children your age play. You watched them from afar as they played on the playground. You sat on a large rock by a fence. The other children are approximately fifty feet away from you. They played noisily and seemed to be enjoying themselves. You wondered why you could never be like them. Trust in other people seemed to have fallen out in your life. Once something happens to you or is introduced to you in your early ages, it really changes who you are.
A big burly kid approaches you with two other boys. He did not appear to be really friendly, but you attempted to try and act normal.
"H-h-hello?" you asked in a nervous-like manner. He made you feel rather uncomfortable.
"Hey, new guy," jeered the burly kid. He had a wide face and several red freckles.
"Yes?" you asked.
"Where did you come from?" he asked quickly. He had his hands on his hips.
"I-I-I," you stammered.
"Probably dork-ville or something," he said as he motioned to his other two friends for support who laughed along with him.
You did not want to cry, but on the inside, you were terribly upset. Other kids can just be so mean.
"So," the big burly kid began to say.
"Hey, there!" shouted another voice from a far distance away. The sound came closer and you turned to look.
A blonde-haired boy wearing sunglasses ran straight up to the big guy and faced him. "Leave the kid alone…you are so rude!"
You are surprised at how brave and just this blonde-haired boy is.
"I've always been this way," the burly boy said. "What are you going to do about it?"
"If you don't leave the guy alone," the blonde began. "I will kick your butt so hard; both of your ass-cheeks will just fall right off."
The two other boys laughed hysterically.
"You think you can beat me up, who's bigger here, huh?" the burly boy said as he grabbed the blonde by the fabric on the neck of his shirt and pulled him closer in a threatening manner. "Try me, little boy…your bark is not big enough for your bite. You have a big mouth, you know that?"
"Hey, stop it!" you cried out.
The burly boy stopped and dropped the blonde boy to the ground. The blonde landed knees and quivered in pain as the big guy turned to you.
"Or what?" the boy asked.
"He didn't do anything to you," you said.
"Yeah, so? He may be a bit bruised up for my man-handling, but he got what he had coming!"
"Why are you doing this?" you asked as you shivered in fear. You can't hold yourself together.
The big boy tossed you on the ground and you fall face-first. Your glasses fell off and bounced a couple of times on the grass away from you. Your limbs flailed, but you couldn't move as this guy had his big heavy foot on your back to keep you from escaping. You couldn't see any more than a few feet away from you and couldn't tell if the other students were out in the distance as you cried out for help.
All of a sudden, the blonde boy sprang up and tried to pull the big boy off of you.
"Let him go!" the blonde shouted as he kicked the boy repeatedly in the stomach.
"Hey, knock it off!" a voice called out.
You looked up and noticed a blurred adult figure coming in your direction as you ran your hands over the grass trying to find your glasses.
"Blonde kid!" the adult exclaimed.
She must be one of those who makes sure that the kids behave while they are out on the playground.
"Come with me!" she motioned to the blonde, who seemed reluctant. "You too!" she exclaimed as she pointed at the burly boy.
She left you alone on the ground. Did she notice that you were being harassed? You found your glasses and jammed them back on your face and pushed them up upon the bridge of your nose. Your mind raced and you wanted to call out and say that the big kid was being a bully, but you couldn't get a word out. Recess was over, so all you could do was go back to class. As you walked, you wiped the sweat off of your face and tried to wipe the grass stains from your clothes, but they would not go away. You walked into your classroom.
"John, are you okay?" asked Mrs. Jennings.
You looked down and said nothing.
"You look hurt…who did this to you?" she demanded.
At this point, over half of the class was staring directly at you.
You lowered your voice to a whisper and described what the big burly boy looked like to Mrs. Jennings, who took you by the hand.
"Come to the office with me, okay," she said soothingly. "You are not in trouble; I am only trying to help you."
You sniffed. "Alright," you said slowly.
Mrs. Jennings walked you down to the principal's office. The halls were empty. Everyone else must be back in their classrooms. She knocked on the door and a middle-aged man opened the door.
The blonde boy and the big burly boy were inside.
Mrs. Jennings gestured to the big burly boy. "Is this boy the one who did this to you?"
You nodded. "Mmhmm."
"Ridiculous," the principle said with disappointment as he picked up a pencil from his desk and began to fill out some sort of form. "You two fighting on school property again. This is the last straw. I had this problem with you both last year and I hoped that you both would change. I am suspending both of you for two days."
"Wait," you began as you pointed to the blonde boy. "He didn't do anything wrong! He was only trying to protect me!"
"Rules are rules. Fighting is fighting. It is as simple as that."
Two hours later, you were walking home. You felt terrible. The person who tried to save you got suspended…and on the first day…and you could not save him in return. Some kids could be just rude. Once you arrived at home, you crawled back into your blanket fort that you didn't take down the night before. You did not want to go back to that school. Ever.
All of a sudden, you heard a thud. You sprang up and peered outside and around the corner of your fort. It was the blonde boy. Did he, come in through your window? It seemed to be that way.
