The Time My April Fool's Backfired
When I was in the eleventh grade, I was miserable. It was a rough year to keep it short. But in all of that darkness there was a sliver of light… my crush.
Let’s name him Ronald, because why not.
Now, if you know me, then you’ve probably heard this story, but if not, this is the embarrassing and hilarious story of how I decided to confess my feelings to my crush…on April fools.
You see, Ronald and I had a lot of the same classes, we were on the same sports teams, I don’t really know how we became friends, but I knew I liked him as more than a friend pretty early on. Of course, his friendship at the time meant more to me than anything. I was at a point in my life where I didn’t really know who my friends were and I needed a friend. With that being said, I didn’t want to ruin our friendship by telling him my feelings for him were changing.
He was the type of guy that everyone liked and everyone wanted to be friends with. He was charismatic and social, he could talk his way out of anything. He was funny and cool and just a nice guy. I always knew he would put a smile on my face when I was down and we’d do our homework together and talk on the phone for hours after school. Ronald was a breath of fresh air.
It didn’t take long for me to start liking him, but it took me almost a year to tell him… and this is how it went.
About a month leading up to April, I realized it was absolute torture keeping my feelings for Ronald to myself. So I decided that I needed to tell him- I had to do it or it would eat me alive. I desperately wanted to know if he felt the same way or if I was just crazy.
But how do you tell your friend that you like them as more than a friend without completely ruining the friendship?
I thought about the classics- getting a friend to ask for you, having it slip out casually or maybe write a note. I thought about blurting it out- obviously wouldn’t have gone over well.
I ran scenario after scenario over in my head and then it dawned on me- April fucking fools.
APRIL FOOLS! How did I not think of this before! It is absolutely PERFECT! All I have to do is tell him how I really feel on April fools. I’ll pull him aside and tell him exactly how I’ve been feeling and either one of two things will happen:
He will say he feels the exact same way and it will be magical and amazing OR
He will say he does NOT feel the same way, in which case, I can say APRIL FOOLS!
And hope to god that that will make him think I was only pranking him, that those weren’t my true feelings, our friendship will stay the same and we will have a good laugh.
I know what you’re thinking- this isn’t actually a terrible idea, it’s kinda genius.
Yeah.. I thought so too.
On the day of April 1st, I had badminton practice before school and so did Ronald. I figured, I would talk to him then, before school started and just get it all out of the way- I couldn’t wait a minute longer without knowing how he felt.
So I marched into the gym and asked him while he was setting up the nets if he wanted to come to my locker with me while I put my things away. He of course said yes, probably just to get out of putting the nets up.
Up we went to my locker, where we small talked about our nights, homework and probably whatever else- to be honest at that point my heart was racing and beating so loudly I don’t remember much of what we talked about.
Then came the talk… I pulled every single ounce of courage I had in me and told him how I had been feeling.
It went something like this…
Me: Okay, I know that this is going to sound weird… and it’s probably out of the blue for you but… Have you ever thought of us as more than just friends? Because, I think that I might like you as more than a friend and it’s been killing me wondering if you feel the same.
Ronald: Oh umm…
*My face feeling red and flushed and me absolutely shitting myself*
Ronald: No. I’m sorry Quinn… you’re amazing and really nice, but I only see you as a friend.
*FRIEND- fuck.* My heart sank, the redness draining from my face*
Me: APRIL FOOLS
Ronald: Oh My GOD! AHAHAHAH oh my god, holy shit, that was so good! Oh my god I was so worried. Few! Oh man that was a good one. Jesus Quinn, you scared me. Oh man hahaha you had me convinced! Oh my god.
*Yeah…hilarious *
All I could do was laugh with him as he patted me on the back and said he’d meet me back in the gym. The second he got in the stairwell, I sat down and let myself shed a few tears.
It hurt like hell. Man it SUCKED! I thought I was so clever, but really it would have been better not knowing at all.
After a while, I went downstairs and walked into the gym to see Ronald re-telling everyone what hilarious prank I had just pulled on him… What was a joke to him was painfully real to me.
Of course, he didn’t know that, so I smiled and laughed with everyone who thought it was funny. Every laugh, twisting the knife in just a little bit deeper lol…
Honestly, a part of me is happy that I did it, because otherwise I would have never known. But the story doesn’t end there…
At the end of the day, when the final bell of freedom rang and I was packing my bag to high tail it home to cry in my room, Ronald and two of my other friends (let’s call them Stephanie and Maria) starting walking towards me. Which, after a long day of hiding my pain, this was the absolute last thing I wanted- especially to have to talk to Ronald.
Ronald came up to me while Stephanie and Maria hung back. He tapped me on the shoulder and said:
You know Quinn… I’ve been thinking a lot about what you told me this morning and I think I was wrong. I think that I do see you as more than a friend, and I’m being dead serious. I really like you.
* What the fuck?*
At first I was completely confused. I didn’t know if he was being serious. The halls were empty, it seemed like he was being genuine… My heart got it’s hopes up. It started to flutter, to wonder if maybe this was true…until I saw Stephanie and Maria snickering behind him…
Me: No, Ronald. I don’t believe you.
Ronald: No really Quinn, I do think of you as more than a friend, really.
Me: I don’t believe you.
Ronald broke into laughter.
Ronald: HAHA yeah you’re right, you got me. Damn I thought I could get ya back. Oh well, anyways that was a good one. See ya tomorrow Quinn!
With another pat on the back he walked away with Stephanie and Maria giggling about their failed prank.
While I stayed back trying to pull the knife in my heart out of my chest like excalibur from the stone.
It was brutal at the time, but looking back at it now I can’t help but laugh.
It was such a ridiculous idea, I should have known it was going to blow up in my face.
I guess the possibility of him feeling the same was worth the risk.
And actually, our friendship ended up going through a bumpy patch after that. But in the end, we didn’t lose our friendship- it changed, but we never lost it and we’re still friends today.
I hope he reads this and laughs because it was honestly a funny thing to have happened. Being in high school is so dumb and you do stupid things and being a teenager is just hard.
I’m happy I put my heart out on the line, people don’t do it enough.
Anyways whenever I think about April fools day, I am always reminded of how my heartfelt confession went terribly wrong.
I’ve never pulled an April fools prank since.
I hope this made you laugh and if anyone reading this has any similar ridiculous April fools stories, I’d love to hear them :)
Until next time,
- blondeBEHAVIOR
