My Boy Boycott

*(names have been changed)*

It's official! Guys are dumb...or at least the majority of them are. There are a few exceptions hahaha! Now for what led me to that announcment:

I have been on a boy boycott for the past little bit simply because I'm not certain I want to deal with all that goes along with dating. I have made this a well known fact especially to the guys in my ward that keep asking me on dates. Some managed to get the hint and leave me alone...others seem to get the hint and think they're the exception. I have two examples that will illustrate my frustration...one more so than the other.

Guy #1: *Billy* has been trying to work in a date ever since he met me. He's asked me on quite a few dates, actually. However, I quite honestly have no interest in dating him, or pretty much any other boy for that matter. I have told him to his face that I am boycotting boys. I have told him this several times. Well, the other day he called me and said, "I was wondering if you'd like to go out and do something this weekend. I know it would mess up your boycott, but it would be fun." So he straight out acknowledged my boycott. My reply was, "I'm sorry, but I am really serious about my boycott right now." Then the conversation ended.

I always feel really bad when I turn down a date because I know that it takes a lot of guts to ask someone out, and I appreciate that effort; I really do. So I hate it when a guy that I have no interest in going on a date with asks me because chances are, I'm going to feel terrible and give into the date and end up being miserable. Now that I've promised myself to say no, it's been terrible because I feel like I'm the worst person on earth for rejecting them. So these guys have really been putting me in hard places.

Guy #2: *Fred* and I have known each other since 6th grade. We haven't always been in contact with each other for all that time, but every time we have come back into contact after those various years in between, he feels he need to make a move. In 6th grade, it was a well known fact that he had a crush on me. I got teased for it. In 8th grade, he went and told the entire school that I was his girlfriend. I got teased for it. Now that he is in my ward, and I see him on a regular basis, you can probably guess what is happening. He is pestering me for a date. A few months back, I had a boyfriend, and Fred gave me a big, long lecture on how I shouldn't date him. Thankfully, the people in my ward, as immature as they may be, are at least mature enough to not tease me about him this time.

One Sunday, I sat next to him in Sunday School. I pulled out my notebook to doodle, but before I could, Fred took it from me and decided to use it to pass a note back and forth like we were in jr. high. Once he gets the "hello, how are you" thing out of the way, the first question he asked was, "Are you still going out with Mark?" I could immediately tell where that conversation was headed. I replied with, "Nope! I'm boycotting boys!" So he went on to inquire about my reason for the boycott, but he then made a comment about how it's okay for me to boycott boys because I needed to experience a date with a man. Give me a break! The first thought that popped into my head was, "Ha! You're not a man!" But then I went on to specify, all males. He kept arguing with me. And finally he ask what he could do. I said, "Just concentrate on being my friend and nothing more." He agreed to that. But then later on, my friend, *Chad*, was teasing me, and Fred came over and said, "You need to be nicer to her, otherwise her boycott will go on longer and I'll never get a date with her." What happened to the 'okay-i'll-only -be -your-friend-and-nothing-more' thing that we had agreed on? Hate to break it to ya, Fred, but you're not ever going to get a date with me!

Later that night, I was at Chad's apartment, ranting to him and his roommate, *Jake*, about how frustrated I was. And they came up with a plan. Wahaha! Chad sent Fred a text saying that I have a boyfriend. Jake is posing a my boyfriend. He's going to start coming to my ward and sitting next to me and all that jazz to make in convincing. Jake and Fred know, and loathe, each other. It's going to be great! I feel so mean, but at the same time, I can't help but laugh. I'm really going to have fun with this!