I DO NOT OWN 7TH HEAVEN OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS. I didn't like the way 7th Heaven ended. I always thought Ruthie and Martin were made for each other. I've read a ton of other fanfictions about them and none of them have been right to me. Mine starts off where 7th Heaven left off. The Camden's are back from their RV trip and Ruthie is getting ready for her senior year. But she is caught at more then one crossroad. First she wants more freedom which her parents don't want to give, but will she defy them? Then the whole T-bone Martin thing. Ruthie doesn't know what she wants. Plus what will happen when her family learns more about Scotland? Ruthie Camden has a lot more to learn about growing up. Enjoy!
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Ruthie could hardly wait to start her senior year. All she has ever wanted to do is leave Glen Oak and finally show everyone that she is an adult. Plus this year she is not alone. Peter Petrowski and his family moved back to Glen Oak in July. Ruthie is so happy he is back. They dated for a while in Scotland but then decided to just be friends. Also one of her best friends that was in the same exchange program as Ruthie moved to Glen Oak too. Her name is Quinn Holloway. Her father was a marine who died in Iraq two years ago. She was Ruthie's roommate in Scotland. But apparently Quinn's mom, Jen, got a new job as a nurse at the women's clinic. They plus Quinn's little brother Alex moved in next to Martin's dad Beau. Ever since she got back from the RV trip Ruthie has been showing Quinn around Glen Oak.
"Buzzzzzzzzzzz!" Ruthie slapped the snooze button on her alarm and sat up in bed. She stretched then made her way to her closet. She wanted to wear something that said I'm hot and grown up. She decided on her new leather jacket with a pink tank underneath and her dark wash skinny jeans. after skipping into her black flats and doing her hair and makeup, she grabbed her new backpack off her desk chair and made her way downstairs. When she entered the kitchen she was shocked to see all of her brothers and sisters and their families, minus Carlos and Mary's kids. Plus Martin and Sandy with Aaron.
"Aunt Ruthie!" Savannah practically launched herself at her favorite aunt.
"Hey Vannah," picking her niece up then turning to her siblings. "Who died?"
Lucy rolled her eyes, "No one."
"But it's no one's birthday or anniversary."
This time Matt answered, "We know that."
"It's not a holiday either so who did something?"
Almost everyone laughed except Lucy and Annie.
Lucy looked hurt, "Can we not just come home to see you guys?"
"You just normally have a reason."
Ruthie set Savannah down and excepted the plate her mother held out to her. She sat down next to Simon when Aaron tugged her jacket.
"Roo, I want up." he started trying to climb onto her lap.
"Aaron leave Ruthie alone!" Sandy scolded her son.
"He's fine." Ruthie said as she reached down and put the small boy on her lap. Ruthie has always had a soft spot for Aaron. Sure things would be better for her if he wasn't here. But he is and Ruthie excepted that a long time ago. Since then she loves spending time with him. He reminds her of the old Martin, so carefree and full of life.
Ruthie ate in silence listening to what her siblings were up to. She was watching their body language trying to decipher what was really going on. When she was finished she gave Aaron the rest of her bacon then picked him up as she stood and put him on her hip. When she put her dishes in the sink Sam and David came downstairs. Ruthie glanced at the clock on the microwave which read 7:20am. They had 40 minutes before school started. Ruthie was grateful that The Colonial and Grandma Ruth bought her a new Chevy Tahoe so she didn't have to ride with her parents anymore. It was now her job to take the boys to and from school. Ruthie didn't mind in a way she thought that it was a good sign that her parents trusted her that much. She came out of her thoughts when her boyfriend walked through the back door. Ever since they became official again T-bone had moved into the garage apartment.
"Morning everyone," he said a little to cheerfully for Ruthie's taste. "How are you all?"
Simon stared at him before asking, "And you would be...?"
"Oh, I'm T-bone," he extended his hand towards Simon. "I'm Ruthie's boyfriend."
Simon shook his hand while glancing between his sister and the boy. Thankfully no one else commented. Especially the man whose son Ruthie was still holding. Martin was just staring at the floor. He knew how Ruthie felt and even though he didn't understand her choice he was trying to respect it.
Everyone ate and chatted until Quinn and Alex walked through the door. Since Ruthie's suv is so big she offered them a ride.
