Track 2- King of Pain

Speaking of unrequited love, skip to track 2, "King of Pain" now. One of the favorite events during the school year was the annual 'skate night' at Skateway. Sure, it was fun if you were popular and had a reason to go, but my best friend Jenny and I would go anyway. It was kind of like trying to be cool by association. We could out-skate anyone on our street, since we were the biggest tom boys. I wanted to go mostly because I knew Adam would be there. He was the most popular boy in school and his twin sister was the most popular girl. She did commercials so they got to hang out at the Soda Factory in L.A. with Ricky Schroeder and Kids Incorporated. It was totally cool that they would make apperances at our 'local' events. Totally. So anyway, at the end of the night they would always close with a slow skate and the girls had to ask the boys. This particular night I was all gussied up in the outfit I bought just for him with all of my Christmas money. It was a neon pink button up shirt with rolled cuffs, and white suspender pants with lovely neon pink and black stripes. Of course, I had the layered socks, neon pink and black. And I had the obligitory neon pink scrunchy in my ponytail....The finishing touch was my Neferttiti Swatch watch, complete with intertwined black and pink rubber Swatch guards. Yeah, I rocked the Swatch watch, and I thought I was so fucking cool. By this time, I had gotten braces and a retainer that I had to bite down on to fix my overbite :) Tonight I was going to ask Adam to skate with me because I was sure that he wanted a piece of this prime real estate before the metal came off and I had to beat the foxes away with a stick. After doing the "Bird" and the "YMCA", the lights came down, and so did the disco ball. Ahhh yeah baby. "King of Pain" came on the sound system. My hands were sweating as I rolled towards Adam, who seemed 10 miles away. I was trying to act all nonchalant as I rolled along, running my fingers along the red carpeted walls, trying to hold a conversation with Jenny. However, all I could hear was the pounding in my head. There he was, leaning against the wall with his friends, his Le Tigre collar standing proud and his jeans all perfectly pegged. The last thing I remember was Jenny rolling off, wishing me good luck as the swirling lights that circled the rink in a rainbow of colors swallowed her up and she was gone . All of the sudden it was just Adam and me. Me and Adam, like it was always meant to be. The time was now. "Hi Candy", he said with a smile so innocent I was convinced that he liked me as much as I was elated to hear him speak my name. "Hey" I said with an akward smile and gave a half wave with the hand that seconds later would be grabbing the wall to hold me up as I slipped in my skates from the sheer pressure of the moment. I quickly recovered with the grace of an elephant and moved in for the kill. I tried to give him my bedroom eyes, which at that age I had no idea what the hell that meant, and asked.."Do you want to skate?" I thought I was so slick. Then an explosion. Fireworks of raw attraction, you say? Nay. There was no love realized here, just leftovers from the snack bar nachos and Jolt cola making a glorious arc in the space between us. "Totally gross!! Say it don't spray it!"he said, over the uproarious laughter that had erupted from his possee. All I heard was Jennys advice that I had ignored a half hour earlier..."Don't use any s words if you can avoid it. I had braces for 2 years so I know!" she had warned me. How could I have been so dumb! But how could I have asked him to skate without using an s word?? Those damn s words and now I was nothing more than a piece of processed cheese in his perfectly coiffed hair. The view from the restroom was lovely, and I thoroughly enjoyed it until the time when Jenny's mom arrived to pick us up. Since the news had spread as fast as a case of chlamydia in a whorehouse, I was forced to have Jenny bring me my shoes and then feign sickness for a week to stay out of school. To this day I hate "King of Pain" but have learned to love nachos again. Other songs that remind me of Skateway: "Don't Stop the Rock" Freestyle, "Let's go Crazy" Prince, "My House" Mary Jane Girls, and "More Bounce to the Ounce" Zapp and Roger.