Friday Firsts: The First Kiss

Ah, the first kiss, an inevitable scene in many young adult novesls (whether they're romance or not) and something that most of us remember, whether for good or bad.

Here are some examples of YA authors describing that first kiss:

Angela Morrison in SING ME TO SLEEP:

His mouth finds mine. He kisses me, soft and tender, whispers, "Does this help too?" And kisses me again. "I've been dreaming about this for  weeks--since we chatted." His lips caress and soothe as much as his hands did. "You've got me in some kind of spell. Am I rushing you?"

"I think--" My eyes drift open. "I want to be rushed." 

Stasia Ward Kehoe, AUDITION:

"It's fun partnering with you."

His face comes close, grinning

Before he brings his lips to mine.

Sometimes the earth shifts beneath your feet

Like jumping on a hill of sand.

What was true and solid begins to slide, disolve.

Your thoughts unravel faster than a satin ribbon

Whose edge hasn't been burned

Until you sit amidst a tangle of limp, pink threads,

Unable to reason

At all.

A fictional representation that's close to my first kiss experience comes from Janette Rallison in ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE, WAR, AND HIGH SCHOOL:

Then he leaned over, right there in the restuarant parking lot, and kissed me. And it wasn't a friendly kiss either. It was tender and real and utterly romantic.

As I consider writing that all-important first kiss scene in my work in progress, I have to think back to my own first kiss...

I had just turned sweet-sixteen and never been kissed. (Okay, unless you count my childhood boyfriend. We used to sit on the front row during the children's class and kiss, much to the mortification of my mother who was the music leader. But I digress...)

It was early fall and my friends and I spent the evening hanging out with a group of guys we had met "dragging main" (for a complete description of what dragging main, is refer to my website). I had a huge crush on one of the boys we were with and as the night wore on we progressed from sitting on opposite sides of the back of the pick-up truck we were riding in to cuddling in the middle. It was a beautiful night, the wind in our hair, the bugs in our teeth, just chilly enough to make cuddling a neccesity. Still, no lip action.

Finally it was curfew time for both of us. We met back with the group at his high school (our rival high school) and he walked me to my car. He shut my door behind me, I rolled down the window, he leaned in, I started the car, then it happened--quick, exciting, and very sweet! I drove away to my friend's squealing DID HE KISS YOU? HOW WAS IT? Questions I couldn't answer until I was safely out of his earshot and half-way home.

My friend Gina Rosati, who's book AURACLE comes out August 7th, was kind (and brave) enough to share with me her two "first kiss" stories:

FIRST First kiss was when I was in 1st grade. Chrissy Lane came up to me in class and said "I bet I dare to kiss you" to which I replied, "YOU BETTER NOT!" Later that day, I was walking home and I could hear someone running up behind me. Chrissy kissed me fast on the cheek and kept on running with this very triumphant grin on his face. I was stunned. I figured we had to get married now, obviously, because he'd kissed me, but as tragic fate would have it, he moved not long after that and I never saw him again.

SECOND First kiss (which was like, a real kiss!) was in 9th grade. I had been spending my free periods in a friend's Spanish class (in order to stalk the captain of the football team) but another player thought I was there to stalk him, so he asked me to a movie. Hmm ... the captain didn't seem to know I existed, and this other guy was nice, funny, smart, cute ... so much potential. But his concept of a hug was to put his arms around my shoulders and lift me up so my feet were dangling off the ground. I remember that first kiss as wet, sloppy and badly-in-need-of-a-shave-and-a-breath-mint. I don't remember a second kiss with him.

Real or fictional, that first kiss can be wonderful or a disaster, but always memorable. Are you brave enough to share your first kiss story?

Friday Firsts: The First Day of School

To begin my new feature and start things off, here is one of my "First Day of School" memories.

On my first day at South Fremont Junior High in the little town of St. Anthony, Idaho I was a little excited, but mostly terrified! My best friend from grade school had deserted me, (or so it felt). Our little school didn't have an orchestra program, so her parents sent her to a bigger school down the road that did.

I remember everyone milling around in front of the building, waiting for the first bell to ring. I was looking at the different groups and trying to decide where I would fit in. In one cluster were the kids that I had gone to grade school with for the past seven years, in another were some girls I knew from church, and in yet another was my sister's best friend's little sister, a girl I kind of knew. None of them openly tried to include me, and I was too shy to just join them.

I didn't know who I would walk to lunch with (our junior high didn't have a cafeteria so lunch was at a grade school a few blocks away). I didn't know where my classes were, and I didn't have one close friend to "hang out" with. Eventually, I just stuck with my eight grade and one-year-older sister, (probably to her mortification.)

I don't have many concrete memories about my first day of junior high, mostly I just remember feelings. However, a two things are firmly ingrained in my mind. My locker number was 118, (18 was and still is my lucky number), and when I bent over to put my things away in that bottom row locker, a boy, (and I still remember exactly who that boy was), pushed me headfirst into it. Not my finest moment or my finest memory.

In the end I survived the day (and the rest of junior high, but just barely).

From the standpoint of an author the first day of school has endless story possibilities. Maybe you started a new school. Maybe someone new caught your eye on the first day of school. Maybe you transformed yourself over the summer. Maybe your best friend moved and you're on your own for the first time since kindergarten, (like I was). Maybe you're mourning the loss of a summer love that didn't quite go the way you had planned.

Whatever it is, I would love to hear about it.