"Disneyland" (A Love Story)

"Disneyland"

by Nathaniel Wiley

This story was written for an unrelated project, and was reused for this publication.

I woke up. Yeah, that’s a pretty basic way to start off this story, but it’s the best I’ve got. Hopefully you don’t leave this story thinking I’m crazy or anything, but it ends happily. Fortunately, I experienced this story first hand, so I’ll do my best at reciting it with as many details as possible.

My name is Steve Bellarmy. I was born in Portland, Oregon, and go to school there. Last year, I graduated from the local middle school, and advanced to high school. My dad always says “Why would they have an 8th grade graduation, high school is all that matters.” He’s not wrong, though.

I’m about 5 '6, I’ve got brilliantly blond hair, and I get pretty good grades. Maybe my glasses give it away, but I guess you can’t see them.

Anyways, back to my ultra-basic beginning, I woke up one morning thinking one thing: dang it, I have to go to school. There was only one thing that made school somewhat engaging for me, and that was English class. Well, that and my dorky friends. But what I really loved about school was Paige Randall. Paige was the most beautiful girl in school, and was just about as popular as it gets. Paige was a cheerleader, had popular friends, and was good at talking to people… basically everything that my friends constituted as “out of my league”. So, naturally, I thought I had no chance.

And me, being the antisocial person I am, never talked to Paige. And when I did talk to her, it was very limited, like when we were working on a project. I really wanted to get to know her, though. Paige was a genuinely nice person, and seemed funny… just like me - except more social. I decided I had to try and talk to Paige. Everything I’d read online said to start a conversation, compliment the person who you’re talking to, so that’s what I decided to do.

But every time I would go over to Paige, she would get enveloped in a conversation with her friends, or some other guy. This made me frustrated, but more at myself than anyone else.

How could you be so stupid! I would think to myself. You should have complimented her on her shoes. Why shoes, I have absolutely no idea.

Throughout the next few months, I still couldn’t whip up the courage to talk to her in a full-blown conversation. It was just “hi”s and questions about math in class. Nothing more.

“You should ask her to the dance,” my friends all said.

But I couldn‘t do that… not me! I was too chicken. A yellow-belly. Every day I’d go home and think of what I would say to Paige the next day, but I never got the chance to say any of those things.

One night I got home after track practice and was absolutely exhausted. I’d run over two miles and was ready to hit the sack early that day. So, I did just that. I couldn’t get to sleep very well that night, tossed and turned, and finally, after about an hour of laying in bed and thinking about Paige and the upcoming summative in math class, my weary eyes closed for the night. But my mind certainly wasn’t asleep. I dreamt one of the weirdest dreams that I’d ever had in my life. But it didn’t really feel like a dream at all. It felt like I’d gone back in time.

I was in the cafeteria of a school, but it wasn’t my high school. It was the middle school that I had gone to before high school. The cafeteria was big and roomy, but smelled oddly of rotting eggs and spoiled milk. Maybe eating the school food on a daily basis wasn’t my best life choice.

Anyway, it was like I was on the outside looking in. I saw everything just like when I was in middle school. I remembered that day specifically. It was April 4th, and I had just gotten out of math. It had already been a long day, and it was only lunch. The 8th grade had been required to take the state science test, and that had taken over an hour to complete. Math, however, was what made the day somewhat notable.

I had finally spoken to Paige in math, and even if it was just because of a math question, I had talked to her! For me, that was a big step. Of course, for the rest of the day, I didn’t say a single word to Paige.

But here I was, in the middle of the cafeteria, right where I had been on that day. Right after math class. It all felt too real to be a dream. And it got even more real when my friend Carson came up to me and asked me where we should sit at lunch that day. I said that he’d better pick a spot and I’d come and join him soon.

But I was thinking about something different altogether. I wanted to talk to Paige. This was the past, right? I had nothing to lose.

I went over and talked to Paige for a while. We talked about her cheerleading team, her favorite songs, and her nice black and white Converse she had gotten at Khol's. It was fantastic. I had never felt better in my entire life. Not even Disneyland could make me that happy. (Okay, maybe that’s a lie… Disneyland is definitely better.)

I woke up the next morning feeling like I had just chugged eight cans of Red Bull. I had a newfound confidence that I didn’t have before. I told myself that I would talk to Paige that day. Even if it was about something completely dumb. If I had talked to her in that dream… or whatever that was the night before, I could surely talk to her in real life.

Later that day I walked over to Paige during lunch and started a conversation. I complimented her shoes (yes, her shoes, which I promised myself never to use as a conversation starter), and we talked about her cheerleading team. We talked about how pointless the state science test was, and how much math homework we had. It was the best day of my life (well… still not as good as Disneyland).

It feels weird, reflecting on this story today. I mean… Paige and I are married, and it doesn’t seem like high school was that long ago. I still think I went back in time or something like that on the night that I had the “dream” that I told you about, but who knows. I’ve never told anyone about that experience, not even Paige.

Love is something that really matters in life, it makes life better. And if you find the right partner, you’ll be happier than when you’re at Disneyland.