NEVER BEEN KISSED

by Josie Geller
Sun-Times Staff Writer

Someone once told me that to write well, you have to write what you know.
This is what I know.
I am twenty-five years old. I have never really kissed a guy. A geek to the core, I spent most of my childhood years doing extra homework I requested from the teacher.
High school was more of the same. Then, at seventeen, it seemed as if my luck was about to change. The cutest guy in school asked me to the senior prom. But it turned out to be a cruel joke. 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, with out sharing this humiliating history.
I received an assignment, my first as a reporter, to enroll in high school, as a student, to gain some insight into kids today.
Understandably, returning to high school was my worst nightmare.
What I found? Those girls are still there. The ones that, even as you grow up, will still be the most beautiful girls that you've ever seen close up.
The athletes, and the immense sense of fraternity and loyalty that they share.
The smart kids- who everyone else always knew as the brains. But who I just knew as my soul mates, my teachers, my friends.
And there's still that one guy, the one who is so perfect in every way. The guy you get up and go to school for in the morning. Southglen would not have been the same without him. High school would not be the same without him. I would not have been the same without him.
All of these things made me miserable at seventeen. But at twenty-five I finally see that this-all of this-is just the way it should be. It is all part of this thing called high school. A time in out lives that we can never truly repeat. A time that makes us who we are, for years to come.
High school. Going through it the first time helped me make who I am. But going there a second time made me see that who I am is okay. I always wanted to be "in," but seven years later, when they finally opened the door, I somehow gained the confidence to stay outside, firmly, happily.
A certain teacher was hurt in my path to self-discovery, and though this article may serve as a step, it in no way makes up for 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 am in love with you.
And so I propose this. As an ending to this article, and, perhaps a beginning to a new chapter in my life. I, Josie Geller, will be at the state championship baseball game, where my friends, the Southglen Rams, are playing for the title.
I will stand on the pitchers mound for the five minutes prior to the first pitch. If this man accepts my apology, I ask him to come kiss me, in front of everyone, for my first real kiss.
Five minutes may seem like a short time, but trust me, when you've been waiting twenty-five years, it's usually the last five minutes that kill you.
I went back to high school and discovered I was a loser, again. And then I discovered it wasn't so bad. I wasn't so bad. So now that I'm ready to start living the rest of my life, it would be magical if I could live the rest of it with him.
Because inside, everyone is a loser afraid to be loved, and out there is the one person who can kiss us and make it all better.

-Written by Josie Geller

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Please note that this article was taken mostly from the NOVEL of NBK, not directly from the movie. Some of the article wasn't in the movie and some was, so I would just like to thank the people who emailed me telling me the other proper quotes. Thanks

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