The Dating Game
By Meredith

Evil Sir Cane came at me through the open door. The look in his eye was pure evil. I tried to run, but two of his loyal guards held me fast. As Sir Cane came nearer to me, I closed my eyes and willed myself out of his evil clutches. I watched his gloved hand reach out to take me captive. All of a sudden the window burst open and in swung my hansom prince! I was saved! As I watched my Prince (Who I might add looked a lot like Freddie Prinze Jr.) fight the men from the room my heart swelled with love for him. The guards were gone along with evil Sir Cane. I was safe at last! The fighting and saving bit was all too much for me. As I fell to the floor in swoon my handsome Prince rushed to my side and caught me just before my head hit the stone floor. He scooped me up in his strong arms. He lowered his head to lay his lips on mine, “Sherri…Miss Hawk,” My Prince looked up, “Who is that?” he asked.
I looked into his chocolate brown eyes, “Oh, that’s just Mrs. Heath, my English teacher,” I said. I thought about what I had just said. “Mrs.Heath!? What is she doing here?” I could see her standing there. This was my daydream! And I know I didn’t invite my English teacher to be in it! I opened my eyes. My handsome prince faded from my arms, in his place were 23 sets of eyes staring at me. Then I remembered…10th grade…English class. Quickly I sat up and pulled my self together.
“I’m so glad that you decided to join us Ms. Hawk. Please read page 84-87 for the class,” Mrs.Heath said.
“Yes ma’am,” I answered meekly.
I read the pages, but afterward I couldn’t have told anyone what it said for a million dollars! I may have been sitting in Mrs. Heath’s 10th grade English class, but I wasn’t really there. Where was I? I was somewhere else, anywhere else, except maybe math class. I was where everyone adored me. Where they think that I’m a queen. Every waking hour is spent with this guy that thinks I am everything important in the world to him. He would rather spend time with me then watch sports on ESPN. I am in love with him and he with me. But I need to wake up! Because this is America and the 21 century! There is not a guy like that in million-mile radius of planet earth!
“William Shakespeare was one if not the greatest writers of all time…”, Mrs. Heath was saying. I looked up at the clock above the blackboard, less than ten seconds to go until the bell rings for lunch! I counted down, 10, 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1…RING!!!!!
Yes! Everybody jumped out of their chairs, all in a hurry to get to lunch.
I barely heard Mrs. Heath yelling out the homework assignment for class. I made a bee-line for one of my two best friends, Becky.
“Man! Are you lucky that Mrs. H was in a good mood! You looked like you were off in la-la land,” Becky said as we made our way through the steady stream of highschool students. Opening my mouth to give some lame answer I saw my other best friend Meagan waving at us from across the lunchroom! We had been blessed enough to have the same lunch period. “There’s Meg”; I grabbed Becky’s arm in our meager attempts to break away from the Autobahn that went through our school at the end of every period.
Meg was talking to this guy from our youth group, Tommy, when we arrived at the table. He looked embarrassed and mumbled something about his next class and high-tailed it out of there. “Hey Meg. What’s up with Tommy?” I asked.
“Hmm? Oh! He was just asking me if you have a boyfriend. You don’t do you?” she asked me.
“Last time I checked, no. But I could be wrong. Why?”
“No reason!” Meg said.
“Whatever! Where were you last night?”
“What do you mean ‘last night’? What was last night?”
She answered my question with a question. I knew she was lying. “Today is Thursday, yesterday was Wednesday, church. Ring a bell?” I said, playing along with her “forgetfulness”.
“Oh yeah!” I smiled at her sudden memory return.
“Todd called me last night and told me to go out to dinner with him. That’s all.”
“Wait a minute! Todd told you to go out to dinner with him? Just called you up and told you to drop everything and obey his every whim?” Becky burst into the conversation.
“Well yeah,” Meg said with a bounce of shiny golden hair.
“Speaking of the devil,” Becky said.
I looked over my shoulder to see the tall-good-looking-captain-of-the-football-team, Todd Hanson, striding this way as if he owned the lunchroom. He was wearing a scowl on his handsome features, this did not look good.
“Hello Toddy!”, came the voice so sweet that it almost made me sick to my stomach.
Meg sat there twisting a lock of her long sunny hair around her finger. I’d seen this scene a dozen times, Todd angry for some reason that God only knows and Meg acting like Barbie in order to win back his favor.
“Hey Meg”, was it my imagination or did the air that just came out of his mouth have a icy blue tinge? “I think that I just saw you talking to that dorky guy over there. I could have been wrong, if I am just tell me,” Todd said.
“I was just talking to him Todd. Don’t worry, you’re the only one for me!”
“Well, I don’t want you talking to any guy from now on! You’re my girl and I don’t like to share!” With that he stormed off. I was shocked! No guy would ever talk to me like that. Not if he wanted to live!
“How can you let him treat you like that!?” I asked when I found my voice again.
“He loves me. And I really need that in my life right now. You guys just wouldn’t understand!” Meg got up and stormed after Todd.
“Wow,” Becky said. “I had no idea that they loved each other. I just thought that is was the prom date that never ended.”
“I knew that they had done the whole trading ‘I loves you’s” and that stuff. But I didn’t think that she really believed the stuff.” I said still some what in shock. “But I also know that Todd is pressuring Meg to do stuff that she doesn’t want to do. I think that skipping church to be with him because he ‘told’ her to is just a step closer to doing everything he wants.” RING!! The bell rang.
Becky and I said bye and I grabbed a bag of chips and ran to my next class.

