Hey everyone, I'm working so hard you won't even believe. Every waking minute I'm writing on one of my stories. Okay, I'm done gloating. I hope that you like this chapter. Typos and small plot changes.
Home and graduation
Buzz…buzz…buzz… "Ughh…Hello." I said, in a sleepy voice picking up my phone.
"Hey girl. You have no idea how tired I am. This is your wake up call you need to be here in thirty minutes." Madison said, yawning.
"What time is it?" I said, turning towards the clock, "5:30 in the morning, damn Gill must want to get on the road."
"We do have a long drive." Madison said.
"Whatever, I'm getting up. See ya, soon." I said, hanging up.
I stood up, and grabbed my overnight bag. I quickly changed, and ran a brush through my hair. I went into to Jesse's room. "Jesse, baby it is time to wake up." I said, climbing onto the bed.
"No, it is not." He said in a defiant voice.
"Yes, it is." I said, kissing his neck.
Jesse growled, and then said, "Fine. Why are you leaving so early?"
"Because Gill is a spaz." I said, kissing him, as to wake him up. He immediately reacted, pulling me closer, deepening the kiss.
"Ughh…Jesse I have to go. Come on, get up, and get dressed." I said, pulling away, and jumping off the bed. Jesse slowly climbed out of bed, and stretched. He slowly walked over to his dresser, grabbed some clothes, and heading to the bathroom. I skipped into the living room, and sat on the couch.
After about five minutes, Jesse walked in looking half asleep. He looked at me with disgust as he said, "How can you be so energetic?"
"Well, I feel asleep during the movie, and I'm naturally energetic. That's why you love me." I said, wrapping my arms around his neck.
"That is not just why I love you. I love you because you are sweet, spicy, and you always treat people like people, Oh, and because you love me." Jesse said, kissing down my jaw between each reason.
I laughed, and said, "When did you get so full of yourself?"
"About two years ago." Jesse said, putting his arm around my shoulder, and lead me out the door.
Jesse opened the car door for me when we got to the hotel. "Babe, when is your graduation?" Jesse said.
"Oh, no Jesse. You can't come, no one from here can. It will make things worse with my family." I said, closing the car door, and leaning against it.
"Becca, I have to. It is part of male pride. I have to show off my super hot, super smart girlfriend." Jesse said, leaning one arm against the car.
"It will cause problems. With people, there is going to be enough talk about me being on TV, and us dating. You there might cause a riot." I said, blowing some hair out of my face.
"I'm coming, now tell me or I will get Madison to. Honey, your parents have never meet me, maybe this will make things better." Jesse said.
"Whatever, the graduation is on May 18th. We are having a senior party the day before, so come then. But please tell me before you come down. I'll come down to Wichita and pick you up. Okay?" I said.
"That sounds perfect. I'll talk to you later." Jesse said, giving me a quick kiss.
"Hey, a girl needs more of a goodbye than that." I said, with a sly smile. Jesse pulled me close and slowly, romantically kissed me. I leaned back against the car, and deepened the kiss.
I don't know how long we were standing there kissing, but I pulled away when Madison yelled, "Do you two every come up for air?" She walked over there, and said, "Come on, we've got to go. See you later, Jesse." She hugged him and said, "Tell Josh that he needs to find a girlfriend…his own age."
"Will do. I'll see you later, babe." Jesse said, giving me one last kiss.
"Bye." I said, reluctantly leaving with Madison.
The ride home seemed shorter, but that could be because I was texting Jesse, Aly, and A.J. When we got home around eleven at night, I saw my family and Steph waiting for me. Rachel ran up and gave me a hug, while she was rambling about Jesse, and Hollywood.
"Rach, calm down. I'll tell you everything later. Hey Steph. Hi mom, and dad." I said, giving each of them a hug.
"Just because we are glad you are home doesn't mean that you aren't in trouble young lady." My father said.
"Oh Robert leave her alone, she just got home. You can lecture her later." My mom said.
"Fine, we will talk about this later. But give me your phone now. I can't have you texting him or what not until then." Robert said.
"Oh, gee, am I excited." I said getting in the car and handing him the phone they bought me.
As we drove the five-block drive I wished I had walked, with Rachel next to me going on and on, my father trying to lecture me, and my mother singing along with the radio, all I wanted was peace and quiet. Once we got home I took my dirty laundry to the laundry room, and went upstairs to get ready for bed. I put in Jesse's 'Right Where You Want Me' CD in, grabbed my journal, and wrote about the past weeks.
I heard a knock on the door, and a quiet voice saying, "Can I come in?"
"Yeah Rach, feel free." I said, putting my journal in my desk.
"So, you said that you would tell me everything, so come on tell me everything." Rachel said.
