Part XXXV

In February of 1985, a dance troupe from University High School in Honolulu came to our school. We hosted them, with many of them staying at people's houses who were in choir. We actually did this fairly often for visiting performing troupes. The whole school had an assembly and we got to see Island dance first hand. During the hula routine, I leaned over to the friend who was sitting next to me and said, "the one on the end is mine." It turned out, that the girl on the end, Naomi, was staying with his girlfriend's family and we ended up spending a lot of time together. She was a very pretty girl and nicer than many folks I knew, also island people from all over the world seem to be a little more laid back about everything and I really enjoyed that. So after we had been cuddling for two or three days, I said to her, "I think I might be falling in love with you." To which her reply was, "Ahh, I love you too." And so, I began my first and last long-distance relationship. Later in the week, they continued their tour and eventually went back to Hawaii. I began racking up phone bills ranging from $150 to $380 per month.

Shortly thereafter we went on the second (for me) Chapman College trip for the singing competition. Upon our return, I was cast in the spring play, "Voices from the High School" again getting various roles about teen issues and angst. This was less than a month after the release of "the Breakfast Club" and I modeled all of my characters on Judd Nelson's character in that film, even doing a lip-synch to "Don't You Forget About Me." During the rehearsals, I ended up sort of dating a Pastor's Kid named Becca. She was sweet, nice to me and liked me a lot. She asked me in early May if I was going to ever ask her to the Senior Ball and I said "no, I am going with my girlfriend in Hawaii, I thought you knew." She did not know and she was not happy. Naomi graduated earlier than me, so she was able to visit for the last few weeks of my HS experience. She arrived the day the play opened and was surprised to see me get high right before the show. I tried to explain to her about method acting, but it carried little weight.

Naomi had really come out to help me move to Honolulu with her. I guess I told her I would, but don't really remember saying so. I was terrified of being stranded on a 40 mile wide island if things didn't work out and I would have no way to get home. A week later was my Senior Ball, which I had agreed to double with my friend Peter before I found out he had asked Becca. Apparently, he had forgotten to tell her also, because the day of Prom, she came down with a sudden sickness and was unable to go. We called my friend Laurie, who had graduated a year early the year before and was happy to attend Senior Ball with all of her former classmates. Naomi had made her own dress and my cummerbund, Laurie was a big fan of Madonna and wore a white lace thing that was poofy and really cute for the time (very dated though, it was definitely 1985). We drove up to the Sheraton Palace in San Francisco and half way through the dance, we left and took the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) under the bay to Berkeley for ice cream. After the dance, we drove down to Half Moon Bay on the coast and Peter and Naomi wanted to walk around. The Pacific ocean up around San Francisco is cold and damp at night, heavy-laden with fog and generally un-fun in a tux. I said as much and Naomi told me I could just sit in the car, Laurie agreed with me and stayed. A few minutes later, they returned and we got home around 3am. It was a good night, a good memory, o good way to finish out high school. The next week, the week of graduation was not so much good.