Chapter 2 (Junior Year)

This one's a long one!! Here we go!

Anything typed like this is me interjecting... :) you're about to see into high school Katelin like you never have before! enjoy!

Between that spring until the beginning of junior year is a little bit of a mystery to me. I don’t recall too much interaction between us that summer. I do, however, remember the first day in Mrs. Beards US History class. It turns out that we were in the same class and Katelin still remembered me. She still made me nervous so I waited until she approached me, which she did immediately during a “get to know you” activity on the first day; I remember being absolutely terrified to talk to him. I was absolutely thrilled that she still knew me well enough to exchange a few words. This was what I like to call the second beginning.

I ended up sitting in the seat in front of her during Mrs. Beard’s class and as insignificant as it may seem, the excitement can only be described as, it felt like Christmas. I remember her constantly joking about anything and everything I am not funny... and our senses of humor are so different. I don't know how he thought I was funny. and I would use any excuse I could to turn around. I learned a lot about katelin and her personality in these times and she is still the same sweet, light-hearted woman today. We became pretty good classmates but nothing more until Cyndi and Brayden I mean. This year in school was when Brayden and I rekindled our friendship from; yes you guessed it, third grade. So, naturally, the invite came to join them. I remember Katelin invited me to one of their get togethers and this is when I made the sly move of getting her phone number. In class we had an ongoing joke about whose phone was more indestructible. So one day I explained to katelin that I was going to send her phone so many text messages that it was going to explode. She must have not believed me or something because she gave me her phone number. I’ll never forget it, 8-6-7-1-5-0-5. We were learning about the battle between Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull later in this class. We changed our names in each other's phones. I was Crazy Horse, he was Sitting Bull. We never changed them. Till he left for England!

As the time wore on, our relationship began to develop further and the lot of us became quite good friends. However, at this point, the opposite of what I wanted began to happen. I will explain how Brayden ended up with Katelin, and not me. I wanted her so bad, but perhaps I wasn’t making it manifest as I should have. I remember always paying special attention to her and always trying to be closest to her. Looking back now, I wish I would have made a move or something. No regrets! It all works out. I recall one experience where we all watched Hot Rod together and me sitting next to Katelin was my idea of “moving in for the kill”. Pitiful. There was NEVER any signals or signs sent. NO ONE had ANY CLUE he was interested! I swear!

Things grew progressively worse for me and increasingly better for Brayden. I had no idea at the time but I guess he just had more game than me… ha. hahahahahahaha I remember that final nail in the coffin as well. The sweethearts dance was coming up in February and Katelin asked Brayden and Cyndi asked me. This wasn’t the nail though. It was a nail for me! I wanted to go with him soooooo bad! Why do you think I told Cyndi to ask him? I loved being around him!! The night came along when I needed to answer Cyndi about the dance. So I got Katelin involved. I was all giddy because it meant that Katelin and I would be alone. I went to great lengths to make this happen and to be honest, I probably shouldn’t have gone out that night as the roads were quite icy and the snow was falling, but I went. I remember taking my mom’s car and still sliding as I turned onto 13^th east from highland drive. Scared me half to death. I picked up Katelin and went to the store and somehow Brayden managed to get wind of what we were up to and met us there. I was furious. Things were fine until we left Cyndi’s house and Brayden and Katelin sat in the backseat while I played chauffer. He is really making me sound like the bad guy. I remember Brayden asking me to sit in the back, and once again, no signs of interest from Mr. Trace. So I figured I was fine. Angry as I was, it quickly turned to heartache when I saw, in the rear view window, Katelin put her head on his shoulder. Pretty sure I was just terrified that we were all gonna die on these roads, so I was covering my face so I didn't have to watch. I was crushed and convinced myself that it was now hopeless. So, to an extent, I gave up on that dream. I decided to shift gears and just be a good friend to the both of them.

Just because those two ended up dating didn’t mean that Katelin and I didn’t become closer.  I often found myself playing mediator between the both of them. I remember several times talking to Katelin on the phone for a good half an hour to an hour discussing the two of them. I used ANY excuse to call him. Don’t think that I was trying to break the two of them up, in fact, I had moved on to chasing different women! I just found the two of them amusing and I still had a soft spot in my heart for Katelin. Katelin has asked me two or three times if I get jealous and I usually answer no. However, at this time, I may have been jealous… a tad bit. It used to get me every time. Brayden would say “Kate”. I think this is why I have always refrained from calling her this. That is just speculation however. He has called me Kate one time. That I can remember. Since I've met him. 

Alright... sorry everyone who I never told that I kissed a boy... whoops. I remember Katelin’s first kiss with Brayden. I won’t go into too much detail as I wasn’t present and Katelin may be upset at me. It happened during spring break of junior year, sometimes in March I believe. I was on holiday with my family in Mesquite and they both called me immediately after they separated that night. I took both their calls outside by the pool. They both had a different story to tell. But, I sat on a pool chair under the palm trees on that warm evening and wished it would have been me that kissed her. It was her first kiss and she would always tell me about how fantastic she wanted her first kiss to be. I think this is why I was so timid about doing it when I had the chance. It wasn't fantastic. For the record. I called Trace to complain, vent, and almost cry. 

As time wore on I grew further away from both Katelin and Brayden. I just stood on the sidelines you could say. I became very involved in Ocean Floor Traffic at this point and didn’t see much want in being a third wheel. Plus I had a quick little stint of dating a girl named Charlotte. The next main event was when Brayden and Katelin came to an end. Things had been a bit rocky for them as I can remember and Katelin called him up and called it off. I remember her ringing me immediately afterwards to talk about it. It was a show day for me so I was frantically running around making last minute preparations for the gig that evening. I wish I could have given the time and attention she deserved but I was driving and had the band mates crowded around. I remember the feeling I got when she told me. I was pulling onto 3^rd east from Willow Springs when she told me the news. I was definitely surprised. They both awkwardly came to the show that night.

The next chapter that unfolded in my life was a dark one. I need to take a break from writing for a few moments to gather my thoughts and remember the sequence of events. It was the very end of junior year and the beginning of summer before senior year that things starting to go south for me. That summer I had limited communication with Katelin but I always considered her a very good friend. It was around this time that I started dating Ellie, which is a whole other story in itself. For many months, I had been hanging around friends who were doing things they shouldn’t have been and for many months I convinced myself I was strong enough to resist their wicked ways. Turns out I was wrong and the temptation wore me down. I ended up in a bad place. It was definitely an extremely low point in my life.

Stay tuned... this is gonna be good.