I've always known I had a way with people. Back when I was six I could use my dimples to change even the hardest souls to my favor. But that was then. Over the years, the ability to win people over, make even the random stranger become open and friendly to me became something more than just my dimples. At age twelve, I knew there was definitely something else that was helping me be this instant friend with anyone I met. Even with girls, there was this feeling like they were instantly comfortable around me just after saying hello.
It took a long time, or maybe just maturity, to realize what was causing such a phenomenon that didn't happen with other people besides me. Sometime when I was twelve, a few days before my thirteenth birthday, was when I finally reached a conclusion. I had been with my friends, Jacob and Ronnie in the back of our old high school's track and field storage shed, cutting Chemistry class for the third or fourth time that year. In hindsight, that was probably not the smartest class to fluff off, but at the time there were more pressing issues to focus on like what are plans were for the upcoming summer.
"And that's when I'll swoop in to be her confidant," Jacob finished. His new braces sparkling as he leaned back on the red brick.
Ronnie tilted his head back in a howl of laughter. "Like Jessie would go from a high schooler to dating your eighth grade ass."
I laughed at them both as Jacob pushed Ronnie a few steps back. He was bigger than the both of us, and not because of his love of the gym. Ronnie fell to the ground, his laughter growing louder as he curled up, hugging himself in delight.
"Shut up, Ronnie! We'll all be high schoolers soon enough."
"But then he'll be a junior and you a freshman," I said. "Still not looking good for you, Jacob."
Jacob huffed, his grin now gone. "Well, thanks for the positivity, guys."
Ronnie and I laughed for a little bit longer, but Jacob faced away from us looking out to the football field. I made eye contact with Ronnie and we both stopped. We had always joked around like this, mostly to Jacob's expense but we usually knew when to stop. Usually. He tended to handle our teasing fairly well, but this was one time when he was being serious.
Jesse Pierson was one of the prettiest girls in our grade by all accounts. Puberty had struck her well, with a set that even most of the upper class high school girls were envious. It didn't take long for the high school boys to start to notice her. She already had strawberry blonde hair and hazel eyes to garner some attention before her chest decided to grow mounds. The boys track team also saw a better turnout during tryouts just so they might get a glimpse of her. Jacob had been one of those new recruits, but he still didn't stand a chance with his only passable effort being shot put.
I was about to speak up when Mrs. Greuber caught us. "Forgive the added negativity, but I do believe you boys are in big trouble."
Jacob and Ronnie snapped their heads to look behind me. Their reactions instantly froze upon locking eyes with Mrs. Greuber. Our days of skipping her class were over, and neither of them could utter a word. Except for me. Somehow when I turned around to face her, the words came to me calmly as she looked to me with a knowing look. As if she had expected me to be the one to try and weasel a lie for our sakes.
"Oh," I gulped. "But Mr. Henderson asked us to help get out some equipment for today's track practice. Don't you remember, Mrs. Greuber? He stopped by the classroom just a minute ago."
I could feel Ronnie's and Jacob's eyes watching me. As soon as I had said it, I felt like a complete idiot.
What kind of a lie was that? There's no way she'd fall for that. She was in the classroom, dummy!
"Oh really," she said, but her tone was strangely not as accusing as it had been just before. "And where's Mr. Henderson then?"
I looked back at Ronnie and Jacob. They only looked straight back at me, eyes just as confused as my own. "Uh, I think he forgot his keys back in his office."
We watched her head tilt to one side as she mulled the words over in her mind.
What is going on? How has she not busted us?
There was definitely something strange. My best guess at the time was that she was only seeing how far I'd take the horrendus lie. There was no conceivable way she was truly considering what I had said. Yet her eyes seemed to glaze over in the way people's eyes do when remembering back. Then, with the suddenness of some epiphany, she perked her head back up and smiled sympathetically at me.
"Ah, yes." She said confidently. "I almost forgot about Henderson's little intrusion. Do be sure to inform him that this mustn't become routine."
