It was a long kiss, my first one. And sweet.

When she was done (I didn’t take much of an active role in the process, other than shutting my eyes and keeping my mouth open and my brain from over-heating), Destry took my hand in hers, though I noticed she avoided eye contact. I kept quiet because I had no idea what to say.

‘I don’t want you to get the wrong impression, Rob,’ she said finally.

My brain wasn’t at its finest, it has to be said, but I had some difficulty processing this. She’d just kissed me. How could any impression I got be wrong?

‘I have a boyfriend,’ she continued, ‘and I’m happy with him.’ It occurred to me that if she was that happy she wouldn’t be kissing someone else, but who am I to make judgements about romance? I’m no expert, that’s for sure. So I kept silent.

‘But I’ve wanted to do that for a long time.’

‘Okay,’ I said. What else could I say?

She got to her feet and her dog lumbered to his. I stood as well. Call me old-fashioned. Trixie snored.

‘Hey,’ she said, as if an amusing thought had just struck her. ‘If I had been your girlfriend, would that have made you gay?’

It had taken me virtually no time to fall in love with Destry Camberwick. I remembered her entrance into my classroom vividly. The world had stopped turning on its axis and her beauty had been a punch in the gut. It wasn’t a rare form of indigestion. It had been love, or at least a variation of it. What I hadn’t realised was how it was possible to fall instantly out of love. I did now. That kiss had been sweet and unexpected and wonderful. Now it felt … tainted.

‘We kissed,’ I said. ‘That makes me straight. What do you think it makes you, Destry?’

There was hurt in her eyes and I knew we’d almost certainly never speak again. As I watched her leave the park I couldn’t find it in myself to care.

I went home and told Mum I was going to Brisbane next July with the state under-sixteen soccer team.

‘That’s great,’ she said. ‘But what about panic attacks, public toilets and problems around dressing rooms?’

‘No idea,’ I said. ‘I guess if they really want me in that squad they’ll have to sort that stuff out for me.’