The Second Voice

The First Kiss

I guess every girl plans her first kiss out to pure perfection. I blame the fanfiction I read when I got bored. It left me with the expectations of getting the kiss with fireworks and tasting of strawberries and sunflower seeds. God, was I ever off. First of all, his name was Ethan, and at the time, he was dating my sister. Yes, this goes out to my first kiss, and in a sadistic way, you'll probably hate me too for what I did. Either that or he thought the Reese-Turner twins were playthings. Let me tell you now, the Reese-Turner twins are not here for your sick amusement. We're strong and tough, and we won't be treated like mud. Even in my own passive way, I find a way to keep guys from doing whatever they want with me.

Either way, we went to the Homecoming dance, and I late found out that my date, Ray, had a girlfriend named Stephenie (she has her story too, so stick around). The only reason they took us to the dance? Well, we'll start with the massive crowd of paparazzi in front of my school. Goodbye, going to school with no one finding me. I was so upset, but Ethan, well, Ethan didn't seem to care. He said, rather carelessly, "Just relax. You must be used to it."

First things first, I was so not used to the paparazzi flashing randomly in my face. All I saw was big, purple splotches the minute I got inside. And I was so nervous, too. I remember throwing up my lunch. I already had eaten so little, so there went the salad and bread sticks I had. I guess even then, I hated to be photographed, and I hated the feeling of being scrutinized. I remember one photographer asked me, "Isn't that dress a little revealing for you?"

Magic's hemline, for one thing, was shorter than mine. However, since I was the girl that everyone actually noticed. (God knows why. Then again, not talking to the press means people are for some odd reason fascinated with whatever comes out of your mouth because they don't know if you're a b***h or just the sensitive, quiet type [f*****g hate when people stereotype me]. But there I went both interrupting myself twice, so whatever.) I also rarely dress up. So the fact I was dressed up and someone hated how I looked, well, I just wanted to cry. However, Magic said, "I thought my hemline was higher. Looks like I'll have to hitch it back up!"

This is why I adore my twin sister, even though she can annoy the f**k out of me. However, back to me vomiting my lunch up. Avery was the one holding back my knee-length hair (yes, I later chopped it down, but the beast grew back), and she was muttering something. Then finally, she said, "I am going to kill Ethan."

I don't know why, but I was so naive to his whole, brilliant master plan. OK, maybe I'm exaggerating. I remember I cleaned up, and felt so much less confident because of what had happened. Ethan noticed me, and said, "Hey, so, you want to dance?"

I noticed he never said my name, but somehow, my naive fourteen year old self pushed that away. Now that I'm older, I realize it was because he had no clue which Reese-Turner twin he was dating. Duh. I very nearly said no, but I noticed Ray was with Stephanie, the red headed ex-girlfriend, who I now realize he never broke up with. So I stupidly said, "Sure."

Why? I wanted to make Ray jealous. Remind him that I was still a Reese-Turner and Reese-Turners do not get rejected. Was it a bad move? Well, no f*****g s**t. For one thing, things got more heated then I expected, and I didn't know what to do. I'm not sure who did it, but soon, we were kissing. By the way, the sparks I read about? Nada. The "blazing, moving in sync with each other" s**t? Ha! He bumped his teeth into mine. And he's also the reason I hate chocolate now. Because he tasted like a weird mixture of chocolate and cheese. Not the wonderful strawberries and sunflower nut combo I had hoped for.

Also, I'm pretty sure he got a hard-on. "Pretty sure"? Oh God, who am I kidding? I know he got a hard-on. I think he thought he was going to get lucky. I had pushed him away, and I felt tipsy and sick. So I screamed to be heard over the music (haha, I know), "I have to go now."

I felt so stupid, and even worst, I couldn't remember who kissed who. I ran into Stephenie, who didn't seem to have a clue that her boyfriend asked me to this dance. She was so nice to me that I wanted to cry. I remember she even said, "Oh, Music, I heard about the paparazzi. That was so mean of them! I mean, you look totally fabulous. I absolutely adore your hair. I wish my hair could grow that long."

I was too floored that she cared about a stupid s**t like me. I mean, what kind of person kisses their sister's boyfriend? I smiled nervously, and opened my mouth to talk. However, no sound came out. I was too scared to talk. You know when I said I was a "selective mute"? In reality, my voice is selective. When I'm scared, or nervous, I can't talk. I just stood there, and Avery's voice made me jump. "Music, I see you've met Stephenie. Isn't she just the sweetest?"

I nodded, unable to speak still. I was so nervous, and I'm sure Avery could see that. Stephenie smiled, and said, "Avery mentioned you can't talk when you're scared. And I suppose meeting someone new is scary. How about we go to Pizza Hut and just chat? The gals would love to meet you!"

I realized something else about Stephenie: she was the head cheerleader. Duh. That's probably why a guy like Ray was going out with her. The head cheerleader and quarterback go together. It's like, some unwritten rule. Not that I cared about Ray. I mean, how could he cheat on a lovely girl like Stephenie? She was so nice, and caring, that my voice actually came unstuck. "Sure. That would be amazing."

So, the night, in short, wasn't a total loss. Hanging out with the cheer team wasn't that bad. They managed to get the paparazzi off our tail by pointing at some blond crackhead and shrieking, "Oh my God, isn't that Lindsay Lohan?"

In short, they didn't care about getting famous. They honestly wanted to meet me because Stephenie said I seemed like a rad chick. So, in short, let's recap. I go to a Homecoming dance with a taken guy and end up going to Pizza Hut with his girlfriend, who doesn't seem to have a clue what I did to her. Nothing like that kind of ending to make you feel like s**t, right? Ah, well, stick around. I'm just getting started.

Author's Note

Stephenie's story came to me rather quickly, so if she seems flat now, she won't be flat later. She's basically going to have her own story later.