THE BACKSTORY

Pounding hearts, sweaty palms, stomachs filled to the brim with butterflies, thoughts of being stupid, being harshly rejected, being laughed at. This is what usually happens to someone asking another person out. I know  I certainly felt that way.

I’ve never personally asked a girl out. I have always just fallen with a girl I wanted be with, we just fall in a relationship together. But now I’m curious to get those feelings of being possibly rejected, the feeling that if I ask this question, the wrong answer could end my life. I feel like people get asked out all the time and I want to find out how it feels personally to ask someone out.

AND THEN

I decide to first dress nice and try to look good. Then I decide to put on a clown nose. I do this so that if i get rejected, I can brush it off and say, “well she just doesn’t like clowns.”

It’s at break where I just decide to get it over with and ask someone out. But I don’t know how to really approach it. I decide not to bother with the specifics and just wing it. So I walk to a girl I’ve never talked to or really seen, but have probably walked by on numerous different occasions.

I start to feel nervous. Thoughts of feeling like an idiot go through my mind. I ask her, “Will you go on a date with me?” I get a stare clearly saying, Who are you? You’re weird, get away from me.

“Ummm, no.”she says. “Okay. Thanks,” I say. Then, I just go ahead and ask the girl next to her. “Will you go on a date with me?” The girl quickly states that she has a boyfriend, so I say thanks and I walk away.

I felt embarrassed and a bit ashamed and also a bit terrible. But then I realize: I look like a bit of a lunatic. I’m wearing black eyeliner and a clown nose and asking random people.

My approach was terrible, but I did get that feeling of rejection that I’ve always have dreaded and it really isn’t that bad. I would probably have gotten an actual yes if I didn’t dress like a lunatic.

I kept asking girls throughout the day and that fear of rejection kept getting smaller and smaller. Asking a girl I would really like and legitimately care about would definitely bring back that feeling. But I’m sure it would be small.

THE VERDICT

Nothing really big happens if a girl says no. I know it might feel like the world is gonna end when you get rejected but it won’t. There is nothing to fear but fear itself.

by JIMMY AYALA