Mel wasn't always like this.
I recalled as I took a swig of chocolate milk through a straw.
The Three Whores were surrounding Katie in the front of the classroom, spinning her around like a wheel of fortune. The squirrel spun like a frenzied dancer captivated by a devil, her eyes vacant, mouth drooling with spit.
Mel seemed to be particularly enjoying this, unable to hold back the wholesome joy of bullying the weak and helpless. This wasn't about power or control, nor about sadistic torture. It was the sheer ecstasy a child feels on a merry-go-round, riding the unicorn of her dreams.
She had that capacity for sweetness, a rare trait in the world filled with cruelty.
It was in the first semester of eighth grade that I dated Mel.
That didn't last long, only for about three weeks.
She asked me out first, rather casually, whether I wanted to 'try dating.'
That was a thing back then when kids matured over a certain age but without really maturing. A lot of classmates were becoming couples; many relationships starting and breaking each week. Gossip was popcorn, and sexual experience was classroom currency.
So I agreed and we started dating.
I remember the exaggerated theatrics of my classmates when they heard about the new relationship that bloomed in the class, news casually broken over school sandwiches and words spread with giggles.
For a moment, we were the flavor of the month.
We held hands in the hallways, sent meaningless messages filled with emojis, acronyms, and abbreviations. We talked on the phone out of duty before sleep, but never too long for it to feel fatiguing.
There were dates: movies, shopping, dessert cafés, playing footsie under the table and making stupid jokes with juvenile sexual innuendos.
She was sweet and flirtatious, with enough intelligence for humor and the right amount of air in her head to not be taken too seriously.
We ate ice cream using the same spoon, exchanging saliva. She hung on my arm, the firm cup of her bra rubbing against my skin through thin fabric.
After a week of dating, we kissed in the cinema as a zombie on the silver screen chased the protagonist. From the corner of our eyes we saw the hyperbolic gore as the hero crushed the zombie's head. We had to break off the tangle of our tongues to burst out laughing at the horribly executed scene. It looked like a movie crew outside the frame squeezed a bottle of ketchup onto the camera lens.
Mel was fun like that, and she had a small but perfectly shaped, firm ass that felt good to squeeze when we hugged at the bus stop.
Then there was this one time we met at a park late night, having sneaked out from our respective homes to meet like Romeo and Juliet we were reading in English class at the time. Instead of pebbles on the window, we threw marshmallows at each other while chasing each other in the playground.
Sitting on the park bench to cool down, we played a game of endurance, taking turns to tickle each other. The first to laugh aloud would be the loser. The penalty was to give a horsey ride around the fountain.
Our fingers investigated each other's body, probing for the right tickle spots. As the game went on, fingertips traced the curves of the body and hands slipped under the clothes. Her tongue invaded my mouth in a declaration of intent, and I paid her back in return. She palmed my growing cock, first over the jeans, then with a smile still on her face, unzipped my fly and slid her hand into my boxer shorts.
Her hand was soft and hot, my dick youthful and hard. Gentle caress became rhythmic pump. We broke off the kiss and I looked into her eyes as she copied seductive smiles of porn actresses faking an orgasm, and eventually, as her deliberate moan reached its climax I ejaculated on her hand.
She giggled while I leaned back on the bench, catching my breath; then she took her hand out and played with the sticky white mess.
We then parted for the night - a goodbye kiss on the cheek and mouthing 'I love you' from a distance each time we turned back as we went our separate ways.
Mel was fun like that.
About a week after that we broke up, for absolutely no reason. There was no bad blood between us although we hardly talked anymore at school, and when the next year came and we ended up in different classes that was it for us.
Four years later we ended up in the same class again. We chatted a little at the beginning of the school year, but she was lucky to have her two 'besties' for the final year, so she spent most of her time with them, living out her school life to the fullest. Spin the Squirrel - although nobody but me, in my mind, called her that - was just another fun game for Mel.
Eventually, though, Katie couldn't hold it anymore.
She threw up whatever she'd eaten at lunch. It took her a bit of time to recover from the dizziness while being reprimanded, but once she did, she responsibly cleaned up her own mess.
I took another sip of chocolate milk as my eyes met with Mel's. She smiled and waved at me, as if to ask, "Did you enjoy that?"
Without thinking too much, I just smiled back. That seemed to have pleased her and she whispered something to Jacie's ear, and both of them burst out laughing.
I looked out of the window and saw the bright and clear blue sky.
It was a beautiful day.
Just not for everyone.