A Love Story
-written by Shelby Hemby

“Earth to Nicole. Come on, you need to stop daydreaming.” Ugh. My friends were always after me to stop daydreaming, but what can a girl do when there’s this really cute guy in most of your classes? And when I say cute, I mean cute, but before I tell you about him I had better introduce myself.

My name is Nicole Harrington, I am thirteen years old, and I live in Jefferson City, Missouri. I am in seventh grade at my school, Jefferson City Middle School, JCMS for short, and most people think my life is really exciting, with me living in Jeff City and all, but really it’s boring most days.

Anyway, back to the really cute boy. His name is Jack Anderson; he has bronze colored hair and really pretty green eyes. Since he came to our school last year I haven’t been the only one daydreaming! One day last week my friend Katie Whitman and I walked by this group of girls all huddle together, and I overheard them daring each other to ask Jack to the next dance. Katie rolled her eyes and sped up a little, she doesn’t get why we drool over Jack, but then again she’s more of a tomboy than most girls I know.

Well, on the first day of seventh grade something surprising happened, Jack didn’t show up to school. I was curious of two things; why he wasn’t at school, and was he in any of my classes. I worried and wondered for two whole days, but when I came to school on Thursday I found out that he’d been on vacation and didn’t get back before school started. I was relieved, but now I had to wait to find out if he was in any of my classes.

I was disappointed that he wasn’t in my first three classes of the day and by fourth block I was running late and didn’t have time to look around at my classmates. I hurried to the empty desk, sat down and got my science folder and notebook out, then someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and looked into the face of Jack. For the first time in my life I got to see the Jack’s face up close.

“Do you need any help?” Jack asked in that beautiful voice of his. It took me a minute to recover from the shock. “Um, no, I think I got all my stuff”, I stuttered. After all the times I laid in bed thinking of what I would say to Jack if I could, I couldn’t think of anything else to say. I sat there for a moment, looking into his beautiful eyes, then turned to Mrs. Graner and tried to pay attention to what she was saying.

We were reviewing the stuff we learned last year, and even though I remembered most of it I started taking notes again. Class seemed to last forever! When the bell finally rang, I met up with Amanda, Chelsea, and Katie, who had Jack in two of their classes earlier in the morning. We went to lunch and sat at a table with a couple of other friends, and then Jack sat down at the other end of the table with a bunch of his guy friends.

I was eating my lunch, trying to ignore Jack, when Chelsea started giggling. I looked up and saw her whispering to the other girls. “Hey Nicole, somebody can’t keep his eyes off of you”, she whispered to me. She put out another fit of giggles. I looked down at the other end of the table and saw Jack looking back at me. I quickly looked away because I could feel my cheeks getting red.

“Do you think he likes you?” asked Alice and for once I saw Katie actually interested in something to do with boys. “I think Jack likes her”, she said. I couldn’t believe they weren’t jealous that he wasn’t looking at them, especially Amanda, but he wasn’t looking at them, he was looking at me! I ate the rest of my lunch and hurried off to the library. I wasn’t going to check out a book, but I wanted to get away from the whispering. I waited for the bell to ring, then hurried off to fifth block, Social Studies.

I sat down and watched the people as they came through the door. I waved to Alice and Katie as they came in the room, then spotted Jack. I wanted to rush back to the library, but it was too late because Mr. Vector was closing the door.

As the bell rang, Jack sat down right behind me. He dropped a note over my shoulder and I couldn’t help but smile to myself. It said, “Wait until after class to read” so I put it in my desk and tried to listen to Mr. Vector. Class seemed to last forever, but as soon as the bell rang I rushed out to my locker. I grabbed my stuff for PE and read the note. It said:

Meet me by the front doors after school.
Jack

I saw Jack standing across the hall from me and nodded to let him know I’d be there. Sixth and seventh blocks dragged by, and finally the last bell rang. I got my stuff to go home and went to the front doors. I spotted Jack standing there alone and went over to him.

“So, um, what’s this all about?” I asked.

“I want to speak to you alone” he told me, “do you mind if I walk you home?”