"Hi," the boy said in a friendly manner.
You stared for a moment. "Hello," you said back.
The boy approached you. "I wish I could have introduced myself earlier, but my name is Dave and I wanted to meet you."
"Oh, I'm John," you said in return.
"That's really cool," Dave said.
"How did you know where I live?" you asked as you allowed Dave inside of the blanket fort as he took his backpack off of his back.
"I followed you home," Dave said. "You seemed lonely, so I thought that I would come by and cheer you up."
"Why thanks," you said as you blushed. Sometimes you don't know how to react to people when they are nice to you, but Dave had done the sweetest thing that anyone has ever done for you.
Dave laughed. "You seem new, are you from here?" he asked.
"No, I moved from far away," you explained.
"Oh, I have lived here all of my life," Dave said with a smile.
"Where do you live at?" you asked Dave as you were rather curious.
"In an apartment a few blocks away. Just me and my older bro."
"I just live here with my dad," you explained. "He is a bit overprotective of me and I am not so sure what will happen if he comes in and notices that you are here. He tries to keep me very sheltered."
"Don't worry," Dave laughed. "I always have the window."
What a nut.
"I'm sorry that you got suspended," you apologized. "I tried to say something, but-"
"Don't worry about it," Dave said casually.
"You won't get in trouble, will you?" you muttered.
"No, my bro is pretty laid back about everything," Dave said. He changed the subject. "What do you enjoy doing?"
You thought for a moment. "Well, I really like comic books, and video games, and all sorts of movies and I play outside sometimes and I also really like to draw."
Dave lit up. "That's so cool! I like games, too!"
"Really?" you asked.
"Yah!" Dave said. "They are the coolest things ever and I think that we could be great friends."
You felt the majority of your fears and worries go away and you felt like you could really trust this guy. "I've never had a friend before."
"Me, neither!" Dave exclaimed. "That is why I am so glad that I met you!"
With that, you are glad to have met Dave Strider. He was the most amazing human being that had ever walked into your life. What would you ever do without him? If it wasn't for Dave, you would probably be sitting by yourself and alone. Dave came to your house quite often. He would either come in through your bedroom window or the back door to avoid your overprotective father. Whenever he came, he always brought tons of video games, comic books, and a flashlight for the blanket fort. Often times, he would stay over quite late.
One evening when Dave came over, you and him lay on your backs on pillows inside of your fort.
"Dave?" you asked him.
He turned his head to face you. "Yes?"
"Does your bro have a bedtime for you?" he asked.
"Not really," Dave replied. "He knows that I come here and he is perfectly okay with that. I know that he cares about me…he just isn't a worrisome kind of guy."
"Oh."
"Yeah," Dave exhaled. He was silent for a moment. "Do you want to come over to my place sometime?"
"I would love to, but I am not so sure what my dad would say," you said.
"I'm sure that he will loosen the reins on you a bit if you were to say that I am a friend from school," Dave said with hope. "You should give it a try sometime."
"Okay, I shall try."
A few weeks later, you asked your dad if you could have a sleepover over at Dave's place. At first, he seemed reluctant to let you go and then decided that it would be okay. You could easily walk to Dave's apartment and that is just what you did.
You found the right room number and knocked on the door, in which Dave opened it up.
"Hi, John," Dave said in his friendly voice. "You can come in. I'm the only one here and my bro will be back a bit later."
"Okay," you said.
"Let's build a fort in my living room!" Dave exclaimed as his eyes widened. "Just like what we do at your house, okay?"
"That sounds awesome!" you exclaimed. "We can bring in candy and popcorn and all sorts of snacks!"
You and Dave built the biggest blanket fort in the living room with an opening that faced the television. Dave flopped on his back inside the fort. "Isn't this cool?"
You nodded and agreed.
Dave rolled around on the floor in a carefree child-like fashion.
"Hey, Dave?" you asked.
"Yes?" Dave responded as he remained still for a moment.
"I have a question for you," you began.
"Yah?" Dave asked.
"Why do you wear those sunglasses all of the time?" you asked.
"They are not sunglasses, they are shades," Dave replied.
"Sorry," you responded. "Whatever you call them. Why? I don't recall ever seeing your eyes before."
Dave sighed as he leaned in to look at you while still lying on his back. "Will you promise that you won't freak out?"
You nodded. "Yes, Dave."
"Promises that whatever you about to see, you never say to anyone?" Dave asked.
"I promise," you repeated. "I will pinky-swear."
You both pinky-swore and Dave slowly lifted up his shades and revealed that his eye pupils are a red color.
"You have very interesting eyes," you said in awe.
Dave laughed. "Yah, my extremely catholic neighbor next door to me thinks that I am the devil, so I hide my eyes," he said as he put his shades back on. "I would prefer to be me and not care what others think, but sometimes we all do things to protect ourselves, right?"
"Right," you agreed. "But, Dave?"
"Yah."
"You don't have to wear them in front of me if you don't want to. We are alone together and I think that your eyes are really pretty."
