Lacey & John Story #3: High School Special

I've known John my whole entire life, this you've often heard me say.  I like to point out we were in kindergarten together, but we were also in the same 3rd and 4th grade classes (Mrs. Lewis and Mrs. Teel's homerooms, respectively), hit all the same birthday parties, etc;   We partook in all the things Alex City had to offer our adolescence, so our roots run deep and are intertwined around walking to Carlisle's, Joe Florine Hall, and 5th Quarter. 

Random Musing from our Younger Days:


***I remember in 8th grade, we all had Advanced Keyboarding with Mrs. Heath (Britt, Bess...I think you did too), we raced our "cars" on the wall and progressed with each word per minute victory and lived to play Where in the World is Carmen San Diego or Oregon Trail.  Did you love Oregon Trail?  You could always lean over to your buddy and tell them they just died of dysentery--I digress...
One day, in Mrs. Heath's class, John had a straw...and he spit the HUGEST spit ball I've ever seen in my life across the room at Reid Pearson and it stuck right to his ear.  Reid didn't realize it for the entire class.  Only John and I saw it, and I remember nearly wetting my pants for an hour.  Spit balls are like farts, timeless and always always funny, and John was a spit ball king.  I had a lot of respect for that.

***When John turned 16, he got this really sweet Jeep Wranger (John would eventually trick it out with KC lights and purple dragons...he's so ninja).  We were sophomores in high school, it was the dead of winter, and John could drive.  I wouldn't drive til Junior year, so I was the first to pick up the phone and demand to be picked up for a night on the town  going to the parking lot.  For whatever reason, John picked me up and we set off for Fox Creek.  I want to say Jackson was in the car, and maybe another girl... but we had to cross this river creek to get to the shore where the party was at.  John is all "I got 4-wheel drive and I'm a bad ass" so we are totally going for it.  Well--next thing you know, the Jeep isn't moving so fast, and that creek was some kind of deep.  Water was up over the tires...nearing the hood, and I'm in the back screaming "Omg OMG --John is water going to come in on us??!"  I was envisioning drowning on a back woods country road in a creek.  John had to be experiencing some apprehension that his new Jeep was swimming, but he kept his cool...and maneuvered us up and out of there--somehow.  But it was one of those really dramatic high school moments that just sticks with you.  I imagine we coasted on up to the party and had a beer, but who knows? We were wild and free.


***Senior year, a guy friend of ours had a party when his parents were out of town.  I'm not going to name names, because sometimes, even 7-8 years isn't enough time to make something funny.  I actually found pictures from this night in John's desk the other day with our "host" throwing up.  Just a little background for you.


Well, the party was fun and a beer pyramid was built and the night rocked on.  Said guy friend's parents had TONS of bottles of licqour, so a few of us girls thought we'd just take a bottle, or two, for our sleepover that night.  I had this crazy ski jacket with lots of zippers and hidden compartments, so we loaded me up and stole into the night.  The girls-only sleep over was fun.  We walked around the neighborhood that night, probably barefoot, and it's one of those moments I look back on with such fondness, those high school days where you had no worries or obligations, and you are up to no good because you are supposed to be.  


I don't think our host would have ever missed the two bottles we took, but as girls do--we blabbed about our cleverness, and someone blabbed on us to the boys.  That next week at school, the boys, such as Mark, John, and Jackson, began to question us.  We all, of course, took the 5th.  I strutted into the lunch room that day and sat down at our usual table, across from Mark.  Mark had on one of his many necklaces, and had a combination lock attached to it.  "Mark, what's up with your lock?"  (Mark was very very eccentric in high school)  Mark glared at me over his plate of spicy fries and hissed "I was worried you might try to steal my necklace."  What an A**hole, right?  We stared each other down.  I snatched up my purse, and stomped out of the lunchroom, muttering obscenties and went to who knows where to vent on how stupid boys are.


John corners me after lunch.  "Lacey, I know you girls took that licqour..and I'd expect it from anyone but you..."  Knife in stomach and twist.  The whole "disappointed" thing.  (He is still using that tactic on me, dang it).  Defeated, and only by John because he was my friend who never got mad at me (Mark stayed mad, Mack stayed mad...they were hard on me), I rallied the girls and we pooled our money.  But first, we didn't remember what we had drank.  What was it called?  What color was the label?  Oh young fools.  We had to go back to the kudzoo we'd thrown the empty bottles into.  DANG it.  Jessica braved the kudzoo and snakes and found the bottles, she's such a trooper.  Woodford Reserve.  Why didn't we pick something cheaper?  We were luckily able to replace it, because we all dated older guys who could buy it, returned the bottles and all was forgiven.  But it was only because John guilt tripped me.