“Um, okay”, I stammered, trying to recover from the shock. I started down the sidewalk toward my house, but jack stayed still.

“Do you mind if we take a longer route?” he asked, “So we can have more time together.”

“Um, sure”, I said still recovering from the shock. We turned the opposite way from my usual route. We walked a little way before I asked, “So, what did you want to talk to me about?”

“I don’t really want to talk the whole way. I mostly want to spend more time with you.”

“Okay.” This was a little weird, why didn’t he just get to the point of this talk?

“Okay. You know how I didn’t stop looking at you during lunch? That whole time I was trying to figure out how to ask you this. I decided it was best if I just ask you simply.

Now I was starting to get a little more of it, but I was still confused. “Okay.”

“I’ve actually wanted to do this since last year, but I haven’t really known how to.”

We walked in silence for a few minutes.

“So what are you going to ask me?” I asked him. I thought I knew what he was going to ask, but I wasn’t sure.

“I think we should, well, start seeing more of each other. And, you know, dating. I mean we shouldn’t let others know at first. But when we’re more comfortable we could. But not unless you want to, of course.”

So that is what he was trying to ask me, and what should I say? We walked around a corner and looked down the hill. We were back in my neighborhood; time had flown by fast! He looked at me and said, “Why don’t you think about it tonight and tell me your answer tomorrow during Science?”

We were in front of my house, so we said good-bye and I walked up the front lawn. As I opened the door, I turned and saw him watching me. I waved to him and went inside.

I spent a lot of time in my room that night, thinking about what Jack had said, but I knew what my decision would be. I woke up the next morning, got dressed, ate breakfast, and headed to school. The first three classes that morning flew by and when I went to my locker to get my Science stuff, Jack was waiting for me.

“Hey”, I said. Even though there were a hundred students around us, I felt like we were alone.

“Hey”, he answered back. “Did you think about what I said yesterday?”

“Yeah.”

And?”

“I’ve decided”, I said taking a deep breath, “yes, I’ll go out with you, but I have to tell Amanda, Katie, and Chelsea.”

“That’s okay. We don’t have to keep it a secret. Do you mind if I walk you home again today?”

“Okay. I’m going to be the only one home anyway.”

Then the bell rang so we hurried to Science. After class I met up with Amanda, Katie, and Chelsea. We got our lunch and sat at our usual table, that was when they started questioning me.

“Why didn’t you walk home with me yesterday?” Chelsea asked, sounding a little hurt.

“Jack walked me home”, I said to her.

“He doesn’t even live in our neighborhood, does he?” Amanda asked.

“No, he lives way over in Hartford Court”, Chelsea told her.

“Then why did he walk you home? Amanda asked, turning to me, “And what did he want from you?”

“He wanted to talk with me privately”, I told her, ignoring her second question.

“What did he want from you?” Alice repeated.

I took a deep breath. “He asked me out yesterday,” I told them quietly.

“No way!” Amanda squealed. “What did you say?”

“I said yes, of course.”

“Is he walking you home again tonight?” Chelsea asked.

“Yes, and he might stay for a while since I’m going to be the only one home.”

“Oh my god! You have to promise to tell us all about it tomorrow!” all three girls squealed.

They made so much noise that Jack looked down at our end of the table. I rolled my eyes at them and said, “You guys, calm down. I mean, seriously guys, it’s not that big of a deal.”

“Not that big of a deal? You’ve got to be kidding me! First of all, you’re going out with Jack Anderson, the hottest guy in the school! And then you guys are going to be alone together in your house. And you say it’s not that big of a deal?” Amanda exclaimed.

“Well, it’s not is it? Except for the fact that Jack is really hot”, Chelsea said.

I made a mental note to thank Chelsea later. Just then the bell rang, and I hurried off to fifth block. Fifth block seemed to last for days, and sixth and seventh dragged by, but finally the last bell rang. I gathered my stuff and went outside. I saw Jack waiting for me by my locker. I smiled at him and he smiled back. We walked to my house the same way we had the night before, except for this time we talked more and got to know each other better.

