Disappearing Act

But most of my high school experience was spent in heartbreak and longing for someone I liked to like me back.  The most drastic step I ever took to get a guy’s attention was the time when I was in ninth grade and decided to run away from home.  I had saved up $20 (that was a lot of money to me then), packed a purse with a change of clothes, and resolved to catch the bus out of town that night going to Columbus.  As a part of my plan, I hitched a ride to Moore’s, a popular hangout spot, with Darren, my major crush at the time who was three years older than me.  He dropped me off and went on to the dentist’s office, which was just around the corner.

I stayed at Moore’s sipping on a fountain Coke and checking my watch every ten minutes.  I meant to stay at Moore’s until it came time to catch the bus that night.  Considering I’d gotten out of school at 3 pm., I had a long wait ahead of me.

What I didn’t know of course was that my mother was frantically searching for me when I wasn’t on the bus when it came by my house.     Why it took so long for it to  occur to her to look at Moore’s I’ll never know.  But once she did get around to it, I was gone—around the corner to the dentist’s office to talk Darren out of another $10 I thought I could use while I was running away.