"Ruthie what are you doing we are going to be so late!" Quinn walked right up to me almost frantic. Her long blonde hair swinging behind her. Quinn was a stickler for time, always early.
"Quinn chill we have 20 minutes."
"Yes but we still have to drop your brothers off and get our schedules. Plus I want to get there early to figure out the best routes to my classes.
Ruthie's family just stared at her. All of them trying not to laugh at the girls frantic nature. But Ruthie was used to it.
"Ok, I'm ready."
She grabbed her backpack and her car keys .
"Lunches," her mom handed her a brown bag then gave T-bone and the twins theirs. "Have a good day make some friends."
Ruthie silently passed Aaron to his father and waved goodbye to everyone else. Ruthie led the way out to her car. She hopped in and buckled herself. While she adjusted the mirrors, Quinn slid into the passenger seat despite T-bone's protest. Once everyone was in and buckled Ruthie carefully pulled out and drove to the elementary school. Her brothers climbed out of the back and waved goodbye. When Ruthie pulled into the high school's senior parking lot, she caught sight of Peter by his car. She pulled up next to him and hopped out of the car. Alex thanked her for the ride then ran off to find his new baseball friends. Quinn and T-bone followed her as she walked towards Peter.
"Hey Ruth," he said excitedly. He picked Ruthie up into a huge hug then set her back down. "Can you believe we're seniors?"
"Not yet," she couldn't help but laugh at her friend's excitement.
"Hey Q," Peter gave Quinn a hug then turned to T-bone. "Hey man."
Peter extended his hand but T-bone didn't shake it.
"Hey, babe I'm gonna go get my schedule." He started walking toward the school not waiting for her to respond.
"Did I do something?"
"No I think he just doesn't like that I'm still friends with old boyfriends."
"Oh, well then guess becoming friends with him is off the table huh?"
"Probably."
They hear the first bell of the day which means 10 minutes until class starts. This sends Quinn into a panic.
"You guys we still have to get our schedules!"
She practically drags them into the school. Ruthie looks around. Everything is the same. That's the problem. She's the fifth Camden to walk these halls. It's annoying, everyone knows who she is. Ruthie Camden, preacher's daughter, sister of Matt, Mary, Lucy, and Simon. It sucks. No one wants to be friends with the nosey preacher's kid. She's alone except for a handful of incredible friends. All Ruthie wants to do is graduate and get out of here. She walks up to Mr. Finstein who is in charge of senior schedules.
"Hey Mr.F. How was your summer?"
"I went to Greece for a month," he handed her the packet with her name on it as he spoke.
"Wow, that sounds amazing."
"It truly was. I hope to see you in one of my classes this year."
"I already signed up for choir."
"Excellent, I'll see you then ."
With that Ruthie walked towards her new home room. Mrs. Griffin Rm 216.
When Ruthie entered the room she knew pretty much everyone. Except this girl dressed very similar to herself who was next to the only empty seat. Ruthie sat down and tried to act invisible. But the new girl wasn't going to have that.
"Hi I'm Elena Crause. Why is everyone staring at you?"
Ruthie looked around she hadn't really noticed but everyone stares at her. Ever since Simon's accident that is what people associated Camden with. Well that and her dad.
"I'm Ruthie and people just do it because my dad is a minister."
Elena stared at her like she had three heads.
"A minister is like a preacher right?"
" It's the same thing."
"Oh, so your like not aloud to have sex until death or something right?"
"I'm not suppose to have sex until I'm married."
" What do you mean suppose to? Are you a virgin?"
" Well yeah but I'm probably not going to wait until I'm married to have sex."
This is something that Ruthie has been thinking about a lot. She wants to be normal and most teenagers have sex before they're married. So she decided over the summer that if she loved a guy she would do it.
"I don't know how people can wait," Elena was pretty blunt but Ruthie kinda liked that. " Trust me sex is totally worth it."
When the teacher walked in the girls ended their conversation. But it left Ruthie thinking about how to approach this subject again with T-bone. They had already talked about it and T-bone made it clear that he wanted to wait. Plus he has already been pretty distant. Ever since the whole Martin thing it's like he doesn't trust her. Ruthie is getting sick and tired of people not trusting her or treating her like a child.