When we got to my house, instead of walking me to the gate and stopping, Jack walked up the front lawn with me. We went inside and I showed him to the living room, then I went upstairs to my room to put my stuff down. Jack was looking around the living room when I returned.

“You have a very nice house”, Jack commented.

“Err, thanks”, I replied. “So what do you want to do?”

“How about we just sit around and talk?”

Jack asked me questions about my family and I about his, then about fifteen minutes before my mom was due home we said good-bye and he left. When I went to lunch the next day the girls were waiting for me.

“Okay, what do you want to know?” I asked.

“What did you guys do? Did you hold hands? Did you kiss?” they all asked.

“Whoa, slow down guys. I can’t answer them all at once! Okay, we just sat around getting to know each other more. No Chelsea, we didn’t hold hands, and Alice, are you crazy? We just started dating!”

“Oh”, said all three girls trying to hide their disappointment.

That is how it went for the next few days, Jack and I walked home together, and the girls asked questions and never got the answers they wanted. Then one day Jack didn’t go inside with me.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Why don’t we go to my house today? You can meet my parents”, he replied.

I went inside, ran to my room to put my stuff down, and then went to the bathroom to fix my hair. Then, I went down to the kitchen and left a note for my mom. Jack waited for me outside and we walked to his house together. I was really nervous when we went inside his house and I stayed beside him the whole way.

“Mom, Dad, Alex!” Jack called.

His parents came into the room.

“Why, hello Nicole! Seems like Jack can’t stop talking about you!” his mother said teasingly.

I shook hands with Mr. and Mrs. Anderson.

“Where’s Alex?” Jack asked his mom.

“Oh, I don’t know, the last time I saw him he was in his room. Well, please have a seat, Nicole, and tell us more about you.”

We sat down, Jack and I on the couch, his parents sitting in armchairs. They asked me questions and I answered them, and after a little while a young boy, who looked like a miniature version of Jack, came into the room.

“Hello Alex. Nicole, this is my little brother, Alex”, Jack said.

“Wow, Jack, you were right, she is hot!” Alex blurted out.

Jack and I both blushed. His parents were both laughing. Alex sat down on the couch next to Jack, almost hiding behind him.

“What a nice greeting!” Jack’s mother said.

“I’m sorry”, Jack said to me quietly, “He can be really embarrassing sometimes.”

“That’s okay”, I said to him.

We sat there getting to know each other and Alex didn’t say another word. Finally it was time for me to go home. I said good-bye to his parents and Jack and I started walking home.

“So, what’d you think of my parents?” Jack asked.

“I think they are great. Would you like to meet my mom tomorrow?”

“Sure”

We walked in silence the rest of the way to my house. He walked me to the door, we said good-bye and I went inside. My parents weren’t home yet, so I threw away the note I left for mom, and then went upstairs to my room. I sat there until my mom got home, then went downstairs.

”Hey mom.”

“Hey honey, what’s up?” She asked.

“Oh nothing, why?”

“You just seem like something is bothering you.”

“I’m just thinking about today.”

“What did you do?”

“Do you remember Jack Anderson?”

“Yeah, why? Did you two get into trouble?

“No mom, we’re not in trouble, but we are together.”

“Oh, my gosh! For how long?” mom asked, sounding just like my friends.

“For about four or five days, and today I went to meet his parents.”

“So you think this is going to be a lasting thing?”

“Actually, mom, yea I do.”

“Oh, you are growing up so fast!”

We ate dinner the rest of the way in silence. Then, while we were doing the dishes, I talked to her.

“Hey, um, mom? Since you’re not working tomorrow, would you like to meet Jack?”

“Sure! Tell him his parents can come over for dinner, too, I’m fixing spaghetti.”

When I went to my room I called Jack and told him that my mom had invited his family for dinner the next night. I waited on the phone while he asked them, and they agreed, then we talked for a little while longer and got off the phone. I went and found my mom and told her they’d be coming tomorrow.

