Unicorns Are Real After All

Unicorns Are Real After All The Lavada Johnston Story â€Å"I just don’t understand how people can go through with one-night stands, I just can’t do it. † I just sat there for a little while in silent disbelief. I was trying to decide whether or not I should take offense to the statement or not. Before I could formulate my response, my friend Lavada said, â€Å"No offense to you, or anyone else, I just don’t get it. † Throughout my life, I thought I had encountered pretty much every type of person, and I could’ve sworn that I had my generation completely pegged. However, since meeting Lavada Johnston, my iron-clad definition of people my age has been greatly disproven. I first met Lavada, in my Stage Crafting class. Because it was the beginning of the semester, I didn’t really know any of the other theater students just yet. But for some reason, I felt drawn to her. She had a very intriguing look about her. She had a curvaceous and voluptuous body type. Her hair was jet black, nails painted black, black eye make-up, and a lip ring. My first impression was that she was either of the gothic or emo persuasion, but she didn’t exactly have the particularly â€Å"dark† quality that most gothic/emo people I’ve met possess. She had sort of a quirkiness about her that didn’t seem intimidating. In fact, it was pretty much very inviting. I consider myself a pretty good judge of character, so I decided to befriend her. To my surprise, it didn’t take long at all for us to develop a rather strong friendship with each other. The more I hung around her, the more interesting she became to me, and still does now. She sometimes seems sort of reserved and maybe even shy sometimes, but all of that goes out of the window when she is comfortable. She is full of life, a vibrant fun loving college student. When I found out that her natural hair color is actually blonde, I wasn’t even surprised. In fact, once I thought about it, it really suits her, and her personality. Like myself, Lavada is a theater major. She wants to pursue musical theater, but for some reason, she is shy about singing. This is something I didn’t understand considering she has an amazing singing, and perfect for the theater. Her musical interests are also something that caused us to spark such a quick friendship. Turns out we are both Family Force 5 fanatics, although Lavada may be border lining obsession. All of the things I’ve mentioned about her are all things I find very interesting about her. But there is one particular reason that piqued my interest enough to really cause me to press even further into her life and to explore her outlook on the world around her. One day after grabbing lunch in the union, Lavada and I were walking together, seeing how my dorm was in the same direction as hers. We had what eventually became a very serious discussion. I’ll never forget my mixture of surprise and disbelief when I found out Lavada’s secret. I’m not exactly sure how we got on this topic of conversation, but somehow we ended up discussing sex. However, it’s not like it’s uncommon for college students to talk about sex. In fact, what college student hasn’t had sex before, right? Wrong. I still can hear the words as clear as a bell in my head, â€Å"Scottie, I’m a virgin. † When she told me this, there was no way I could hide the shocked expression plastered all over my face. It took me a while to even gather that she was serious. Lavada Johnston is a twenty-one year old college student, who has never had sex. Part of me felt guilty for being so surprised by this confession. I mean, it’s not like it’s a bad thing or anything like that. It was just, I’ve never known such a person to resist. But then I decided that I must be missing something here. Maybe I should read the fine print, I thought. But as I pressed further into Lavada and her sexual activity, the more I believed her. I said to myself there has to be some technicalities or something because you can’t just go your entire life without having sex, unless you’re one of those insanely religious people or something. Seeing how Lavada wasn’t anywhere near being a religious type person, my curiosity was piqued even further. For lack of a better one, my first question was simply, â€Å"Why? Lavada looked around, gave an innocent but rather vacant expression, flailed her hands up and said, â€Å"I don’t know. † By this point, I began to seriously pester her and express my whole-hearted awe in her confession. Over and over again, Lavada gave me not one excuse or reason as to why she had never had sex. Everything she said was enough to cause the average girl to have the occasional â₠¬Å"I hate boys† syndrome, but never is it enough to hold back the raging hormones we’re faced with at this age. Or so I thought. I decided to have an official interview with Lavada, in which I would be determined to find the answers I was looking for. Lavada Johnston was born in Winona, Mississippi and then later moved to Eupora, Mississippi, which is where she stills whenever school isn’t in session. She attended Montgomery High School in Kilmichael, where she graduated in the year 2007. Throughout her school days, Lavada seemed to be the classic headstrong rebel type of girl who got into plenty of trouble for fighting. Her family moved around a lot, so she never stayed in one place for long. This made it really hard for her to develop a strong circle of friends. Therefore, she turned to books. She loves to read. She was one of those Harry Potter type kids, into mythical creatures, magic, vampires, you know, the whole nine yards. As far as music goes, aside from Family Force 5, she is pretty much hard rock oriented. I asked her why she chose to come to Ole Miss. She responded with a very straight forward answer. â€Å"It was either here, or Mississippi State, but if I had gone to state, I know I would’ve gotten into too many fights. I simply laughed and nodded in agreement at my friend. It is safe to say, that since coming to college, she has finally found steady friends, which of course she loves because she hasn’t ever really had that before. I of course was and still am both grateful and happy to be a friend to her. The more I hang around Lavada, the more I see the kind of person she is. There is no denying that is sweet and kind to any everyone. I obser ved that she has a hard to saying no to people, even if she wants to. In my opinion, Lavada possesses something that is rare in our generation. And I don’t mean her virginity. Although, I do believe that it truly reflects the kind of person she really is. She’s someone who isn’t concerned with impressing others. The fact that she has yet to swipe her â€Å"V- card† speaks volumes about her values and the standards that she holds for herself. She is kind, fun-loving, and seems to sincerely care about her fellow human-being in a way that is apparent in her everyday life. I truly wish more people our age would take a lesson from Lavada, and maybe we could all make a change for the better.