When the bell rang she pulled out her schedule and noticed a note from her councilor asking Ruthie to come to her office after home room. As Ruthie made her way to the office she was wondering what this would be about. She walked in and the councilor in a tacky tweed dress ushered her into the room.
"Hello Miss. Camden," she talked really fast while moving the packets covering her desk. "Please sit."
"Am I in trouble?" Ruthie asked while she sat down.
"What? No no no. I just wanted to discuss your plans for this year. I read through your file and you have 25/28 credits. So it is up to you what you want to do."
"What are my options?"
"Well you could finish all your classes this semester and graduate in January. Or you could stay and graduate with your class and just have an easy year. The one I would like to see you do is coming in for your morning classes then leaving at lunch and taking some college courses at Crawford."
"Could I do that?" She was so excited at the idea of even getting a choice to make herself. She didn't want anyone's input she wanted to do what Ruthie wanted.
"I don't see why not. Your a very bright student. You are old enough to decide for yourself what you want."
"I want to do the third option. So when can I sign up for courses?"
"Well if you want to go to the campus after lunch, I'll tell the head of admissions your coming. The high school would pay for the courses so you can just sign right up."
Ruthie couldn't believe it. This was her first step out of Glen Oak. When she left the office and spotted Quinn she was so excited to share her news. Luckily Quinn was happy for her.
"I think this will be good for you. You need to be somewhere were you're doing what you love."
"Yeah but my parents aren't going to like that I didn't even ask them for their opinion."
"Well wait and talk to them about it when they're really calm." She knew how Ruthie's parents could be when it came to their daughter having any freedom.
"I'm going to go to Crawford right after lunch and then i'll talk to them."
"Good idea."
Ruthie ate lunch with Quinn and Peter. She saw T-bone but when he saw her sitting with Peter he walked the other way. As soon as she finished eating she left and drove to the Crawford campus. She walked into the main office and went up to the admissions counter where a man with glasses was typing on a computer.
"Hi..." the man looked up at her and luckily smiled. "I'm Ruthie Camden I would like to register for some afternoon courses."
"Ah, yes," he pulled something up on his computer and then grabbed something out of the printer. "Mrs. Alben called ahead. I made you a list of recommended courses. If you would like to sit down and fill it out."
He handed Ruthie the form and a pen. She sat down at the small table by the desk and scanned the paper carefully. In the end she chose Debate, The Sacred Quest, and Trigonometry. She handed the man the paper and he started typing again.
"Alright Ms. Camden you are all signed up," he fished a paper out of the filing cabinet behind him. "Here are the materials you will need. You start tomorrow."
"Thank you." Ruthie took the paper and headed out the door.
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When Ruthie got home everyone was in the living room. She mentally kicked herself for not going in the back door. When she entered the room everyone looked at her.
"Ruthie?" Her mom stood up looking worried. "What are you doing home so soon?"
"I...um have something to talk to you guys about."
Her mom sat back down and Ruthie nervously sat down next to Matt. She wished everyone would stop looking at her.
"I talked to Mrs. Alben and she said I pretty much have all of my required credits," she took a deep breath to calm herself before she continued. "So I decided to go to the high school in the mornings for required classes and then after lunch i'll go take some courses at Crawford in the afternoon."
Everyone just sorta stared for a minute. Ruthie tried to read their reactions. Her parents looked nervous, Matt and Simon looked proud, Mary looked bored, and everyone else just looked confused. Thankfully her dad finally spoke.
"I don't think that is a good idea. It is your senior year I want you to focus but also to have some fun."
"Well I already signed up for it."
"You did what?" Her mother asked while searching her daughters face for something.
"I already signed up for three classes. My counselor said it was my decision so I made up[ my mind."
"But you didn't think your mother and I had a say?" She could see her dad's face moving towards anger.
"Well no," she glanced around silently asking for some help. "I did what I thought was best for me."
"I think it was a very smart decision." Matt looked directly at their father as he spoke. "It will save you and mom money and it will show Ruthie what college will be like so that she is more prepared."
Ruthie mouthed her thanks to him. He just winked back. They could all see that Eric Camden was considering it.
"Alright i'll let it go for now."
"Thanks Dad." Ruthie immediately stood up and went to walk out of the room. But she was stopped by Aaron who wanted her attention.