The next morning I went outside and saw Jack waiting for me. We started walking toward the school when Jack reached for my hand. I took it and that’s the way we walked to school. When we got to school I saw Chelsea waiting for me.

“Hey Nicole!” she said.

“Hey Chelsea. What’s up?”

“You’ll never guess what I got yesterday!” she said with a smile.

“What?” I asked.

“I got the cutest pink poodle ever!”

“No way! Oh my god! Are you serious?”

Jack was apparently not interested in talking about a pink poodle and smiled at me and walked away to his guy friends as Chelsea and I launched into conversation about the poodle. When the warning bell rang, we promised to meet up with each other before lunch and went our separate ways to class. The classes before lunch flew by and Chelsea, Amanda, Katie, and I all went to lunch.

“Guess what Nicole did this morning!” Chelsea said.

“What?” Amanda asked.

“Jack walked her to school and they were holding hands!” Chelsea squealed.

“No way!” Katie exclaimed.

“Yes, and we are having dinner tonight at my house with our families”, I told them. I knew they were thinking about some romantic dinner.

“What are you going to wear?” Katie asked.

“I don’t know yet.”

“I could let you borrow one of my dresses!” Amanda said.

“Okay. I’ll come over after school”, I told her, “and thanks a millions guys.”

On the way home Jack and I said very little. I was thinking about dinner and I’m pretty sure he was too. When we got to my house we said good-bye and I went up to my room and called Amanda.

“Hey Amanda, it’s Nicole.”

“Hey Nicole, what’s up?”

“Nothing, when would you like me to come over?”

“Hey, how about I come over to your house so I can help you get ready? I already have the perfect dress for you!”

“Okay! That’d be great!”

“Okay, See you in a little while.”

“Bye”, I replied, and hung up the phone.

Now, I had to wait for Amanda. She came over about an hour after we, but it seemed to take a log longer. When the doorbell rang I ran down the stairs.

“Hey Nicole” she said.

“Hey Amanda, come on up to my room,” I replied, as we headed up the stairs. “My mom will be here in a few minutes.”

“So, Nicole,” Amanda said curiously.

“Yeah?”

“Do you think you and Jack will last long?”

“Um, yeah, I guess.” I said, pretending not to think about it, even though I thought we would.

“Do you want it to last long?”

“Yeah.”

“Does Jack think it will last a while?”

“Um, I don’t know” I answered. I really didn’t know.

“Well, you should ask.”

“You think I should?”

“Totally.”

“Well, I don’t want him to think I’m, like, some psychopath killer or something.”

Amanda laughed, “Nicole, you’re not a psychopath killer, you’re just curious.”

“Right, yeah, I guess I could ask him.”

“See.”

“Thanks a lot. Well, I had better get ready.”

I put on the cute red velvet dress that Amanda picked out for me. Amanda did my hair and make up.

“You look absolutely fantastic!” she squealed when she was done.

“Really?” I asked, “I don’t look to girly?”

“No, you look absolutely great.”

“Okay, I trust you.”

“Well, I had better go. Have fun tonight and tell me all about it tomorrow.”

“Okay, thanks again!”

“You’re welcome!” she called as she went out the door.

About five minutes later my mom came home and I couldn’t wait to show her the dress Amanda let me borrow. I ran down the stairs to show her and helped her unpack the groceries for dinner. As she cooked, I tidied up the house. Supper was almost done when the doorbell rang. I looked around and made sure the house was spotless. All of a sudden I was nervous. I went to the living room and heard Mom answer the door.

“Hello Mr. and Mrs. Anderson,” Mom greeted them.

“Hello. Thank you so much for inviting us over, and please, call me Charlotte. This is my husband, Andrew.”

“Please, come in and sit down, dinner will be ready in a few minutes.”

I saw Jack at the end of the line of people. “Hey,” I greeted him.

“Hey,” he said, “you look beautiful.”

“Thanks,” I said, blushing.

“And who is this?” my mom said looking at Alex.

“My name is Alex,” he said, “and I think your daughter is very hot.”

Mom and Jack’s parents laughed.

