everything but the girl

This is the finale of the Drew Barrymore movie, Never Been Kissed. 

Never Been Kissed
by Josie Geller
Chicago Sun Times

Someone once told me that to write well, you have to write what you know. This is what I know… I’m 25 yrs old, and I have never really kissed a guy.  A geek to the core most of my childhood years were spent doing extra home work I requested from the teacher. High School is more of the same.  Then, at 17 it seems as if my luck was about to change.  The cutest guy asked me to the senior prom.  But it turned out he invited me as a cruel joke.  And I have never fully recovered.  Yes, it is embarrassing to share this with the world.  But it would be hard to explain what I learned and how I learned it without sharing this humiliating history.

I received an assignment, my first as a reporter, to go back to high school and find out about kids today.  What I ended up finding was my self.  And that High School hasn’t changed.  There’s still that one teacher who marches to her own drummer, those girls are still there, the ones that even as you grow up, remain the most beautiful girls you’ve ever seen close up.  The smart kids, who everyone else knew as the brains. But I just knew them as my soul mates, my teachers, my friends.  And there’s still that one guy, with his mysterious confidence who seems so perfect in every way.  The guy you get up and go to school for in the morning.  South Glenn would not have been the same without him.  High School would not have been the same without him. I would not have been the same without him. 

I lived a lifetime of regret after my first High School experience and now after my second, my regrets are down to one.  A certain teacher was hurt on my path to self-discovery.  And although this article may serve as a step, it ain’t no way makes up with what I did to him. To this man, you know who you are, I am so sorry.  And I would like to add one more thing; I think I’m in love with you. 
And so I propose this, as an ending to this article, and perhaps, a beginning to the next chapter of my life, I, Josie Geller, will be at the State Championship Baseball game, where my friends, the South Glenn Rams, are playing for the title.  I will stand on the pitcher’s mount for 5 minutes prior to the first pitch.  If this man accepts my apology, I ask him to come kiss me…my first real kiss.