Dave smiled. "You really think so?"
"Yes," you said.
"Thanks," Dave said.
Years passed by. You and Dave always stuck together. Both of you were best friends and were completely inseparable. Your traditions never changed. The two of you made forts and you would read, talk, and play every videogame that you could get your hands on. More time passed. You are currently in the ninth grade. Not much changed. You and Dave still lived your childhood dreams. One day, you and Dave were hanging out in his apartment.
"Hey, Dave," you began.
"Yes?" Dave asked.
"Do you think everything that was said in our health class was true?" you asked.
You and Dave had the same sex education class together. At times, you wondered why you did not have a girlfriend. Sometimes you wondered if there was something wrong with you and it left you thinking.
"What in that class is true?" asked Dave.
"Just everything in general…"
"Oh," Dave said.
"It seems so complicated."
"Yeah, life can be so fucking complicated sometimes it is ridiculous."
The thing that you liked best about being in Dave's apartment was that your father was never around to tell Dave to watch his language. Your father is an extreme conservative.
"Well, I am told that most girls won't ask out the good guys because they fear of being rejected," you began and then looked up at Dave. "But in your honest opinion, do you think I am good enough?"
"Don't say anything shitty about you, John," Dave began. "You are perfect and there is nothing wrong with you, the right girl will come to you someday and it doesn't always happen right away."
"True," you said. "How will I know how to behave?"
"What do you mean, John?" Dave asked.
"Well, how will I act?" you asked. "I would not want to mess things up. After all, if something does happen, it would be the first time that I had a girlfriend and I don't want to screw things up. If I screw things up, the girl would probably turn tail and tell the whole school and then none of them would want to go out with me."
"Oh, John," Dave said. "You need to stop worrying. You will know how to handle your future romantic feelings by doing what comes naturally."
"How should I know when a relationship feels natural?" you asked.
"You will know once you experience it," Dave said. "When the right one comes along."
"Well," Dave began. "You won't actually know what it is like until you experience it. You know, try it."
"I want to try it sometime," you said. "But, the right girl comes along. I've always wanted to be close to someone and feel loved."
Dave turned to you. "We've been close all of our lives."
"Dave, no, please do not pull that one on me," you began.
"Perhaps if we practice on each other, we will know what love feels like," Dave lit up.
"Dave, no, this will get awkward," you said.
"It is only awkward if you make it awkward," Dave began.
"No."
"Come on, John," Dave began. "Just pull the moves that you have seen in all of those cheesy romance comedies that you have watched. You have seen so many corny movies; you have to have your head filled with tons of pickup lines."
You laughed. "Okay Dave."
"We can improve on our lovemaking skills together," Dave said.
"Okay," you said. "But where should we start?"
"Well, we could start off with kissing," Dave mentioned. "The ladies do not want to get their soft tender lips bit off by your massive overbite front teeth."
"Dave, Dave, Dave. My teeth are not that big," you said.
Dave shushed you.
"Okay, sorry, continue Dave," you urged.
"First step to kissing is that you do not want to over-do it and most importantly, you do not want to bonk noses," Dave said.
You snickered. Good advice right there.
"This is why couples tilt their heads before they kiss. If you mess up, it could lead to a weird embarrassing moment."
"Okay."
"So we begin," Dave said. "First off, you tilt your head." He scoots onto your lap and straddles you.
"Um, Dave?" you asked.
"Yes?" Dave responded.
"Are you sure that this is a good idea?" you asked.
"Of course it is. After all, hands-on-learning is the best kind of education that you can get."
"Okay."
"After you tilt your head, you just lean in and go for it," Dave said.
"Go for what?"
Your eyes widened. Too late. Dave tilted his head sideways and he touched his lips to yours and you can feel the heat wave come across you due to nervousness…and…like…holy shit, you just gave away your first kiss to Dave. You continued to make out with Dave and you could feel his tongue fondling around in your mouth. It was a bit weird at first, but now you understood. Now, you believe that you understood too much about this whole lovemaking thing. Dave parted his lips from yours.
"See and that is how you kiss," Dave replied.
You couldn't think of anything to say at first. Never before had you actually questioned your sexuality. Everything seemed backwards. Was Dave the one that you wanted all along? That was so strange.
"Ready to move onto the next lesson?" Dave asked.
"Sure," you breathed.
It seemed like Dave was feeling the same way that you did. So, this is what it is like to "behave naturally?" Wow.
You and Dave began to kiss again. He playfully pushes you onto the floor, back into the blanket fort and he gently bites at your neck in a couple of areas. You could feel your body flex, heat up, and become tense as Dave hovered over you and began to make out with you once more. After that, both of you began to remove your clothes and do the unspeakable.
"See, John," Dave began after he stopped kissing you for a moment. "This is how you don't mess things up. You get an A+ in my lovemaking course."
You sink into the pillows and the two of you enjoyed yourself in your unspeakable world under the fort…in the dark.
Dreams do come true. So, you gained your first kiss…and lost your virginity…awesome.