"Well, you remember when we went to LA before, and I got in a huge fight with mom and Dad. That was when I first met Jesse, which was also when I first dated him. Mom and Dad didn't even know him, and they still haven't met him. The think he is a bad guy, just because he is famous. When we left we promised to stay in contact, but our parents took my phone, and wouldn't let me answer the phone. Also Jesse's manager thought I was going to distract him, so we lost contact. It broke my heart." I said, gulping back unshed tears.
"Geeze, that really hovers. I would hate mom, and dad if they did that to me." Rachel said.
"I wanted to, but I was sixteen, and I knew I couldn't take care of myself. When I figured out that we were going to LA for the choir trip, I was terrified. I thought that if I saw him again that I would get my heart broken again, but he convinced me otherwise." I said, smiling.
"How did he convince you?" Rachel said, in amazement.
"Reasoning. Being a gentleman. Lots and lots of talking, and comforting." I said.
"Wow, you are so lucky. You already found your true love. I don't think I ever will." Rachel said, in a sad voice.
"You will, someday soon. Maybe not tomorrow, or next week or even next year, but you will find true love, and never, ever let it go. It was fate that I didn't lose Jesse. You have a lot of life to live still, live it to your fullest. Okay, Rach?" I said.
"Alright, well I better go get ready for bed." Rachel said, getting up and heading towards the door. "Thank you for letting me talk to you." She said, right before she left.
THE NEXT DAY
The next day when I went to school, it was chaos, and I was sent home, because people wouldn't leave me alone. I got to the house a little after one to find my mother in the yard waiting for me. "Are you alright darling? I got a call from the school saying they had to send you home for protection. We live in Stafford, a small safe town what do you need protection from." She said, running up to me.
"Calm down, Mom. I was sent home because of the whole LA thing, people just kept pestering me." I said, trying to get out of her death grip.
"Oh, alright. What about your schoolwork? You still need to maintain a 3.5 grade point average." My mother said.
"Don't worry. I've got my homework for the day, and I will be going in for tutoring for the rest of the week. For the last two days of school, for me, I will go and suffer. Then I will party, and graduate, the party some more." I said.
"My baby is growing up. She is going to leave me." My mother said, beginning to cry, hugging me.
"It is okay, Mom. I'll have Jesse to protect me." I said, regretting the words immediately when my mom went stiff.
"You are going to live with him?" She said.
"Yes, he has an extra bedroom, so don't worry. I'm going to take school online, and I have a great job already. Mom, everything is perfectly set out. And before you get mad, I wanted to tell you Jesse is coming down the day before graduation to meet you two. I want everyone to get along, I promise you are going to love him, I do." I said, walking into the house.
The next week, was filled with packing, schoolwork, and fights with my parents. They are so unreasonable. My father says he won't even talk to Jesse. I guess inviting him to come early was a bad idea.
My last day of school, our senior class had a meeting for our party. As the class president I had to be there. "Emily, do you have your ballroom approved for the party?" I asked; going down the list to make sure everything was in check.
"Yeah, my mom said we could use any of the lights we want, just don't break anything." Emily said.
"Great. Michael, are you still DJing?" I said.
"Yeah, I wanted to know if Jesse was coming for the party." Michael said.
"Yes, he is. Why?" I said, warily.
"Well, since you already are making a speech, I was wondering if you two could guest star, and sing a little ditty for us." Michael said.
"I don't see any problem in it. It everyone else okay with it?" I said.
"Yeah." Was scattered around the room.
"Is anyone opposed?" I asked. No answer. "Last chance, speak now or forever hold your peace." I said. Still, no answer. "Good. Madison, do you have all the decorations? I asked.
"Yeah, and decorating committee we are meeting three hours before the party, we are going to decorate, then you can leave and get ready." She said, looking at each of the decorating committee personal.
"Snack committee, do you have everything in order?" I said.
"Yes, we are going to go in about a hour and a half before and get set up." Bethany said.
"Thank you, Beth. Is there anything else we need to discuss?" I said, looking around. "No, good. Thank you everyone for coming, senior class meeting of '07 is now adjourned." I said; I began picking up, all my papers as Brandon came up to me.
"Can I talk to you?" He said, meekly.
"Yes, what do you need?" I said, still in business mode.
"I'm sorry for before, I was just so angry. My girlfriend just broke up with me, and then I was mad at any person who had every turned me down. I didn't mean anything I said. I'm really sorry." He said, with an apologetic face.
"It is okay. I understand what you were feeling, actually I totally forgot about the phone call, with everything going on." I said, lightly laughing. "Things have been a little crazy at home. Well, I've got to go, I'm going to pick Jesse up from the airport here soon, so I have to get ready." I said, looking at my watch, and walking away.
