During the summer of ’95 our lives revolved around our weekly trips to the Astroworld-a theme park-near Houston.  We felt like grown ups because our parents actually let us walk around the park by ourselves.  We could go on any ride we wanted to, eat as much ice cream and French fries as we wanted and even spend all our money on the over-priced cheesy souvenir stands.  I remember one incident in particular.  It was during a trip to Waterworld-the water park next door to Astroworld.  Trent and I spent the entire afternoon trying to hook Bob (his best friend) and Jessica up together.   We were 12 at the time, and it was the highlight of our days.  I was given the duty of approaching Bob.

        "So do you like Jessica?"
        "What??? No!!! Are you crazy?!?"
        "So you WILL be her boyfriend."
        "Absolutely Not!!!"
        "Ok, I'm going to go find Jessica.  You guys
            make such a cute couple.
 
 

And that was how I did it.  Now I realize that it wasn’t exactly a willing agreement, but the point remains, Jessica had a boyfriend.  Once they realized what we had done to them, they scattered in different directions, and as soon as they saw each other, instead of the romantic hug and shy kiss that Trent and I intended for them, they both screamed at the same moment, “I BREAK UP WITH YOU!!!” and once again scattered in different directions.  The ride home was even more amusing than their failed relationship.  Trent and me were sitting in the backseat secretly holding hands when all of the sudden Jessica (who was sitting next to me) said rather loudly, “Mrs. Jackson, Trent’s making eyes at me.”  That was how it always worked, when Jessica and Trent were boyfriend-girlfriend he was cheating on her with me, and when I was with the boy, he had Jessica as his side girl.  We ended up passing him back and forth ten times.  It’s amazing me and Jessica’s friendship survived the rapid boyfriend switching.

Through it all Bob, Jessica and I formed a tight relationship.  He was the one who we would run to when we weren't sure of what was running through Trent's mind.  He was a year behind Jessica in school, but that didn't matter.  We thought we would be the ones to teach him the realities of the world.  He was our little project.  We were determined to make sure that when he was ready to have a girlfriend he would treat her like a queen.  We would constantly tell him this is what you should do if...or say this when she asks this...we made him into the perfect boyfriend.