Hanging Out
Grace was three years ahead of me in school. When she was in high school, I studied her class albums to see who was popular and who wasn’t, who belonged to clubs, who was in sports, and who were the ever-daunting cheerleaders. I paged through the pictures to see who I might know. Most of those in the extracurricular activities were the popular kids. As a freshman, I knew I wouldn’t be in the popular crowd.
Roseburg High School’s colors were orange and black. The voted-in popular cheerleaders wore skimpy skirts and far too short shorts under them. Their tops had black RHS initials emblazoned in front that barely covered their bras. However, the school did have a rally squad that you didn’t need to be voted into. My friends and I sat in the grandstands and echoed the cheers of the cheerleaders. We wore short vests with white shirts underneath and regular-length pleated skirts we didn’t have pom-poms like the cheerleaders.
We took the required core studies: English, Math, Science, and P.E. In gym we had our individual wire baskets for our gym clothes and the baskets had combination locks, I thought it was very grownup. After class we showered, naked of course, it was uncomfortable but not as daunting as when I was in junior high, because I finally wore a bra.
I didn’t have a lot of friends but the ones I had weren’t petty or gossipy and we pretty much kept to ourselves. They were loyal and true it was: Betty, Lynn, Sally, Phyllis, and Connie. Actually, Lynn was negative, petty and gossipy but she was in our circle of friends anyway. I remember we were eating lunch in the auditorium the day President Kennedy was shot. The atmosphere there immediately grew somber, how could that happen to such a popular President?
Sally had permission to drive her dad’s Jeep. On Halloween we drove around looking for a pumpkin patch, we each picked one out but we didn’t smash them on the streets or sidewalks making a sticky mess. We just drove them around, we were too old to trick-or-treat but we celebrated that night in our own way.
When it was time for junior prom, none of us had a date. We drove around again looking for any mischief we could do that night but I think it just turned out to be a lonely ride.
The night of our senior prom, I was engaged to my boyfriend Barry. I was free to babysit. Unfortunately, the couple that asked me turned out to be the prom photographer. It was embarrassing because I obviously wasn’t going to the prom and had a dumb babysitting job.
As high school graduation approached, I ordered the customary announcements and a small picture. Oddly, all the girls in the class wore the same sweater, different sizes of course and a faux pearl necklace. I thought my announcements were classy and I sent them to family and friends announcing my big day.
On June 6th, the day of graduation, I remember exactly where I sat; on the right-hand side of the auditorium, three rows back on the left side of the row and on the fifty seventh chair. Each student was sitting according to our grade point average. It was a big class and I had done well with my grade point average. Being able to remember my exact spot feels almost like I was looking down on myself wondering what awaited me next. It turned out to be much different than I thought.
Connie and I went to the graduation party on a grassy knoll at the Douglas County fairgrounds. It wasn’t what we expected. We thought there’d be popular music over loudspeakers, hot dogs, hamburgers, chips and dip, potato salad, cookies and Coca Cola. Instead what we saw were kids staggering around, stone cold drunk, and some even vomiting. Bring drunk and disorderly wasn’t our idea of having fun. We ate some picnic food and left, disgusted.
That summer my friends hadn’t gone off to college. Although, Connie left to join the Navy so we did have time to rent apartments together. Living away from home, we thought, was the thing to do. Having a place of our own made us feel grown up. We had fun finding just the right apartment, what place in town we’d rent and who we’d rent with. All four of us decided not to rent the same apartment together; too much drama. We thought wise for kids right out of high school.
We had bills for utilities, a telephone of course and our own mailbox. I got my letters from Barry, the rest of my mail was bills and advertisements. We made whatever we wanted for dinner which was usually chicken pot pie and probably salads too. We baked brownies, and cookies, and made Rice Krispy treats real grown-up food…not so much.
Phyllis and I rented a basement apartment, it had a barely-big-enough bathroom, tiny kitchen, and a Murphy bed that sort of doubled as a couch of sorts. The only thing going for the apartment was it was cheap and close to my work. I remember the biggest problem was my friend and her boyfriend left the bedding all wrinkled up, they’d had sex, which was very awkward for me.
Next, Connie and I rented a tiny house. A man from the gas station knocked on our door, he was there to see me. He’d come to collect on a bad check I’d written. In high school, a required class was Modern Problems. The curriculum didn’t include personal finances which was very needed, I could have used lifetime skills for financial success. The next morning I went to the bank to see what I’d done wrong. The teller looked at my check register, compared it to the actual bank balance, and found I had entered one deposit twice, ending up with a negative balance. It was my first lesson in bookkeeping.
Sally and Betty rented an apartment on Chadwick Street. Once I drove my VW and parked on the street below. I spent the night with them when I got up to go to work the next morning, I found they’d stuffed it full of wadded-up newspapers. It was harmless but a mess to clean up.
Phyllis and I tried again to rent together. We found a duplex and rented the empty apartment side. We had the usual bills to share expense-wise. It was winter so we decided we wouldn’t turn the heat on, that was our agreement, but one morning I was getting ready for work I smelled smoke coming from the bathroom. She’d pushed the clothes hamper in front of the heat register and the hamper was starting to melt. I was glad I caught it in time before a fire started.
After that, we parted company and I moved back home, so much for being independent.
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