Through out the rest of the day I kept thinking about the scene that I had witnessed in the lunchroom earlier. Todd had the reputation of charming beautiful young girls, a.k.a. Meg, into his arms, keeping them there over night then the next day dumping them for “something new” as he called it, not at all my type. My type? What is my type? I’m only 16 years old. Do I really need a type? I have my whole life ahead of my to find “my type”. Why do I want to follow the trend and strap myself into a meaningless relationship? Why do I want to pledge my life as it is now to some young man, who I know full well that I’m not going to marry!? All of a sudden, the entire “dating Game” seemed so pointless. Why are people doing this to themselves? Self inflicted pain! Ugh! Do I want to do this to myself? No! I want more and better for myself!
Later that night, after the three D’s, dinner, dishes and dumb homework, I sat down to the fourth D, devotion. A few weeks ago our youth leader at church told us that devotions are a great way to keep in touch with God every day. So I added a ‘D’. My prayer was that God would show me what to do about my new found knowledge of dating. Praying about it made me think about some of the claims that Todd put on Meg. “You’re mine!” I heard his voice in my head. He is so wrong! I thought. He was acting like they were married or something! They are 16 and 17 for crying out loud! I was puzzled. I was upset. I was angry! But most of all, I was searching for something better.

The next morning I sat watching my Mom scoop out glumps of oatmeal for me.
“Mom. How did you and Dad meet?” I asked. She set the steaming bowl down in front of me, then sat across the table. “I’m just wondering.” I’d heard the story hundreds of times, but never tired of hearing their very own love story love story.
“Your father was working at the ice cream parlor where my friends and I liked to hang out after school. Every time he took my order, he always put a cherry on top, free of charge.” She got up to pour more coffee. “After about two weeks of this I got angry. So the next day when I got my ice cream I yelled, ‘I don’t like cherries on my ice cream so stop it!’ My first words to your father.” Every time Mom tells this story she gets all misty eyed, just like she was now. No telling how long she was going to stay gone in that place that this story always takes her. Oh! A record! Less then two minutes!
“You’ve heard that story at least a million times. Why agin?” She asked.
“I don’t know! Thanx for breakfast mom! See ya!” I dashed out the door for school.
Walking to school was always a pleasure for me. It gave me time to get all of my thoughts in order and get ready for the day. It was only about a 4-minute walk and today it seemed even shorter. So much for getting my thoughts in order! “Um, Sherri?”
I looked around for the caller of my name. Tommy, from church. “Yeah Tommy?”
“Um, Sherri, I was just wonderin’, um…would you like to see a, uh, a movie with me tonight?” Tommy managed to get out. I looked at Tommy, I looked hard. It was really sweet of him to ask and everything, and if he had asked me the day before I would have said yes! But not now. “I can’t.” I said.
“Why?” I had known it was coming, I’m smarter than the average bear. So I had already thought ‘why’ through. “Because Becky and I are studying tonight.” Becky walked up to me. “Right Beck?” I leaned closer to her “We’re studying tonight…” I whispered.
“That’s right Tommy! I got her first!” If Becky still wanted to be lawyer like she did in the sixth grade, then she was going to need to work on her lying skills.
“Is that the truth Sherri, or do you just not want to go out with me?”
I was not ready for that one! “Well. It’s not that I don’t want to go out with you I just don’t want to go out with anyone. And that’s the truth.” I said meekly.
“Ok, thanks for the truth. If you ever get back to the point were you do want to go out with someone, call me.” He turned and walked away.
I stood watching his back fade into the crowd other teenaged backs. I knew I liked that guy!
“Why did we just lie to Tommy then tell the truth and you turn him down for a date!?” Becky brought me back in to the real world, she was good at that.
“We told him the truth because I couldn’t lie to him. I told him I didn’t want to go out with him because I don’t want to go out with anyone. But I like him a lot Becky!” I was confused.
I couldn’t and didn’t understand all of the feeling flowing through me. I want a relationship, but I wanted one that would last. I just wanted to take it slow.

Put them together, take them apart. I don’t get it. Why do we do this to ourselves? It’s like looking at the sun on purpose. It hurts! While sitting in math class, I had decided to ask someone all of my questions. But who? I had thought about Becky, but this was too deep for her. Dad? Nah. Mom? Yeah! At the breakfast table. Could I wait that long?

