I arrived at Boatwright for my first day of classes a few days after talking to John Boy. He was right; not everybody knows what they want to do. That is something we have to figure out for ourselves. I was so nervous when I went into Biology the first day. My concern rose when the room was full of young men, and I noticed that I was the only girl in the class. I looked around for a seat and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a gentleman not much older than me move his books.
"You can sit here." He said. I walked over to him.
"Thank you." I replied and he smiled.
"It's not a problem. I know how the first day of classes is." I sat down next to him. I wasn't sure what it was, but I felt comfortable, safe, sitting next to him. "What are here for?"
"I want to be a nurse." He nodded.
"I want to be a doctor, like my father." I shook my head.
"My name is Mary Ellen Walton." I started.
"David Spencer." I shook his hand after he reached out for mine. "Is this your first year?" David leaned on the table and looked at me. I nodded.
"You?" I asked and he shook his head.
"Oh no, I only have a year left of school and then I have to go work in the hospital before they let me become a doctor." I nodded again.
"I want to work as the nurse for Walton's Mountain. We only have Miss Nora and she takes care of the entire mountain. I'd like to be able to help her." David looked at her with deep intrigue.
"Where is Walton's Mountain? I don't think I've ever heard of it."
"Maybe not. We live about three hours up the mountain. Most people don't come to Walton's Mountain." He smiled at me. His cool brown eyes sparkled as he smiled. I couldn't help but smile when I looked at him. I don't know what it was, but I got a feeling in my stomach when he looked at me.
"How did you get a mountain named after your family?" He asked and I couldn't help but smile. The way he rested his elbows on the table and tilted his head, I knew I had his full attention. That had never happened before. Boys at school always looked at Erin that way, but I never expected somebody to look that way at me. I realized I hadn't answered his question and that's when I laughed.
"When my family first moved to the mountain before the Civil War, we were the first one here so it became our mountain." David smiled.
"That's amazing." He responded. Before we knew it, we had talked during the entire class and were about to head home. As we walked out the front door together, he looked over at me. "So I guess I'll see you in class tomorrow?" I turned to face him.
"I'll be here." I smiled.
"Do you think it would be alright if I ever went to Walton's Mountain?" I stopped in my place.
"What?" He laughed.
"I asked if it would be alright if I came to see you on Walton's Mountain. I want to see if the land named after your family is as beautiful as you are." I stood there and could feel my cheeks starting to get warm; but I nodded.
"You can come to Walton's Mountain if you'd like." I replied.
"Alright." I walked back to John Boy's car and drove home.
When I got to the house, I saw G.W. and Ben sitting at the kitchen table.
"Hi Mary Ellen." G.W. called out to me. I walked over to him still holding my books for class.
"Hi G.W." I smiled.
"I thought we could play catch."
"Yeah," Elizabeth chimed in from where she stood at the ice box helping mama make a cake, "he wanted to go outside with his girlfriend." She teased.
"Elizabeth!" Mama exclaimed. I ignored her and looked at G.W.
"I'm sorry G.W, but I have to go do my homework."
"Well I can wait." He responded.
"I wouldn't want you to do that. This could take me a few hours."
"Oh, alright." G.W. stood up.
"I'm sorry." I responded. I did feel bad not playing catch today when we had played all summer long, but I was starting classes. Plus I wanted to spend some time alone thinking about what David had said in class today. I smiled as I walked up the stairs. He called me beautiful; he wanted to know about me and our family. I don't know what this feeling is, but I think I might like it. After opening the bedroom door, I sat on my bed and started to read over the assigned pages; part of my attention stayed on the material and the other part drifted to David.