Prepare for a Cinderella story...

Chapter 1

Jenna

I couldn't believe my awful luck! I was stuck with class clown Kevin and all he seemed to be doing was trying to make jokes—that only I didn't find funny.

"So Jenna, wanna hear this joke I heard about a marriage?" Kevin bent down slightly to be right by my face. I shook my head slightly. I didn't want to hear a joke, I simply wanted to just curl up and hide from the world. "Well, there was this newly wedded couple and each of them had a secret that they had kept from each other all throughout dating. The dude had really smelly feet and the chick had awful breath. So when they go to tell each other the dude gets really close to her face and says, 'I have a confession.' To which she replies, 'so do I.' And the dude backs up, 'Have you been eating my socks?'" I listened patiently as Kevin began laughing and laughing and when he saw that I wasn't laughing he had a very concerned face on.

"Don't like my joke?" He asked, looking very serious and when I didn't reply he simply huffed and turned to Samuel and Carolyn to talk.

I folded my arms across my chest and then wanted to just close my eyes and sleep, but of course school wasn't quite over yet. Then I was resting my eyes when something felt wrong, I opened one eye and saw Kevin staring at me.

I turned to him and was practically spitting, "What's wrong?"

He shrugged his shoulders; I apparently wasn't much of a threat to him so nothing I did would bother him. "How many kids do you want?" He asked.

I just stared at him, I was actually doing some calculations in my head and his eyes seemed to register that because he waited silently and patiently.

"Two." I answered, "You?"

"Well I always wanted a big family. I mean since you are a lawyer we could probably afford it anyway." He gave a sly smile. "And you know how I love to be in the bedroom and—" I put my hand up to stop him because I didn't need to hear any more to know what he was going to say. His face fell an inch and he seemed to roll his eyes. "Anyway, so where are we living? I mean where is the place our parents bought us going to be?" He asked, as if trying to smooth the mood.

"Um, I don't know." I responded quickly, trying to inconspicuously glance at my watch and find out when class would be over."

Kevin took my wrist, pulled up the sleeve of my sweater and flashed the clock in my face. All the while my face heated up and I felt rather silly. "Right, well I have always liked small towns, but since I'm a model and you're a lawyer we will need somewhere that I get work and you get business." Kevin replied, seeming to sidestep any embarrassment he could have caused for me and be polite.

I wanted to snap at him, I mean why was being a lawyer so important? I was opening my mouth when Kevin began speaking again. "You look like you have something on your mind." He nodded to me, as if encouraging that I speak my mind.

I took a breath and gave a quick thought as to how I would word my problem. "What if I don't want to be a big time lawyer and you are just an aspiring model, we can still be in a small town then, for all I care we could stay right here." I was trying to keep my temper and not let my true persona shine through. "I figure I would be the kind of lawyer who works for the poor or something, meaning two kids would be plenty." I finished my opinion.

Kevin gazed at me, unflinching. "Well with that kind of argument you would be a very good lawyer, which I have no doubt. Meaning anyone would love for you to be their lawyer—rich or poor." He advised.

I felt my head droop; I would be getting nowhere. I fixed my sweater sleeve and saw there was still half an hour of class left.

"You aren't that into this are you?" Kevin asked. His face completely serious but his eyes held some hidden joke.

"Am I supposed to be?" I retorted.

"I just thought all girls would be into this family planning and looking for wedding dresses or houses thing." Kevin replied.

"Well it isn't nice to generalize girls," I stated blatantly and began getting out my notebook. Then a pencil. "Shall we begin?" I asked, having my pen poised to begin writing. I just watched as Kevin's face began a war on whether to laugh or not. My glare must have set him straight for her immediately calmed down.

I looked back at the sheet Ms. B had handed out. There were some guide questions to help me begin—I mean us.

How many children do you wish to have?

Are you close to your in-laws?

Do you have a spending plan?

Who are you more caring for: work or family?

Who has the 'pants' in the relationship?

I laughed silently at the last question.

"Right, 3 children." Kevin began and I quickly glanced at him, trying to hold his gaze but failing. Confrontation was never my strong point. "Compromise." He explained quickly.