The time of reckoning had come at last. I came walking into the kitchen to see my Mom and Dad snuggling and kissing each other. Dad must be leaving for work, I thought with a little smile. It was great to see that there really is true love and it still lives! It lives right in my very own house! I couldn’t let them stand like that forever! I cleared my throat. They jumped apart like two teenagers caught by her dad on the front step of her house! I laughed!
“What are you laughing at squirt!?” My dad asked. “I’m not laughing at you it’s more like a happy laugh. Just glad to see that old people do always love each other.”
“OLD!” My dad feigned outrage.
I smiled. "Well not old old. Just older than me, you know what I mean.” I said taking my place at the table.
“Not really. But I don’t have time to stay and chat.” He glanced at his watch. “This old man has to get to work.”
“Bye Honey,” mom said and got one more kiss.
“Bye Dad,” Yet again I had to tear them away from each other.
“Bye Pumpkin, love you,” He cam aroundto give me a hug, then walked out the door.
“Mom.”
Yeah Hon?” she answered.
“What do you think about dating? I mean, do you think how kids get a new guy and girl every other day's ok? And they act like they own each other. I think it’s silly.” I said.
Looking up at the clock, my mom said, “I think that this conversation I going to take longer than the 15 minutes that you have in order to be at school on time. We’ll talk about it when you get home from school. Think about it more today and write down all of the questions that you have. You need to eat and then get going. I have to go fold some clothes, see you later!” and she kissed me on the top of the head just like when I was 7. It made me feel good. Then she walked away to go tend her household duties.

All through out first period, I thought about what I wanted to ask mom. I slept through most of second period. Then at lunch I was awakened, in more than one way. “Becky, can I borrow some cash for lunch? I’ll pay you back.” I asked.
“I don’t have any money, but you can have some of my lunch, I was hungry when I packed it! Hey there’s Meg, come on.” I was left to follow.
There at the table sat Meg. Down faced with her beautiful hair spilling over her slumped shoulders.
“Hey Meg! What’s wrong?”
She lifted her frightened eyes to my questioning ones. These were not the eyes that I was used to seeing. These eyes were puffy and red brought on only by crying. At least, one of her eyes was red. The other was masked in a huge bruise that was sure to turn a deep bluish purple after this reddish-brown left.
“Ohmigosh!” It took me a while to figure the words had come from my mouth.
“Meg! What happened?” Becky asked.
We rushed to her side.
“Todd did this didn’t he?” Fire was coming from my eyes.
“Yes,” Meg half sobbed half hiccuped.
“What happened Meg?” Becky asked gently.
“Last night Todd and I went out to dinner. We had a great time. After we left the restaurant Todd drove to the park. He started kissing me. I told him that we should stop. He hit me and tried to force me, but I got away. He looked for me and told me that no one would ever love me like he did and that I was nothing without him. He didn’t ever find me and I went home. It was awful! I just wanted to die!” Meg broke off and started crying again. Becky held her while I searched the room for Todd’s perfect blond head. There he was. Standing in the middle of all of his friends.
“Becky, stay here with Meg.”
I was so mad that I didn’t even see the other hundred kids standing around me. I only saw his handsome face grinning, and Meg’s sobbing bruised form. I pushed my way through the throng of people.
“Todd!” I yelled at his back. He spun on his heel to see who would dare talked to him that way. “You big fat ugly…ZIT!” My remark wasn’t nearly as hateful as I had wished. But I wouldn’t stoop to his level and say something that I shouldn’t.
“What!?” He looked stunned.
“You heard me! What’s the matter with you?! Don’t you have any self-respect? A conscience any good in you at all? A girl, who loved and trusted you, is hurting deeply because of something that you did! Take a look!”
Todd and everyone around us turned to follow my pointing finger. I didn’t look. I wanted to see the look on Todd’s face. Or maybe not. Not a trace of remorse, guilt, regret, sorrow, grief or repentance flitted across his handsome features. “Yeah, so. It’s her problem that she can’t handle a break up, not mine.” His voice was so cold, he could have been he very devil himself. I answered with a slap on his smooth face. I felt a little better as I turned and walked back to my seat.
“Hey!” Todd grabbed at my arm, but he never touched me. I looked back. Tommy stood with Todd’s arm in his strong hand. “Don’t you ever touch her.” His tone sent a shiver down my spine. He came to my side and we turned to walk away. Todd yelled, “You had no right to slap me!”
I stopped and turned to him. “And you had no right to do that, “ I pointed toward Meg. I turned and joined Tommy, Becky and Meg at the table. Meg turned in her seat to hug me, “Thanks Sher, I should have done that a long time ago.”

Gathered around the youth room at my church were my parents, Becky and her parents Tommy, our pastor, youth leader and Meg and her parents. We were here to pray for Meg. Praying that the Lord would heal her and her scars. We also prayed for Todd, that God would just work in his heart and bring him closer to Jesus.
After the prayer we all stood around talking. “So, Sherri have you thought anymore about not dating?” Becky asked. She slid a sly glance at Tommy who was standing beside me.
“Yeah I have. I’ve decided not to worry about it. That I should trust God to work it out. I think that if He’s big enough to hold this messed up world in order, then He can handle my dating problems. I just need to trust Him and His will. But I don’t think I’ll be dating for a while, just making some great friends.” I glanced over at Tommy to find him looking at me and smiling hugely! Yep, I just need to trust God’s will and ask him if Tommy’s in it!

The End

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