A DISCLAIMER: This entry is NOT family- or people-who-get-freaked-out-by-too-much-information- friendly. Proceed at your own risk. And if you are related to me please do not ever let me know you read it, because that will give me the creeps.

Last Friday night when I was at Rina's, there was like an 80's/90's thing happening on the radio, I'm not sure what station it was. But one of the songs that came on was Friday I'm in Love, by (The) Cure. The song was on an album I listened to a lot with my best friend in 7th and 8th grade (I will call her Stacy), when we used to hang out at Knott’s Berry Farm and I was just learning how to cause trouble.

Listening to that song that night after a couple of (ok, a few) drinks, sitting in the backyard, I drifted off into a nostalgic haze.

I thought about that time Stacy and I took our passes and headed to Knott’s to find a certain boy. His name was Johnny Gonzales. I won’t change his name, because he was an asshole. He was tall and skinny, he wore a leather jacket, he had cool sideburns, and he claimed to be a reincarnation of a vampire. Also, he knew magic. I think he was about 17 at the time. I was 13 when he made my virginity disappear.*

Every girl in the park wanted a piece of Johnny—or rather, wanted to give him a piece of them. The goal was to get him to go on the Log Ride or Kingdom of the Dinosaurs, and work things out in line so that when you got to the front…you’d be riding with Johnny.

So we had put on our shortest shorts and our perfume of choice (ex’cla·ma’tion), and gotten a ride to the park. Once in, we immediately made the regular stop at the first bathroom, in Ghost Town, to check our make-up (which we had just put on at home and re-checked a million times in the car). We then walked over to the Nacho stand in Fiesta Village that served as the spot where the “locals” congregated to stand around and smoke cigarettes.

It was a weeknight in the summer, which meant a diminished crowd. To our excitement, Johnny was there. He also had a friend with him, rarely seen in the park, Steve. Steve was wearing a necklace made of beads and fangs. He said it was a voodoo charm. Even though he’d never really acknowledged us before, Johnny came over and started talking to me and Stacy. He asked if we wanted to go for a walk to Camp Snoopy, and we eagerly agreed.

We walked a few steps behind Steve and Johnny, and Stacy told me Johnny was HERS, she had liked him for WAY longer than I had. And besides, it was obvious she was the one he was after. I didn’t put up a fight, as this would be only my second kiss and I didn’t really care who it was with.

The caves in the wooded area of Camp Snoopy were made to feel maze-like. They were surrounded by little lagoons and waterfalls, flanking the path that ran through the park. A small rope bridge on the ground level crossed the water to the grotto. A set of stone stairs led up to a much larger, scarier rope bridge that crossed over the main path and united the two structures. There were nooks and crannies everywhere. At night, you couldn’t see anything. And because Camp Snoopy was the kid's section of the park, it was pretty much abandoned after dark. Pretty much.

Once we got to the caves, Johnny said he was going up to cross the big rope bridge, and who wanted to come with him? Stacy went, and I stayed with Steve in the darkness of the lower caverns. He advanced and touched my hair, then pressed me against the wall. The waterfall was pounding, mist entered through an opening just to my left. He kissed hard, he was older than the boy I’d been with before, and he moved in a different way. I tried to steady myself by placing a hand on the nearby rock, but it was slippery with moisture. I just gave in and put my arms around him; I felt his big fang necklace pressing into my chest.