I was in my room finishing my make-up, when Rachel yelled, "Someone is here to see you, Becca!"
I grabbed my purse, went down the stairs, and yelled, "Who ever it is, they better be pretty damn important, because I have some where I need to be."
As I walked into the family room I heard someone say, "I think I'm pretty damn important."
"Jesse!" I said, running up to him and giving him a hug. "Wait, you were supposed to let me pick you up." I said, pushing him at arms lengths, looking him in the eye.
"I missed you too much." Jesse said, leaning towards me.
"Aww, you are so sweet." I said, kissing him. I quickly pulled away at Rachel's gagging. "Rachel, you know one day you are going to enjoy kissing." I said, leaning on Jesse.
"I already do, I'm just not prepared to watch my sister make-out with her boyfriend." She said, smiling.
"Are mom and dad home?" I asked.
"Dad is in his office, but he kind of has a bad case to work with so, I wouldn't bother him. In case you're wondering Jesse, our father is a lawyer. Mom is at the grocery store." Rachel said.
"When mom gets home, tell her that I have a surprise for her, and go get dad; bring them both in here, and I'll drop the bomb." I said.
"Oh, so now I'm a bomb." Jesse said, smiling.
"When you eat Mexican, yes." I said, giving him a look.
"Eww." Rachel said, giving me a disgusted look.
"What? It is true. You are lucky you don't have to live with this fart machine." I said, laughing.
"What fart machine?" My mom said, from the other room. "Rachel, please come and help me."
A few minutes later my mom and dad walked in blindfolded. "Okay, you guys, this is huge for me, and I don't want you to be mad, just give what I'm going to show you a chance. You can take your blindfolds off." I said, nervously wringing my hands.
"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Engfer, you two don't know how glad I am to finally meet you. All I've heard is praises about what wonderful parents you are from Rebecca." Jesse said, shaking their hands, giving them a hopeful look.
"Oh, Rebecca must have been being modest. We can't be that wonderful." My mother said, giggling.
'Yes, she likes him. Hopefully Dad will too.' I thought.
"I truly can't believe that Rebecca talked about us all that often, because here she only talks about you." My dad said, giving Jesse a look.
"Maybe she wants the people she loves, to know about the other person she loves, and vise-a-versa." Jesse said.
"That is very good logic. Do you study law?" My dad said, putting his arm around Jesse's shoulder and leading him into his office.
"Don't keep him to long we have a party to go to tonight, and I need to discuss some important details about it to him." I said, smiling as Jesse gave me thumbs up behind his back.
"He is a very nice gentlemen. Very polite, I think I like him, Rebecca." My mom said. "Come and help me in the kitchen. We are going to bake celebratory cookies."
"Yum, let's go." I said, following her into the kitchen.
About 20 minutes later, both my father and Jesse walked into the kitchen, saying, "What smells so good?"
"Cookies, once they are done cooling…" I said, slapping back Jesse's hand, "…You guys can have some. Jesse, I didn't get a chance to tell you before, that we are performing at the party, but just a couple songs. I thought we could sing the song Josh had a practicing before, and you could sing one of your songs." I said, pulling of my apron.
"What should I sing?" He said, snatching a cookie.
"Feel free to eat now, I guess. Oh, I don't know, whatever floats your boat." I said, looking at my watch. "I've got to practice my speech, and get ready for the party. Have fun eating cookies, and talking with my family."
I was getting changed when Rachel came barging in. I was stood there in my bra and jeans, giving her the death look. She kind of cringed her face, and said, "Sorry, I was just bringing up your dress for tonight, and I was bringing up everything you needed for graduation. Do you need me to help you into your dress?" She said, hanging everything but the dress in the closet.
"Yeah, I was just looking for my dress. Thank you for bringing it up." I said, putting my hair in a ponytail to keep it out of the way.
Rachel helped me into a sea-green lacey strapless dress. She also did my hair for me, even though I insisted I could do it myself. I had to stop her, and had to tell her to sit down, so I could do my make-up. I stood in front of my full-length mirror, and twirled. "You look so pretty! Aren't you a little over dressed for a party?" Rachel said.
"Not for my senior graduation party." I said, turning to face her. "Go and make sure Jesse is all ready. I've got to get a few things up here, and then I'll meet him in the family room."
"Alright. Before you two leave, I want to take pictures. Okay?" Rachel said, heading towards the door.
"Yeah, whatever." I said, grabbing my purse, and my speech. I also slipped on shoes and checked my make-up one last time, before running down the stairs.
"You look great." Jesse said, kissing me when I walked into the living room.
"Well, you look so hot, that you just might melt." I said, off the top of my head.