“He never will learn, will he? I said to Jack.

“I doubt it. He’s always like this.”

After Mom stopped laughing we went to the kitchen to finish dinner. Jack’s mom went to help her. Meanwhile, Jack’s dad and brother looked around.

“Nice place.” Jack’s dad commented.

“Thanks,” I said.

Mom called from the dining room, “Dinner’s ready.”

I led Jack and his family to the dining room, where the table was already set. Jack and I sat on one side, Mom at the head of the table, Jack’s dad sat at the other end, and Alex and Jack’s mom sat on the other side.

“It all looks so nice, Mrs. Harrington,” Jack said.

“Thank you,” she replied, “and please, just call me Amy.”

We said our prayers, and then began to eat.

“So, Amy, what do you think about Jack and Nicole going out?” Jack’s mom asked.

“I’m very proud of her,” she said, “but it makes me sad that she’s growing up so fast.”

Everybody laughed. That was basically how the rest of supper went. After we ate, my mom and Charlotte cleared the table. They brought in pumpkin pie and ice cream for dessert. After dessert we went to the living room and talked. After a couple hours, Andrew stood up.

“I think we had better go,” he said.

“Oh, my gosh! Look at the time!” my mom exclaimed. “I hadn’t realized how late it was.”

Jack, Alex, Mom, Charlotte, and I all stood up. While Alex, Charlotte, Andrew and Mom said their goodbyes, Jack and I walked to the front porch.

“That was a lot of fun,” Jack said.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “I hope we can do something like this again.”

“Okay. How would you like to go downtown after school tomorrow, and maybe get something to eat?”

“Well,” I said slowly, “I’ll have to see if Mom has anything planned for tomorrow afternoon.”

“Okay, call me later, all right?”

Just then we heard voices in the hall.

“Looks like I’m about to leave,” Jack said.

“Okay. I’ll talk to you later.”

Just before the others got to the door Jack leaned down and gently kissed my cheek.

“Talk to you later,” he said softly.

I told Alex and Mr. and Mrs. Anderson goodbye, then Mom and I went to the kitchen.

“Did you have fun, honey?” Mom asked.

“Yeah,” I told her. “Hey, Mom, do we have anything planned for tomorrow afternoon?”

“No, I don’t think so. Why?”

“Jack wants me to walk downtown with him tomorrow after school and maybe get something to eat.”

Well, okay, but don’t you think a couple of thirteen year old kids shouldn’t walk downtown by themselves?”

“Mom, Jack is fourteen, and anyway, Mom, you know we’ll be fine.”

Later that night I called Jack and told him I could go. Then, in the morning we walked to school together, holding hands. The day passed by quickly and before long the last bell rang. I met up with Jack, and we walked to my house to drop our stuff off. I ran upstairs to get my purse so we could walk downtown.

We walked slowly, talking and laughing the whole way. We window shopped for a while, and went into a couple stores to look around. I was shocked when we went back to the store where they made monogrammed gifts. Jack asked me to wait outside. When he returned he handed me a small gift bag and told me to open it. Inside was a ring that said “Love You Forever – J. A.”

“Oh, Jack!” I said. “Thank you so much! I love it!” I threw my arms around him.

“It’s nothing’,” he said.

“Oh thank you! You don’t know how much this means to me!”

“Actually, you don’t know how much you mean to me,” he said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

“It means that I will always love you, forever, even if you don’t love me.”

“Um, Jack, can I ask you a question real quick?”

“Sure,” he said.

“How long do you think this will last? You know, me and you.”

“You honestly don’t know the answer to that?” he said. “I think we’re going to last forever.”

“So do I,” I said.

Jack asked if I was hungry, so we stopped to grab a bite to eat before calling his mom to come and get us. She picked us up and drove me home. Before I got out of her car, Jack and I kissed goodnight.

“I love you,” he said.

“And I love you. See you tomorrow.”

“See ya.”

When I went inside no one was home. I went into the kitchen and found a note from mom. It said that she had gone out to dinner with some friends of hers. So I went to my room and called Chelsea. She answered the phone.