"Fine." I agreed, "Three." I wrote down the first answer. "Do we like our in-laws?" I asked him.

"I don't know; care to come over to my house tonight?" He asked while catching me completely off guard.

"What, for dinner?" I asked; my eyes were still wide and startled. He nodded. "Uh, sure." I nodded. "And tomorrow you can come to my place." I added and gauged his reaction—none. Then I instantly regretted inviting him over, I didn't want him to meet my family, even if they all showed up.

"Sounds good." He smiled while I frowned.

Now I wondered what I had gotten myself into. I quickly moved on to the next question and wrote yes. No argument from Kevin.

"What do you think?" I asked, pointing to the next question.

"Family, obviously." He stated matter-of-factly. I just nodded, I would prefer to think that I cared more about family, but who knows how my job might feel. Then I stared at the last one.

I glanced at Kevin who was staring pointedly at my skirt. "It isn't literal!" I muttered. I would leave that question for later, but felt I would be writing my name down anyway.

"Done." I leaned back in my chair and felt Kevin's gaze on me. "What?" I asked while trying to sound polite. He shook his head and looked to Ms. B, who was sitting quietly at her desk when she abruptly stood up.

"Okay everyone, have you all done some family planning?" She asked loudly—catching some people off guard. She was strutting to the head of the class and watching everyone closely. "Now we will be playing a short game," Ms. B walked to the side of the classroom and grabbed 10 mini whiteboards and some markers to write on them. Then another trip after distributing the supplies and she grabbed 5 erasers.

"I will ask you questions sometimes about yourself sometimes about your new spouse, just to see how much you really know about them so far. First off, what is your spouse's favourite colour?" She asked and I balked, we only just met, how are we supposed to know that already? I looked at Kevin and trying to discern his favourite colour from his choice of attire. I went with red because he had bright red shoes on and wrote it down.

Ms. B began pacing at the front. "Now reveal your boards to each other, put a tick if the other person was right or an ex if they were wrong." She instructed.

I looked to Kevin, purple was written across his board and I felt rather surprised, wondering if he knew or guessed. I ticked next to it and showed him my board. His mouth dropped and he put a tick as well. Then we showed our boards to the front where Ms. B had written on the board couple 1, couple 2, couple 3, couple 4, couple 5. She glanced at our boards and made two tallies under couple1. Then went on through the rest of the class, where most people hadn't gotten any points.

Kevin held his hand up for a high five and I gave it a slight slap and Kevin rolled his eyes.

"Now I want you to describe your partner in a single word, this doesn't count for points though." Ms. B continued. I stared at Kevin, who was gazing at me.

Clown. I wrote and tried not to smile.

"Reveal." I flashed my board to Kevin and I saw all he had written was organized. Well that was kind of him. "Keep holding those boards up." Ms. B encouraged and had a paper and pen in front of her and was writing something down. She finished writing and then put her hands on her hips. "Now I want you to write on the right-hand side of your board how many children you want to have and on the left-hand side how many you agreed to have." Ms. B announced.

I quickly wrote, 2 then 3. "Reveal." Ms. B nodded.

I did and then gaped at Kevin's board. 5 kids he wanted but he was only getting 3? Who would want 5 kids? Ms. B smiled at everyone as she read the boards and wrote it down as well, then added a tick to the couples that had the same answer for the second question.

"This will be the last question for today." Ms. B seemed to exaggerate her arms. "Do you believe your partner likes their job?"

I wasn't sure...Did Kevin think modelling was an interesting career? I wasn't sure, but he seemed happy enough. I wrote down yes.

"Reveal."

Kevin and I both wrote down yes then both ticked that they were the correct answers. We scored two more points and had the highest in the class.

"Well tomorrow I will bring a surprise for you." Ms. B told me and Kevin, which I wasn't looking forward to, but they I remember it was Friday.

"You mean Monday." I replied politely. Ms. B nodded and her eyes had a glazed over look that seemed to grow as she sat back down at her desk. Then I looked to my watch, just 5 minutes left. I began packing up my supplies and notebook, only to notice Kevin contemplating me. I just turned back and pretended I hadn't noticed.