Lauren at 15, by Dan Bruton

When I started backing the car out of the garage, I placed my arm on the back of her seat as I turned and looked through the rear windshield. I was two months away from getting my license, and the car my parents already bought was taunting me to drive it. I clumsily put the car in gear and slowly pulled into the street.

"You sure you won’t get in trouble for this?" Lauren asked.
"Rules are meant to be broken." Did I really just say that? God I am cheesy, I thought to myself.

I drove down the road about a mile and slid the Mazzy Star cd in. My friends were already having sex while listening to this cd, and I thought it must have had some kind of magical power. I turned the volume up slowly and nervously placed my hand on Lauren’s thigh as 'Fade Into You' began playing. Tonight was it; I'm going to make it happen.

We stumbled through awkward conversation as I drove the car for a few more minutes and made my way back to the house. I pulled the car back into the garage and shut the engine off, but kept the key in the accessories position so the cd continued to play. Both Lauren and I froze up, and I knew that it was her first too. I leaned over and began the kiss with a gentle closed mouth peck, which quickly turned into a sloppy jaw wrestling marathon. We stayed in the car as the cd ended and skipped back over to the first track, just in time.

Katie*

My face went beet red. I just kind of smiled and mumbled out this embarrassed thanks. I then proceeded to fall off the swing, landing flat on my ass. She started cracking up, and I got even more embarrassed. I asked for a hand to get up. When she reached to grab my hand I pulled her down. As luck would have it she fell right on top of me, our faces inches apart, and then it happened. I don't know how it happened, who initiated it, or what was going through either of our heads, but it happened: We kissed. Now to be fair, this was my first kiss. Yes I know that its really dorky of me to have not had my first kiss by this point, but it was perfect. I felt those fireworks that you always hear about. Lame I know, but it was just amazing. So anyway, we continued to make out for a while rolling around on the ground and finally just stopped and lay like that. We sat there holding hands looking at the sky and at the stars.

When we said our good nights, I walked back home incredibly miserable and ecstatic at the same time

*This story was edited for length.

Lyla P. @ age 16

I remember I couldn't stand Rob for years before. He got on my nerves and seemed to fish with me and a friend just to annoy me. I thought he was too skinny and too young (he was a year younger than myself). Every summer I would see him again though and one summer I started to look at him differently. I would talk to him, just the two of us and little by little I was more and more attracted, no matter how much of a jerk he was in front of my friends. One night, late at the beach, he started messing with me. He took my shoes and put them where I couldn't reach. All of a sudden he put his arms around my waste. I'm pretty sure I turned bright red. We snuck off somewhere where we could be alone and all of a sudden we were kissing. We kissed so deeply, for so long, I forgot where we were and all I could think about was him. Although funny enough neither of us really knew what we were doing. No matter how much of a jerk he was at times I always felt like I knew him better and I remember our first kiss as being pure and wonderful.