Southern Belles A Novel about Love Purpose & Second Chances, Page 2

  Chapter 2: Goodbye High School

  With the final bell ringing for the day, signifying the end of our high school years as we knew them, I caught CeCe discretely exiting the janitor’s closet, with some jock departing in the opposite direction. Some things never change.

  “Char, wait up,” CeCe called after spotting me in the hallway.

  “Who was that Ce?” I whispered while she was still making her way through the crowded hallway.

  “Oh, that was my lab partner from last hour; I was just showing him around the supply closet.” She said in a giddy voice before going on “Char, we are graduating tonight!”

  “I know I can hardly believe we are actually done with high school!”

  “So do you want me to pick you up for graduation or is Jersey coming by for you?” CeCe asked curiously. And before I could answer, she continued, “Either way I don’t care, but you are definitely leaving with me for my graduation party. I need your help greeting people so I don’t have to stand next to my mom, all night, while she is critiquing my outfit and giving me pointers on what to say to all of her associates she invited to my graduation party.”

  “Well, I think Jersey,” I started to say when someone snuck up behind me and grabbed my waist, making me yell loudly, turning heads all around me.

  “I think Jersey is what-the most awesome guy in Georgia?” Jersey, said in a confident, semi-charming and conceded way.

  “Jersey, I told you to stop grabbing me like that.” I said in a stern voice, while slapping his hands away from my waist.

  “I know, but I think you really like it,” he smiled at me.

  Rolling her eyes, CeCe interrupted, “hi Jersey, we were just talking about graduation tonight. I already told CeCe that she is leaving graduation with me to help at my party but I don’t care if she rides with you to graduation.”

  CeCe didn’t really care for Jersey. She thought he was a jerk and that I was too nice and too good for a guy like him. Jack Delano, nicknamed Jersey for New Jersey, where he lived before moving to St. Marys to live with his uncle, was the quarter back for our football team as well as my boyfriend of two years. He moved here after he got kicked out of his third private school for being a bit of a troublemaker. You think they’d really like each other because they had so much in common; both were known for having a mouth on them that ran faster than their brain- tact connection. CeCe was forever telling me that he was no good for me but I, out of naivety looking back now, have always tried to see the good in people and believed that somewhere behind that mouth of his was a good heart. Although I never found it, he, when he was not pressuring me to make a home run, was devilishly cute, funny, and very persuasive when he wanted something…like talking me into being his girlfriend despite my gut telling me no and my brain saying run. But out of boredom or a lack of better options, I gave in and have been Jersey’s girlfriend since Homecoming in tenth grade. I still remember our first date when he came to pick me up. Oh yeah, it’s not hard to forget when your dad is polishing his shotgun on the front porch. Not to mention his ammo laid out all over the place while he’s decked out in camouflage from head to toe to greet your date for the first time. It was most likely this first impression my father had on him that caused him to have a bit of fear and an eager challenge when it came to dating me. I, mostly mild mannered and from a very conservative family, was drawn to guys like Jersey for the wild, provoking energy they possessed. Although I love my dad and he’s always been good to our mom and to us—he is not the type of guy I would be drawn to. He’s usually serious, very analytical and works 14 hours a day six days a week. He’s incredibly frugal, which makes for a great business owner of one of the hardest industries out there…farming—but not an image of romance by far. Not that I knew what romance was at 18 years of age other than the girly movies that always depicted the good girl ending up with a good guy possessing all the intrigue of a bad-guy. Jersey was definitely not a romantic. He was the all-American jock kind-of-guy. His idea of romance was taking me to see a Rambo-flick and paying for the popcorn and drinks, followed by sugary-sweet persuasion to make out in his 1989 Camaro afterwards. My mom was forever and a day telling me that if I found a guy who loved Jesus with all his heart, he would love me like the princess I am. Unfortunately, St. Marys didn’t seem to have any interesting Jesus-loving boys around so Jersey was it for now. Not sure how long it would last as Jersey was going away to Montclair State University in New Jersey on a full-ride football scholarship and myself to the University of Georgia for journalism in the fall, I was just buying time for the right guy to walk into my life.

  Looking at Jersey, I replied back. “Yeah Ce, I will go with you after graduation. Jersey, can you pick me up at a quarter to six?”

  “Char you don’t need to be that early for graduation, it doesn’t start until six thirty in the evening.” Jersey noted.

  “That’s because she’s the Valedictorian and has to give a speech, remember.” CeCe said in a barely tolerant voice.

  “Oh. Well you can go with CeCe if you want. Some of the guys and I are getting a head start to the graduation parties. We are meeting on the 50-yard line at five.”

  “Jersey you better be careful. Besides you have to walk me down to my chair.” I said, sounding like my mother.

  “Cool down Char. I’ll be fine and I’ll be there to walk you to your chair.” Jersey said in an annoyed voice.

  “Alright, we have to get going CeCe. Richie is picking me up. I will see you later Jersey—do not be late!” I said as I quickly kissed Jersey goodbye on the cheek.

  Yelling down the hall as we were scurrying to meet Richie, I heard Jersey laugh and shout, “Char, my grandma gives better kisses than that,” while standing with his football buddies.

  “CeCe keep walking,” I started to say as I knew she, at any minute, was waiting for an opportunity to put him in his place. And of course, less than a second later CeCe flipped around and laughingly replied “Jersey, you really need to stop making out with your grandma,” before she turned back around to push the doors wide open to our future.

  “Good God CeCe!”

  “I know that was pretty funny, wasn’t it,” she said still laughing at her cleverness, as we skipped down the steps outside.

  “Hey, there’s Richie. I’ve gotta go but you’ll pick me up at 5:30 PM, right?”

  “Of course.”