Jennifer, in one of the other first-grade classes. I think I told one of my teachers, who told me that “Jennifer is a very nice person.”
Donny, kindergarten. He was tall (for a five-year-old). He was blonde. He was dreamy.
I wrote him a big, colorful note in crayon that said, “I love you!!!” and put it in his cubby where we kept our safety scissors and Elmer’s glue.
He was not happy when he found it.
“Did you write this???”, he demanded.
I hesitated for a split second but I knew I had nothing to be ashamed of, that life and love require courage!!
“Yes”, I said.
Later, in third grade he once spent almost an entire day with a huge disgusting snot ball in his nostril and I wondered how it was possible that I had ever seen anything in him.
Jeez, you guy surprise me. I don’t think I even knew girls existed as “girls” until high school, and even then, although I found myself looking at them a lot, I wasn’t quite sure what they were for, plus I was morbidly shy, and somewhat sheltered.
My first crush was when I was around 20… yeah, late bloomer and all that.
Krystal Baxter in 5th grade. I was absolutely crushed when she rejected me. After that I didn’t have the guts to ask another girl out til I was in my twenties.
Brandon in Kindergarten.
Kathy Kilpatrick in 4th grade. She moved to Florida, and that was that.
I think it was Freddie Prinze, right around the time he died.
Cyndi, who had the locker next to mine in 6th grade. She was ridiculously cute - New Jersey Italian-American, but not in the Snookie way; more like what I imagine Marissa Tomei looked like as a girl.Worse (for me), she was always very nice and friendly to me. As the scrawny, asthmatic bookworm in the class, I knew she was way out of my league, so her friendliness was just an extra bit of torture.
Around Valentine’s Day our school had a small fundraiser where you could buy a carnation and send it to someone on the school. They were dyed a few different colors, with some meaning assigned to each color. I bought a red one for Cyndi, signifying my undying love for her, but of course I had to send it anonymously.
Carnations were handed out on the designated day, and Cyndi was delighted to receive this token of affection, but then had to puzzle out who it might have come from. At one point, from across the room, in front of most of the class, she held my gaze and asked if I had sent it to her. I did what any self-respecting nerd would do - broke out into copious amounts of flop-sweat, and loudly declaimed, “No!” :smack:
She went to a different high school, and I didn’t see or hear from her for 30-odd years. She friended me on Facebook a couple of years ago. Still stunningly beautiful. sigh
Benny Cici, the Albanian boy down the street when I was 4. Still have a photo of the both of us cuddling together in a pile of leaves.
In kindergarten, Carl Brown. Platinum blonde, All-American handsome with a flashing smile. He came over my house once to play with water balloons. Swoon!
IRL: Don’t remember her name. She had long, straight black hair. She spoke with a French accent. And when she would say my name, my face would blush red as a Washington apple. 2nd grade, I believe.
Celeb: Olivia Newton John in Grease.
Susan, when I was 3. My folks tell me I would come into the kitchen and get two cookies, then go back out onto the front step where I’d sit with her and we’d hug and eat our cookies together on the front stoop.
Matty Miller. In kindergarten I used to chase him around and try to kiss him.
My first celebrity crush at age 11. I went to see the new space movie as a child, and came out a woman!
Andrea when I was in kindergarten. I remember being at home with my class picture and my mother asking me who each kid was. When we reached Andrea, I lied and said that I didn’t remember her name because I was embarrassed that I “liked” her.
Grammar nitpick: “On whom was your first crush?”
I remember having simultaneous crushes on two kids in my class in grade one. One was a boy and one was a girl.
Barbara, red hair and freckles. We sat next to each other in 4th grade. She moved half way through the school year and later ended up at the other high school in the school district. She was a cheer leader for the school. A few years after graduating, saw her obituary in the newspaper, died of a drug overdose.
Stephanie, in kindergarten. I removed all of the glass jewels from the jewelled buttons Grandma’s large button collection and gave them to her. Grandma didn’t even get mad when she found out.
Sara, from 5th grade to the end of high school. Sadly, in middle school a couple of my “buddies” decided that she was too “uptight” and started getting on her case. I, of course, didn’t want to rock the boat with my limited friend pool, so I didn’t stop them and she (quite rightly) lumped me in with them. Moment of tragic realization when I asked her if she trusted me and she said “I used to.” :smack:
Then in high school computer course, we both missed a class and didn’t get assigned to groups (as there were only anough computers for two students to share each one). So she asked me if we could pair up! Amazing luck! And then the teacher split is up and put us with people who had been at the class we missed, so they could show us the stuff they had learned. Which was nothing. Missed opportunity there, for sure.
And then there was Chia-wen, in high school, who was a friend and adorable and nerdy. And I was too afraid to ask her out because she was so smart that I knew she would consider me completely useless.
Not a lot of luck with this “crush” thing.
Rebecca R., first grade.
Laura Petrie.
Boy Scout den mother.