"That was corny." Jesse said, laughing.
"I didn't think before I spoke." I said, laughing.
"You two better keep those smiles on your face, while I take these pictures." Rachel said, grabbing her camera.
After about 10 minutes, I was getting tired of posing for Rachel. She was so critical. "Rachel, we've got to go. I need to make sure everything is in order." I said, grabbing Jesse's hand and pulling him towards the door.
When I got to Emily's house everything was perfectly set up, well almost. The junior door greeter we hired, got sick and couldn't make it. So as class president, I was stuck with the job.
Almost everyone had arrived, except for Michael, the most important person, as our DJ and sound control person. When he walked in, I grabbed his arm to talk to him. "Michael, when are Jesse and I going to go on?" I asked him.
"Why?" He said, struggling with a piece of equipment.
I grabbed it and followed him to the stage, I said, "Because, we need to warm up."
"Well, I was thinking about 20 minutes of jamming, your speech, then about 10 more minutes jamming, and after all that you guys. From then on out it will be my DJing skills till one." He said, smiling.
"Sounds good. I'm going to dance, mingle, and party. Have fun doing nothing." I said, sticking my tongue out at him. We are like brother and sister; we've known each other so long.
"Everybody, welcome your class president, Rebecca, to the stage." Michael said.
I walked up to the stage thinking, 'I love being their class president. I'm so glad to have these people as my classmates.' I walked up to the microphone, and waited for the cheering to die down. Once it had I said, "Welcome Senior class of 2007 to the last party our class will every have. I have been blessed being able to speak to you now, and to have been chosen to speak tomorrow at graduation. I have known most of you my whole life, though we have had new classmates come, and some old leave. Though we shed tears for all who left, we rejoiced for all the new. I'm proud to say, that with a class of 52 students, we are the biggest graduating class of Stafford, ever! Tomorrow we will separate, and go our different ways, but I don't want us to forget each other. Let's keep in contact, we are not only the biggest graduating class of Stafford, but we are the closest class. We are all friends, and we don't want to lose contact for ten years, until our reunion. So I'm proposing that we get each other's emails, and we send each other one email a week. You don't have to do it, but I would be happy if you would. They don't have to be long emails, just a sentence or two. Maybe asking how's it going, and telling them how things are. The reason I'm proposing this is because, I don't want to go to my ten-year reunion, and not know who my best friends had become. I hope you accept my proposal, and thank you for letting me speak." I said, finishing my speech.
Back on the main floor, I had most of my classmates come up, and tell me that I had a wonderful idea, and that they would accept.
"Now for what everyone has been waiting for. I'm proud to introduce Jesse McCartney, and Rebecca Engfer." Michael said, starting the music for us.
We sang our song, and were given our appropriate applause. I left the stage, and joined Madison in the crowd. "Before, I sing solo. I would like to dedicate this song to Rebecca, you are my beautiful soul, and I hope that all you gentlemen have a beautiful soul to protect." Jesse said, blowing me a kiss.
I could feel tears running down my face as he sang 'Beautiful Soul.' I looked around and saw that not one of my classmates was alone. They had their friends and boyfriends; they were either dancing, or crying with joy. I knew I had to say something to them before Michael got started jamming again. So I went to the edge of the stage and waited for Jesse to finish. When he did I ran up to the microphone and said, "Thank you, Jesse. Everyone, as I was listening to this song, I looked around and saw that each and everyone here has a beautiful soul. Emily it is your keen sense of humor. Aleisa it is the way you aren't afraid to speak your mind. Brandon it would have to be your school spirit, not only your school spirit, just your spirit is wonderful. And Michael it probably is your stupidity that keeps us laughing. You always seem to do something not so smart, just to keep us laughing. Thank you, everyone for your beautiful souls. Now Michael, I think we are ready to party." I said, handing over the mike.
When I got home from the party, I crashed. I was out cold once my head hit the pillow.
THE NEXT DAY
GRADUATION
The graduation was fairly boring, compared to the party. It was like any other graduation; speeches, laughter, tears, and music. It felt a little weird going home, and grabbing the last of my bags, and packing them into the car. We were going to drive to LA, just for the fun of getting lost.
My parents decided against a graduation barbeque, because Jesse and I needed to get on the road a.s.a.p. I wished they hadn't although, it would have been nice to spend a little more time with them, but my mother couldn't stop crying. Her baby has grown up, and is leaving her.
Jesse decided that we would stop, and party ourselves since I missed out on the chance with my family. I guess now Jesse is my family, that makes me so happy, but it also saddens me. Because I want to be a part of his family for forever. It is still early to think of marriage, but with someone like Jesse it is a great thought.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review.
Lots of Love,
Froggy2045
