I Knew IT!

I have long suspected, possibly since the pivotal moment when he urinated in my face two days after coming home from the hospital, that my younger brother would sell me down the river. And my life-long suspiscion was validated this weekend. My parents and I went to the tundra town of Rexburg, Idaho to visit Mime and Mrs. Mime for a long weekend. During one of the many hours we were huddled in their living room trying to survive the sub-zero weather, talk turned to memories of high school and people we knew. Mime had the (mis)fortune of trailing me in high school, being a freshman when I was a senior. He started talking about what it was like to be known as Scully's Little Brother. Most of the teachers expected my geeky scholastic aptitude and were slightly disappointed by Mime's scholastic apathy -- he could do it, he just chose not to -- and comparisons were made (conversely, the gym teachers expected nothing and were pleasantly surprised by his natural athleticism). As he was complaining, he mentioned a nerve-racking moment when he was on the freshman soccer team. A senior -- let's call him Adonis, for he was gorgeous -- saw our last name on Mime's jersey and called him over. Thinking he was in for some sort of hazing, Mime reluctantly complied. Adonis asked him if he was related to me, and then said "Oh, she's cool." and subsequently became Mime's benefactor and protector.

Just a little backstory on Adonis. We had known each other since sixth grade, having survived one of our elementary school's less stellar experiments. They made a combination fifth-sixth class and gave it to the kookiest teacher in the school (for Halloween she dressed as a social studies book, got stuck in the passage that connected our classroom with the next, and had to be removed by the janitor). We bonded over being forced to read a book about Mao Zedong's march through China by Mrs. Kookypants and were the Tin Man and the Scarecrow in her overly-optimistic class production of The Wizard of Oz. We both ended up in the same Honors classes in junior high and high school. He was a class clown and I always enjoyed a good joke, so we were sympathetic classmates. However, he was several social rungs above me, based on looks, having a doctor for a father, and having spent some years in Japan while his dad was a military doctor. It would have been taboo for me to even admit to having a crush on him, let alone acting on it. Plus, he was Catholic, so doubly taboo for this LDS girl. We always got on well, and could enjoy a witty repartee, but that was that. I haven't seen him since graduation and haven't a clue where he is or what he is up to. But back to the story at hand.

It seems Adonis' protection came at a price. Mime was invited to sit in the relative comfort of the back of the bus with the senior players, so Adonis could pump Mime for information about me. Information Adonis admitted he would use to tease me. Mime shared with him the story of my falling in a manhole walking to the seminary building, which Adonis had heard something about, but Mime of course filled him in with a first-hand account. Needless to say, I was not pleased when I heard this. When Mime teasingly informed me that he had filled Adonis in on my admitted crush on Mr.Perfect (the LDS boy who pretty much excelled at everything) the room kind of went dark and I felt a panic attack coming until Mime said, "Just kidding." Luckily he hadn't shared such personal information. But even ten years later, I can't believe my younger brother would betray me like that. I can't imagine the panic attack that would have ensued if I had found out about this when it was actually going on. I don't know how I can possibly face the reunion this summer knowing I was the subject of multiple conversations amongst the senior soccer team.