All three of us stood stunned. I don't know about the guys but my mouth was stuck in a perfect circle as I watched Mrs. Greuber turn around and head back to the main school building. Finally Ronnie answered after her. "Of course, Mrs. Greuber. Will do!"
She waved the back of her hand to us as she entered the building, never looking back at us. Immediately Ronnie and Jacob were in my face.
"Holy shit, Jay!" Ronnie looked at me, his face not knowing whether to smile or laugh at our luck.
"How'd you do that?" Jacob asked. "How'd she not see through that?"
We all were stunned that day. There was no doubt in our minds that Mrs. Greuber knew we had ditched class when she first confronted us. But none of us could explain the complete flip in her behavior or why it took my words to cause the change. Instead of making us feel invincible, we only grew more suspicious of Mrs. Greuber. Ronnie was dead certain she was going to hold this over us for something later in the year. Jacob thought she had simply decided to let them off the hook for whatever reason he decided to think up that day. As for me, I never stopped thinking about what happened to Mrs. Greuber and what I had said to somehow convince her to not suspend us.
Summer came quickly after that, and I spent most of it testing out my personal theories as to what went down. Being the young naive kid, I still hadn't realized what truly was happening with me. The closest I came to understanding what had happened with Mrs. Greuber was that I thought the words 'don't you remember' were the key. During my few tests on my parents, those words seemed to be helping whenever I tried to lie to them. I wasn't always getting away with the lies, but over the course of the summer, the odds of my lies working got better and better the more times i said 'don't you remember' in the same sentence.
High school became a breeze as I lied more and more to my teachers. Getting free from homework and essays was my main focus, and I never got the idea to extend this magical phrase to anything else. In my high school mind, the words only had their best effect on the adults, although that wasn't ever proven to be true. I think I was more scared of using it on my friends than anything else. Jacob and Ronnie had grown jealous of the strange effect I seemed to have on the teachers and had made me swear not to pull it on them. I agreed and from then on until graduation the three of us considered myself to be some one-trick magician.
It wasn't until our senior year had come around that Ronnie had made me realize what was truly going on, but also put the idea of one way I could be using it. Just remembering the moment brought back the smell of marijuana. Sunken into the old couch Ronnie's parents kept down in their basement, We had been passing the joint around the three of us for at least an hour before the topic switched to my magical deception.
"What I don't get, man," Ronnie began. He let out a long breath towards the ceiling fan before passing the blunt to me. "Is why you haven't used your abracadabra shit on the girls."
I brought the blunt to my lips and paused for a moment. His point muddled with my thoughts for a moment, but I shook my head. "How would I even do that? All it would be is making them remember we something happened, not make them fall in love with me."
Jacob held his hand out to me, waiting for his turn on the blunt. I took a quick hit and passed it off. Ronnie sat back up on his chair and faced me. "Nah, man. That's all you need. Make them remember something like... I don't know... but you could have them thinking you're awesome and they'd be at your feet."
"Oh, that's perfect!" Jacob chimed in, nearly choking from his sudden excitation. He handed the blunt back to me as he fought off his coughs.
I still hadn't the brains to figure it out. Or maybe I was just too high to connect the dots like they were. "But as soon as they come back to me to see if it's the real thing, they'd know it wasn't. The only way I get away with shit is if I don't have to prove what I told them I did. Remember the time I made Mr. Stenhoff that I wrote the best essay of the class?"
Ronnie and Jacob both slumped into their spots while I took another puff. The essay that I never actually did ended up being something Mr. Stenhoff would rave on and on about, then went obsessive when he couldn't find it in his files. It was the time I learned to be more moderate in my lies as Mr. Stenhoff forced me to print it out again. The lie worked only so far, and when the real thing was called into question, there wasn't a way for me to produce it. I got out of that mess by having to rewrite my lie to be less extreme so that the paper I never wrote would finally be left alone.
