It was right before he dropped out of school. He was seventeen and a junior, having been left back at one point in grade school, and I was a sophomore. Honor student, bookworm, good girl—these were all terms used to describe me back then. I was shy and kept to myself—didn’t have many friends. I did my homework, and obeyed all the rules. But for some reason, Alex took notice of me. When he deemed me worthy of his attention, well, I just about fell all over myself with excitement. We started dating—he took me to parties, we hung out with all his friends. He was my first boyfriend, my first love, my first kiss—my first everything. When I was sixteen, I caught him undressing some bimbo from the local college in the back room of Roudey’s, and he became my first heartbreak. We’d seen each other plenty since then, mainly because we traveled the same raver circle. Each time, though, we’d stay on opposite ends of the room.
