“Well, Kate, I simply can’t think of anyone better to spend my Saturday night with than a pretty girl like yourself.  Why, do you want me to ask you out?”  I couldn’t have come up with something better if I had three weeks to think about it.  Kate, Matt, Tyler, and I all laughed.  Even Mrs. Boswell and the rest of the class laughed, though it took me a moment to realize it had nothing to do with our side conversation.  Shin Woo had undoubtedly said something stupid regarding the class discussion, with the usual threat of being hurled into a garbage can.  When I came to this realization, I heard Kate speak once more, as I listened with bated breath:

     “Sure, Chase, I’ll go on a date with you.”  There I had it.  CJ was shocked, Tyler was astonished, and the Wife of Bath apparently had five ex-husbands.  But none of it mattered at the moment, because I had a date with the prettiest girl in school.

     February the twenty-second in the two thousand and eighth year of our Lord came slowly but surely.  This was the day I had been waiting for with such fervor; this was the day of my movie date with Kate.  The occasion was incredibly important to me, so I prepared for it in the only way I knew how: I took a shower that lasted about two hours.  After deciding that I had satisfactorily groomed myself, I picked Kate up.  In the car, my beloved and I enjoyed some scintillating conversation thanks to Kate being both extremely beautiful and intelligent.  Once we arrived at the mall, I agreed to see whatever Kate wanted.  Being a dancer, she chose Step Up 2 Da Streets.  I expected as much, and prepared myself for one hour and thirty-seven minutes of America’s hip-hop culture reminding me how white I am.  Unfortunately, however, the movie was so popular even after two weeks in the box office that it sold out while we were in line.  Forced to improvise, we began discussing what movie we should see instead.  As we vacillated between seeing Jumper and Vantage Point, an old man with no ring on his finger literally jumped in between us and suggested the latter.  This man proceeded to tell us how he had no life and had seen every movie that had come through a Virginia theatre in the past few years.  Personally, I was getting the creeper vibe from this guy.  So when Kate went to get our seats and I was standing in line for snacks next to him, I gently reminded him that Kate was my date and that statutory rape is illegal.  Other than the creeper guy, though, the night went off seamlessly.  Kate and I enjoyed the movie, and our romantic connection was certainly strengthened even more than ever.

     True love is hard to come by. Most do not find this remarkable connection at all, and even fewer find at age seventeen. I, however, found my soul mate in Katherine Ashley Pope. Her beauty, intelligence, grace, and all-around awesomeness have inspired me to dedicate myself to a life of devotion to her until either I die, or she sues me for harassment.