“Hey girl! How are you?” She asked.

“I’m great. I just got back from downtown with Jack,” I told her.

“How’d it go?” she asked.

“Great. We had a really fun time,” I said, and then I explained to her what had happened.

“Wow,” she said, “it sounds like you two are serious.”

I laughed. “Oh, Chelsea, we aren’t’ that serious. We just started going out not long ago, and you know that.”

“I know. But that doesn’t mean you aren’t serious. I mean, really, like you said, you guys just started going out, and you’re already kissing goodnight?”

“Well, yeah, but that doesn’t mean anything,” I said.

“Doesn’t mean anything? Uh, you are so impossible.”

“Just because I said Jack and I aren’t serious, that makes me impossible?”

“Maybe,” Chelsea said. “Hey, what are you and Jack doing tomorrow?”

“So far, nothing,” I said, “Why?”

“Would you guys like to double date with Kevin and I?”

“What you guys are on again? Since when?”

“Since yesterday.”

Maybe I should stop and explain. Kevin and Chelsea date off and on. Like, one day they would be dating and the next day they’ll be broke up. It used to be weird, but now it just seems normal.

“Well, I’ll have to see what Jack is doing tomorrow, but I think we will. Where at and what time should we meet?”

“One-thirty at Fred’s Ice Cream Store.”

“Okay. I’ll call you back to tell you what he says.”

“All right. Talk to you later.”

“Bye.” I hung up. Just then Mom came home. I ran down the stairs.

“Hey honey,” she said. “How’d your date with Jack go? I want to hear all about it.”

“It was great,” I said. We went into the kitchen and sat down. Then I told her about my date and our goodnight kiss.

“Wow. It sounds like you two are serious.”

“That’s exactly what Chelsea said!”

“Well, it does. Oh, I can’t believe how fast you are growing up!”

“Mom,” I said, “I can’t be your little girl forever.”

“I know,” she said, “but you’ll always be my darling baby.”

“Oh, Mom!”

Five years passed and Jack and I were still dating, and very much in love. Graduation day came before we knew it.

“Oh, Nicole! I can’t believe we’re already graduating!” Chelsea said.

“I know, Chelsea. I can’t believe it either.” All of a sudden tears came to my eyes. “It’s hard to believe that so much time has passed. It seemed like yesterday that Jack asked me out, gave me my first kiss, and changed my life completely.

“Hey, Nicole,” Amanda said as she walked up. “What were you saying about your dream coming true? What dream were you talking about?”

Although I had already explained it to her more than once, I told her she was crazy sometimes, and started explaining again… It started about ten years ago. I started dreaming about the time when my dream boy would come into my life and change it forever.

Of course, at the time, I thought that was as crazy as some prince coming and carrying me to his castle in the clouds. But I kept dreaming that same dream over and over again. Eventually it began to mean something to me, and I kept waiting for my dream boy to come. And he did when I was in sixth grade. In case you haven’t guessed who my dream boy was, it was Jack Anderson. After he came to my school in sixth grade, I started dreaming more and more about “us”.

And then my dream came true. Just before graduation, Jack asked me to marry him. And of course, I said yes. Since we graduate in May, we decided to get married in August, on the 16th. As you can tell, we were meant to be together.

“Hey, Nicole, how would you like us to come over and help you with wedding preparations?” Katie asked when I was finished telling them about my dream. “We could help you make invitations.”

I looked over at Jack. I smiled at him and he smiled back. “Okay, how about you come over after the graduation party?”

“Hey, Nicole? Have you guys even started planning the wedding yet?” Chelsea asked.

“Well, honestly no,” I said, “Not yet.”

“Well then that’s perfect!” Amanda said. “Then we can start planning the whole thing and not have to worry about changing anything. If that is all right with you guys?” she said quickly.

“It’s fine,” Jack said looking at me.

I smiled. I was glad that I have such a great fiancé and a great group of friends. I could tell that my life was perfect. I learned that dreams don’t only come true in fairy tales. They come true in real life, too.

THE END