03748 - Enfield, N.H.
Ami Robbins-Hall and her boyfriend of two months, Eric Petersson, are going into the eighth grade at the Indian River School. The following is an edited interview with Ami.
Today I felt kind of crazy so I dressed crazy. My parents are both working tonight so my grandmother gave me a ride. When she dropped me off she told me, "Be good."
We’ve been together for two months, but this is the first time Eric and I have been to a dance together. We met up outside, then we went inside together. At first we felt a little bit shy, but we watched other people to learn how to dance.
This is the last weekend before we go back to school. That’s sort of good, sort of not. I’m kind of nervous about eighth grade. The fact that we’re going to be the oldest kids at the middle school, and then we’re going to go to high school, that's scary. But tonight we just came to hang out and have fun.
It was the first slow dance of the night and Every Rose Has Its Thorn by Poison was playing. The D.J. said it was supposed to be lady's choice but people just sort of pushed us together out onto the dance floor.
I felt like people were watching us the whole time so I felt a little self-conscious, but it was fun. It’s hard to know how close to stand together, that’s just a judgment call. It’s going to be easier from now on, now that the first one’s out of the way.
I had danced with some people at school dances before but they were all just friends. It was the first time I danced with someone who was my boyfriend. Eric had never actually danced with a girl before but he was a good dancer once he got into it. It took me a while to get in the swing of things, too.
While it was going on, it seemed like it went on forever. But when you look back on it, it’s all over so quickly.