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“I’ll bet you $20 that your boyfriend’s cheating on you, and I’ll prove it to you with THIS!” my friend Derek* exclaimed, whipping out a Kodak disposable camera from his bookbag as he slid into the seat next to me on the bus. “In fact, I’ll do it this morning and have the photos of the two of them making out all over the place for you by tomorrow.” I had befriended Derek and met Jason, my first boyfriend, riding the magnet school bus, which drove a group of us students from Johns Creek, Georgia, to two different charter schools in the city. Derek, a skilled skateboarder with a penchant for punk rock, JNCO jeans, and heavy eyeliner, and Jason, an adorable band nerd that was never without his Harry Potter glasses, black leather jacket, and personalized trumpet case, studied at the arts and music school a short drive from […]

It was Valentine’s Day. My boyfriend and I had waited forever to finally do this, and the time had come. We were about to do something we had never done together before. Unfortunately, we hadn’t anticipated that, in just over three minutes, it would all be over… and we would be left with massive disappointment and the desperate desire to Purell ourselves from head to toe. We had just gotten off the Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. What I believed would be an unforgettably romantic Valentine’s Day ended up being an unexpectedly enlightening one for my relationship. Like so many others all over the world, Disney had a profound impact on my childhood. Aladdin was one of my very first crushes (that hairless chest! That cap that looks like a yarmulke!), and Bambi was the first movie that ever made me cry (really Walt, couldn’t you […]