The Shakes

My elementary school went from K-5.

When you reached the 6th grade you were sent to Margaret Bell Miller Middle School - MBM for short.

MBM was made up of the students that had attended my elementary school, Perry, as well as the students that attended Waynesburg Central Elementary (which was a new school that was created when I was in 3rd grade by consolidating three other local elementary schools).

Perry was located about half an hour away from WCES so when you moved up to MBM you were, for all intents and purposes, a new student at a big school.

You needed to make a mark. Make a move. Make an impression.

For me, the time to make that impression was when I was invited to my first ~real~ party. The combination birthday party for Nikki Royce and Ryan White.

It was at The Moose which was essentially an Elks Lodge type deal and it had a back room… with a cooler … full of beer.

Sixth grade me knew a thing or two about a thing or two and he knew that the only way, the only way, to be cool was to drink a beer.

Ryan and I took one in the back and took turns passing it back in forth while taking some sips. It was a bud light. We finished it and went back to the party, telling everyone. But we told them… don’t let the parents know! Be cool!

Be.

Cool.

After drinking several Slice’s to hide my breath (which I could only assume reeked with the alcohol of that half can of bud light) I eventually called my parents to come and pick me up.

The next day I had science class with a girl named Brittany Cline. She was very pretty and super self conscious about the fact that her ears stuck out. She was assigned the seat beside me at our table. A few minutes into class she leaned over and whispered “I heard you and Ryan got drunk at the party this weekend.”

I looked over at her, raised my eyebrows, and while feigning a look of exhaustion - which I knew was how people looked after drinking - I slowly nodded my head.

She smiled. ”Wow” she whispered over to me.

As I said, sixth grade me knew a thing or two about a thing or two and he knew that if you go a few days without drinking you were supposed to get “The Shakes”. He’s seen movies. He’s been around the block. He knew about The Shakes.

I put my left hand on the table beside Brittney, a few minutes later I made it start to twitch.

“What’s wrong with your hand?” she asked.

“The Shakes” I told her. She nodded. Knowingly.

“Must’ve drank too much this weekend…” I said

“It’s not usually this bad.”