April Fools Day/First Crush

I have never been a fan of this day for many, many years. I especially dread having to go to work on this day. Luckily this year I made it through unscathed, but my dislike of this day most likely stems from the first April Fools Day that I can remember.

I was in grade four at the time. During most of this particular school year, I was in a tight group of friends with three other guys: two of us in grade four, two in grade five. One of the grade five guys was...let's call him AC. This requires a bit more back story before I get to the April Fools story.

For some reason that particular year, grade four and five students had the same classes (don't ask me why, I have no idea to this day). When I first saw AC, I had an instant crush on him. I was ten years old at the time (too bad I didn't get the whole gay thing until over a decade later, but I digress). He was "dating" this girl at the time who I didn't like. It wasn't a jealousy thing, she just wasn't a nice person from my perspective. I called her some name and she threatened to tell AC, which she did. Then he threatened me, but for some reason I wasn't really scared that he would do anything (which he didn't BTW). Time went on and whatever animosity he had towards me faded away to the point that we became great friends for the rest of that year. The crush kinda went dormant, but I was still attached to him in some way. Now, back to the main story.

Later that year, I was in the hallway. AC came up to me and said he needed to tell me something. He told me that he was moving to another city. When a kid hears that one of their best mates is moving far away, the reaction is never good...neither was mine. I was standing there trying to hold back the tears and just when they were about to overflow, he said "April Fools!!!" I was dumbfounded. I was speechless. I was hurt. All I could think to do was turn around and walk away before he could see that I was crying. He probably saw the tears anyway.

While I don't remember particularly liking April Fools Day before that point, I definitely didn't like it after, nor do I play April Fools jokes on others (I swear that I DO have a sense of humour though).