CH 2
I lay in my bed for a while just thinking of James and replaying in my head the last encounter we had had. It had only been a few minutes after church on a sunny August afternoon.
***
“Cora. Hey Cora!”
I was walking next to my sister Caroline and turned around to see a tall boy with hazel eyes and straight brown hair looking at me. He practically ran right to me and dragged me behind the church where we sat on a bench. In the distance I could hear my sister yelling after us.
“Okay if you want to run off like that fine! I'll be waiting for you here!” my sister shouted.
“Oh, James, hi! I haven' t seen you in a while.”
“Yeah, I know that's why I had to see you. I barely had time to get away from my parents.”
“Alright, so what is so urgent.”
“Well, for one I have to take an exam tomorrow, and I am extremely nervous of not passing. My parents have been putting so much pressure on me, and I just felt like I needed to talk to someone.”
“So, that means you are going to that school?”
“I still have to pass that test,” he said and smiled weakly.
“Right. Well I wish you luck,” I stiffly replied.
“I know you are not to happy about this.”
I turned away from him trying desperately not to cry. I also realized I wasn't just sad about the chance that he might leave, but that I was also angry at him. This was the first time we had talked in months! He hadn't even tried to talk to me at the annual end of the year picnic for school. He had been with Levi and some other boys for the duration of the picnic.
I knew what his mother thought of me. She disapproved of me because I wasn't a proper lady in her opinion and thought I distracted James from his studies. She obviously had no problem with Levi, and the thing that irritated me the most was that she liked stuck-up Melinda Terpio and invited her over to their house regularly for tea. As a result, Melinda seemed to know a whole lot more about James than I did.
“Cora Woods did you hear about James having been chosen to lead the recitation this year! The letter came today in his mail! His mother is positively excited about it!” a very giddy Melinda said.
“No I did not,” I responded haughtily.
“Are you sure? Oh, well silly me. I thought you would have been first to know. Since you and James are such good friends.”
She passed me by with her group of friends giggly very loudly.
“Don't mind her, she just does that cause she knows it'll push your buttons,” Violet consolingly said.
“I know. I just hate that Melinda Terpio!”
“Anyways she just goes over to James house hoping to see him. I think she wants him as her beau, but I heard from Levi that he never pays any attention to her.”
“What? She wants him as a beau! I can't see James wanting to court her, but then again lately these days we no longer talk. We are just only fifteen years old. It seems to early to start courting at this age!”
“I agree with you. Lets just forget about Melinda and focus our energies on more important topics”
As I was talking to James behind the church all these thoughts came rushing to my head, and made me feel very angry at him. I no longer felt like crying, but reproaching him for all these months he had ignored me.
“No, I am not happy about this! You can not suddenly want to talk to me after many months of ignoring me,” I said feeling my voice rising at him.
He looked down looking ashamed of himself and when he looked up back at me I could tell he was sorry for all these months that had gone by without us speaking to each other.
“I know, and I'm sorry. My parents forbade me from seeing you. I know it's no excuse to have ignored you so harshly, but I was so mixed up. I want to be a good son and do as they say, but they can't just take one of my dearest friends away from me. You must think it's stupid that I suddenly realized this, but it's the truth. Please believe me.”
I might have not believed him and just walked away, but the look in his eyes told me otherwise.
“Of course I believe you,” I said with tears freely streaming down my face now.
I spontaneously hugged him and I felt him take me in to his arms with a tight embrace. It was the first time I had ever hugged him, and I couldn't believe I hadn't done this sooner. His sweet scent of clean soap and cinnamon because of his fancy for cinnamon candy was intoxicating and I didn't want to let go of him.
“I care for you very much. Never forget that,” he whispered in my ear.
“I do too,” I whispered back.
James pulled some of my hair away from my face and wiped away my tears gently. He suddenly felt very close to my face and my heart started racing. The next thing I knew his lips lightly brushed against my lips and the most wonderful feeling rushed through my body. I knew I truly cared for him and that I might just love him. When he pulled away he looked into my blue eyes and I into his hazel eyes.
Unfortunately it didn't last very long because suddenly Mrs. Gilliam's voice could be heard searching for James, and she was turning the corner to where me and James and I were seated on the bench. We quickly drew apart, and I tried to compose myself by wiping away my tears so that know one would know I had been crying.
“James, there you are I have been searching for you. Lets go,” Mrs. Gilliam said.
She gave me a look of deep disgust and then turned back to her son expectantly.
“Well see you, Cora,” he said to me and walked off with his mother.
I returned to my sister who was patiently waiting for me. That night I could not sleep from thinking of the kiss I had shared with James. It had been my first kiss. I wondered if it had been his first too.
***
Thinking about all this while crying in my bed didn't help matters to feel better about James departure for private school. Had our kiss meant nothing to him?
Suddenly I heard a voice through my bedroom door. It was my mother.
“I know your upset over James departure, but I have something that I think might make it a little better,” my mother said behind my door.
Yeah, right nothing could make me feel better at this moment.
“I have a letter from James. I slipped it under your door. I'm sure you will want to read it.
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Hey, so this is the second chapter. I hope someone reads this, and please leave reviews of it if you do. Is it any good? I still need title. If you have any title ideas please tell me.
